Herb Yazzie under fire

Published May 5/Updated & Removed May 6

By Mike Reilley

Things are not settling down in Window Rock, as you may have thought. The Navajo Nation’s Law & Order Committee has voted to send to the Nation’s Council, a measure to oust the Chief Justice, Herb Yazzie.

Chief Yazzie, who was at the center of the controversy surrounding the Navajo presidential election fiasco, was the subject of a resolution asking for his firing. That resolution had been passed by at least sixty chapters at last report.

Those who voted for the resolution are now getting what they wanted. The Navajo nation Council will consider removing Chief Yazzie from office.

Dated March 24, 2015 Legislation # 0113-15 was sponsored by Delegate Leonard Tsosie. Mr. Tsosie spoke to Lake Powell Communications on Tuesday afternoon.

“The Law and Order Committee spent a lot of time on the legislation, which seeks to remove the Chief Justice from office,” said Mr. Tsosie.  “Today they decided to consider it.”

The committee’s vote was 2-0 with the Chair not voting. Therefore, though two (of the five) committee members weren’t there to vote, with a quorum of three, the vote was unanimous.

“The (Navajo Nation) Council is the final authority on this,” added Tsosie. “It takes a two-thirds vote of the Council to remove him.”

That means sixteen of the twenty-four members need to vote to remove Yazzie from office, for it to be approved.

The Council’s speaker, LoRenzo Bates will now schedule a special session to take the matter up. While another special session is already scheduled to begin Tuesday May 19, Tsosie believes Bates will schedule another one or two day session for the purpose of keying in on Legislation # 0103-15.