Rep. Lente

A culture of low expectations, drastic health disparities and an underfunded and "fractured" Indian Health Service combined to bring the COVID-19 calamity to the Navajo Nation, declares Democratic State Rep. Derrick Lente, a two term legislator and Sandia Pueblo member.

Lente represents portions of San Juan, Rio Arriba and Sandoval counties. San Juan and McKinley are at the epicenter of the state corona crisis. We asked him what we can learn from the tragedy:

This pandemic hit us like a bag of nails. It revealed for all to see the dire straits the Navajo Nation is operating under. We as tribes have to refocus. The pandemic has annihilated our people to a point where we had to take any help that was out there and we are glad to have it, but those elected to office--including me--have to have a higher standard going forward. The need to reprioritize is obvious. 

Lente says expectations in Indian Country are so low that taking hours to get a prescription filled far from home or being able to see a doctor only once a week are accepted:

I would be shocked and dismayed if we were to see the status quo continue after this. We have accepted this lifestyle, saying that this is just the way is, that this is the way government operates. We have to get out from under that shadow. Our people need to tell their leadership what they felt were the worst aspects of this tragedy. That's where the accountability and change will begin. If not, then the people impacted the most--those who have or will lose their lives and those who have gotten sick--will have done so in vain.

Bureacratic entanglements have not only plagued the federal government, they have also hampered the Navajo Nation government. A 2016 Arizona Republic series laid out in exacting detail how over $1.66 billion in federal housing funds were so mishandled that it barely made a mark on the Reservation housing shortage.

More running water, more electricity, more broadband, more housing, more medical care and more halthcare prevention are among the litany of tangible and pressing needs facing Navajos. But it's a more intangible need that has eluded the Nation and is also key to its recovery and improvement--strong leadership capable of reversing decades of neglect.

LENTE CAMPAIGN ACTION

The up and coming Lente was speaking with the NYT before he conducted our interview. He is known in Santa Fe as bright and articulate, but he is not immune to opposition. In fact, James Madalena of Jemez Pueblo, 71, the man who held Lente's House seat from 1985 to 2017, is running against Lente in the June primary.

Madalena's son was defeated by Lente in '16 when he tried to succeed his father. Now the father's comeback is threatened by the young and aggressive Lente.

CONGRESS NOT NEEDED

Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith and his allies have been pushing the notion that in order to tap the state's $17 billion Land Grant Permanent Fund (LGPF) via a constitutional amendment an act of Congress must be approved. Not so. In 2003 then Gov. Richardson proposed a constitutional amendment that was approved by the Legislature and adopted by voters for school reform and to raise teacher salaries. There was no act of Congress required and the teachers received their pay hikes.

The LGPF was set up at statehood to fund a variety of beneficiaries, all of them related to education. If the Legislature at the June special session were to approve a constitutional amendment that benefitted the public schools--one of the LGPF beneficiaries--there would be no need for congressional approval.

MLG has talked about an amendment to fill the developing huge budget gap. That amendment would have to be phrased to specifically benefit a beneficiary. That is easily done and if approved the money could flow into the public schools budget. Money previously appropriated for the schools could then be used to help resolve the overall budget shortage.

As for whether a constitutional amendment can only be introduced at a "regular" session of the Legislature, does that include an amendment Governor Lujan Grisham puts on her "call" when ordering a special session? That's a question the attorney general could answer and the courts could quickly settle, if called upon.

THE BOTTOM LINES

The League of Women Voters of Central NM is out with their June primary guide...House and Senate Dem candidates and others come with a site to provide info on the coronavirus crisis. http://coronavirusnm.org/

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020