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- Creators: Zah, Peterson
- Creators: Brookings Mountain West
In this interview, Zah and Iverson discuss various political, economic, and controversial topics. Zah gives his impressions and thoughts about the Hopi government, including the struggle in trying to find the balance between traditional and progressive ideals. Zah also reflects on his positive relationship with Hopi chairman Ivan Sidney. The changes in Navajo politics, the Tribal Council, and chapter relationships are addressed, especially the 2010 vote for the reduction of the number of Council delegates from 88 to 24. Zah gives his overall assessment of the role of casino gaming in the Navajo economy. He goes into detail about the main issues that concerned and delayed the Navajo Nation in creating casinos. Zah lastly focuses on the Indian Civil Rights Act and the controversial confrontation that took place between Annie Wauneka and Ted Mitchell, which ultimately changed the ongoing leadership of DNA People’s Legal Services.
The experiences Peterson Zah touches on in this interview include his early encounters with traders as a young child in the 1940s, his work at the DNA People’s Legal Services program in the late 1960s, and his involvement in the non-profit organization Southwest Indian Development Inc. in the 1970s and 1980s. Zah focuses on the topic of traders and trading posts on the Navajo Nation. He discusses the growing problems created by unfair traders and how his collaboration with nine Navajo college students to create Southwest Indian Development Inc. allowed for things to change for the better. Zah recalls the dedication of the organization to provide research and compelling reports to the Trading Post Committee of the Navajo tribal council and the Bureau of Indian Affairs in order to amend the trading issues. He also discusses the hearing that the Federal Trade Commission conducted once the Southwest Indian Development Inc. requested their presence after being brushed off by the Navajo tribal council and the BIA. The interview concludes with Zah explaining the role that the DNA People’s Legal Services played in the whole trader controversy and how the actions of the Southwest Indian Development Inc. allowed for shopping centers and post offices to replace shady traders and trading posts.
In this interview, Peterson Zah discusses the important legal impact that the DNA People’s Legal Services program had on the Navajo Nation. He gives details from its conception in 1967, to how the program was named, its goals, and the controversies surrounding it. Zah recounts his experiences working in the DNA People’s Legal Services, especially his hand in the construction of the office buildings, recruiting new lawyers, and getting Navajo students excited about pursuing a career in law. The second half of the interview focuses mostly on a few influential, political individuals that gave the Navajo legal council or ran for tribal chairmanship. Zah and Iverson both give insight and historical details about Norman Littell, John Boyden, Raymond Nakai, and Peter MacDonald.
In this interview, Peterson Zah discusses various trust funds and how the settlement from a 1980’s court case against the Navajo Nation paved the way for greater growth and opportunity. Zah highlights key points in the taxation case, how the settlement money was used, and the issues that arose in trying to allot the funds in a fair way that appeased the whole Navajo community. Some of the trust funds that benefitted from the settlement were the Nation Building Fund, the Navajo Tribal Scholarship program, and the Land Acquisition Fund. Zah goes into detail about the permanent fund, briefly discusses methods of income, such as casinos, and creates a dialog about economic conditions on the reservation. Also brought up in the interview are the changing social conditions of the Navajo, especially as more people move off the reservation. The Navajo lifestyle is also changing, and Zah gives examples of these changes and explains what is creating the change.
Though the Great Recession may be officially over, all is not well in Arizona. Three years after the collapse of a massive real estate “bubble,” the deepest economic downturn in memory exposed and exacerbated one of the nation’s most profound state fiscal crises, with disturbing implications for Arizona citizens and the state’s long-term economic health.
This brief takes a careful look at the Grand Canyon State’s fiscal situation, examining both Arizona’s serious cyclical budget shortfall—the one resulting from a temporary collapse of revenue due to the recession—as well as the chronic, longer-term, and massive structural imbalances that have developed largely due to policy choices made in better times. This primer employs a unique methodology to estimate the size of the state’s structural deficit and then explores the mix of forces, including the large permanent tax reductions, that created them. It also highlights some of the dramatic impacts these fiscal challenges are having on service-delivery as well as on local governments. The brief suggests some of the steps state policymakers must take to close their budget gaps over the short and longer term. First, it urges better policymaking, and prods leaders to broaden, balance, and diversify the state’s revenue base while looking to assure a long-haul balance of taxing and spending. And second, it recommends that Arizona improve the information-sharing and budgeting processes through which fiscal problems are understood—so they may ultimately be averted.