Ben Shelly

Shelly was also an opponent of Senate Bill 1690 which would allow San Juan County, Utah Navajos to be their own trustee, managing their own resources by way of a nonprofit organization structure, without interference from the Navajo Nation.

The tribe has long argued it should be the trustee, sans any federal or state interference.

Ben Shelly (July 6, 1947 – March 22, 2023) was the 7th president of the Navajo Nation.

He was the first president to have been elected both president and vice president of the Navajo Nation, as well as the first New Mexican Navajo to hold the Navajo presidency.

Shelly was born in Thoreau, New Mexico, on July 6, 1947.

He was clan born for.

His maternal grandfather is and his paternal grandfather is.

Shelly's wife of 45 years, Martha Shelly, is originally from Coyote Canyon.

She is and born for.

They have five children and 10 grandchildren.

Shelly lived in Chicago for 16 years, training in heavy equipment maintenance and working as a supervisor for a heavy equipment company.

He moved back to the Navajo Nation in 1976, and owned a fleet maintenance and mechanic shop.

In 1990, Shelly was chairman of the Dineh Rights Association.

Shelly became the Thoreau Navajo Nation councilman in 1991, and in 1993 he campaigned for legalized gambling in Navajo areas.

He became a member of the Transportation and Intergovernmental Relations Committees, and chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee as well as serving 12 years as a McKinley County Commissioner.

He was in the leadership of the National Associations of Counties Organization, where he helped form a Native American coalition of county officials from Apache, Coconino, San Juan of Utah, San Juan of New Mexico, Navajo, Sandoval, and McKinley counties.

Court documents allege that Shelly conspired to benefit himself and his immediate family, including his wife, grandchildren and a sister, in 2005 and 2006.

On four occasions, Shelly filed applications for discretionary funds on behalf of his family and personally approved the requests, a complaint alleged.

Tribal ethics and rules laws have limits on the value of gifts lawmakers can receive and prohibit engaging in conflicts of interest.

Police served some delegates with the complaints just before they convened for the fourth day of their fall session in the tribal capital of Window Rock.

In 2006, Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr. selected Shelly as his running mate in the 2006 presidential election.

At the time of his selection, President Shirley said of Shelly, "He has the necessary knowledge of our government, and the government outside, He is down to earth and knows the heart of the people. He was raised with culture, as I was, on a sheepskin rug."

Shirley and Shelly won the 2006 Navajo Nation presidential election.

Shelly was sworn in as vice president of the Navajo Nation on 9 January 2007.

Shelly served on the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Tribal Technical Advisory Group, leading efforts to amend existing Medicaid laws to ensure that a Certificate of Indian Blood could be used to verify U.S. citizenship.

Shelly represented the Navajo Nation in budget discussions and formulations for federally-funded programs.

In 2007, he led a Navajo delegation in consultative budget deliberations with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

Although Navajo Nation elections are officially non-partisan, Shelly was a registered Democrat active in state politics in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.

He worked with the New Mexico state legislature and the governor's office to fund capital improvement projects on the Navajo Nation.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson appointed Shelly to his Tribal Economic Development Task Force.

The Tribal Council called for a special prosecutor in 2009 to look into the Navajo tribal president Joe Shirley Jr..'s relationship with two companies that had operated on the reservation.

The Navajo attorney general accepted that request but also expanded the probe to include the council's use of discretionary funds, to the surprise of the council.

On November 2, 2010, Shelly was voted in as the Navajo Nation's president-elect during the 2010 Navajo Nation Presidential Elections, defeating opponent New Mexico State Senator Lynda Lovejoy of the Navajo Nation.

In October 2010, Ben Shelly, among other Navajo tribal officials, were charged in an investigation of slush funds just weeks before the November election.

Shelly pleaded not guilty to those tribal charges of fraud, conspiracy and theft.

Each misdemeanor count carried a penalty of up to a year in jail and $5,000 if convicted.

Shelly had stated that he was confident that the conspiracy, fraud, and theft charges against him would be dismissed, and that he is not a crook.

Criminal complaints allege that Shelly unlawfully took $8,850 in tribal discretionary funds to benefit himself and his family while he served on the Tribal Council.

He pleaded not guilty and said the money was for "Legitimate Hardships."

On August 16, 2014, Shelly lost in the Navajo Nation primaries to former Navajo Nation president Joe Shirley Jr. and newcomer Christopher Deschene.