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Dems vs Benally: Party purity over civic-mindedness

EXCERPT from "Despicable Behavior Revisited."

Rebecca Benally is a Navajo deeply engaged in developing a more prosperous San Juan County, Utah, and preserving her heritage independent of powerful forces beyond the county that, in her opinion, would permanently damage that heritage.

However, her civic-mindedness was not enough to muffle the mean-spirited rhetoric adopted in the months leading up to the June 2018 Democratic primary in San Juan County by some pro-Bears Ears National Monument activists — surrogates of Native American tribes.

They were supported by San Juan County Democratic Party leadership, many Salt Lake City-based Democrats, and a well-funded coalition of environmentalists and tourist- and outdoor-recreation businesses from across the country.

Benally, one of only a handful of female county commissioners in Utah, was systematically defamed in the run-up to the primary. She ran afoul of an insular, male-dominated county Democratic Party apparatus and its single-issue allies — the same kind of structural “patriarchy” many Salt Lake feminists rage against. Yet Benally found no support among progressives based in Salt Lake City; instead she found well-organized opponents.

Democrat Rebecca Benally, surrounded by prominent Republicans, greets President Donald Trump at the Utah Capitol during a December 2017 ceremony to shrink Bears Ears National Monument. Because of her moderate to conservative politics, she’s been vilified by fellow Democrats. Benally narrowly lost a bid to retain her seat on the San Juan County Commission.

That’s not surprising. Benally criticized designation of Bears Ears National Monument; she collaborated with high-ranking Republicans; she didn’t trust the federal government because of its dismal historical record on Native American affairs; and she had ideological disagreements with the party about the importance of local control over county governance and management of public lands.

Specifically, she said publicly that:
  • Converting sacred lands to a monument will ultimately be controlled by “bureaucrats unfamiliar with Navajo history and traditional ways.”
  • The federal government has broken promises of trust responsibilities and formal treaties again and again and again for the past 200 years.
  • Promises related to creation of jobs managing the monument are not guaranteed.
  • The federal government’s history of managing national monuments on sacred lands has been inconsistent, even disastrous.
  • Groups outside of San Juan County — deep-pocketed environmental groups — should not be able to dictate the future of the region’s lands or pretend to speak for Navajos.
Benally, who has over 20 years of experience as a teacher, school principal, and college administrator, lost a close primary election in June to longtime San Juan County politico Kenneth Maryboy and was not on November’s ballot.

The surrogates unleashed misogynism and racism to attack political opponents, even other Native Americans such as Benally.

Here’s a sampling directed for the most part Benally:
  • In a Facebook post dated Feb. 28, 2017, a commenter identified as Kenneth Maryboy, who at the time was a board member of the activist nonprofit based in Salt Lake City Utah Diné Bikéyah, former delegate from Utah to the Navajo Nation Council, and currently San Juan County commissioner, referred to fellow tribal members who are political opponents as “tame Indians.” Maryboy was Benally’s opponent in the June 2018 primary race for commissioner.
  • Virgil Johnson, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute and president of the Utah Tribal Leaders Association, referred to Benally as a “token” Navajo at a Jan. 23, 2018, public forum sponsored by the environmental group Utah Valley Earth Forum in Orem, Utah. He repeated a line of personal attack directed at Benally by Shawn Chapoose, co-chairman of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and chairman of the Ute Indian Tribe Business Committee, at a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C., several weeks earlier.
  • At a hearing in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24, 2016, Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif, also targeted her: “Saying that the Navajo Nation supports this land grab because one Navajo woman acting as a commissioner is like using her as a token spokesperson for her nation.” To which then-Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, replied: “There is absolutely no excuse for the degrading and disrespectful way in which Congressman Ruiz referenced Commissioner Benally. She in no way deserves to be called a ‘token,’ nor to have her legitimacy as an elected official questioned.”
  • On Jan. 6, 2018, The Salt Lake Tribune published an op-ed by Garon Coriz, a Santo Domingo (N.M) Pueblo and physician living in Richfield, Utah, with a headline likely written by a Tribune editor that referred to anti-monument Navajos, including Benally, as “window dressing” in service of Trump’s agenda. “Ultimately, Benally and her clique are the hammer and chisel in the state’s efforts to chip away at tribal sovereignty. … In Indian Country, with the history of individual tribal members sometimes betraying their tribes for a handout or payoff, she has become a pariah.” Coriz resurrected “Uncle Tom.” Among African Americans, there’s probably no insult more inflammatory.
The stories of Benally's treatment rippled through the Utah Democratic Party over the past two years, and have played a role in discouraging potential volunteers, donors, and candidates. They've likely set back party development in rural southern Utah years.

In an era of unaccountable, no-holds-barred character assassination, anyone who chooses to participate in public life can be a target.

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