Kimberlee Williams is a Diné College Board of Regents member and former Tuba City health-board member, running for the Kaibeto, Tonalea, Copper Mine, and LeChee chapters. Her interview with Cal Nez was strongest on health care and 638, and also covered Navajo employment preference, branch communication, and economic opportunity. Below are the questions Cal asked, short summaries of Williams's answers in our own words, and follow-ups a voter might still want answered.
Watch or read the full interview, and see the scorecard, on Kimberlee Williams’s profile. This page is a nonpartisan summary; the Diné Civic Center does not endorse any candidate.
Williams fully supports it but criticized outside companies that hire Navajos to win a bid and then lay them off; she would strengthen the law so that can't happen, and noted the Navajo employment-preference rating system she used on the board has worked fairly for years.
Williams framed Navajo jobs, support for Navajo-owned businesses, workforce training, youth internships, and transparency on gaming revenue (directed to infrastructure) as the catalysts; she stressed the lack of opportunities for Navajo students and the need to build the next generation.
Williams put people before politics and proposed regular joint meetings, quarterly planning sessions, shared timelines and deadlines, reduced bureaucratic delays, modernized record-keeping, and an end to duplicated processes between departments.
Williams pointed to separation of powers in the Titles and said Title II's recent amendment push felt rushed and didn't resonate with the public; she described the Government Development Office as handling planning, accountability, and coordination and strategic planning across the branches.
This was her strongest area. From her Tuba City health-board service, Williams firmly backs 638 — she helped the Bodaway Gap / Echo Cliffs clinic advance on the IHS priority list through relentless advocacy, and argued 638 lets facilities run NBOA-based contracts that bring revenue and leverage with federal partners, important given the 574 tribes competing for the same funds.
Williams listed patient care, pharmacy, insurance billing, telemedicine, and HRSA grants, with core funding still flowing from the federal government through IHS — which is also where accreditation comes from. She described overseeing finances as a board treasurer through finance-committee reports, while noting doctor wages are private employment matters and that Tuba City's annual reports are public.
Topics a voter in this district might still want to hear about:
Not a judgment of this candidate — just what a specific, substantive answer includes, so you can weigh any candidate’s response: