Interview Questions & Answers

Larry Noble is a former school-district board member, veterans advocate, and 2014 Navajo Nation presidential candidate, running again for President. He delivered much of his interview with Cal Nez in Diné bizaad; the summaries below reflect the portions captured in English. Below are the main topics from the interview — the key question Cal asked on each, short summaries of Noble'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 Larry Noble’s profile. This page is a nonpartisan summary; the Diné Civic Center does not endorse any candidate.

Platform & Background

A former Unified School District board member who made Impact Aid advocacy trips to Washington, Noble framed his platform around restoring accountability, repairing government-to-government relationships, ensuring Executive Directors are qualified and service-minded, and finishing the local and chapter projects that stall in process.

• Which stalled projects would you finish first?
• What's your first accountability measure?

Leadership Mindset

Noble said both, but that the presidency requires leadership — division directors and leaders must share the president's vision.

• How do you get division directors aligned to one vision?
• What do you do when they don't?

Tradition & Modern Government

Noble distinguished culture from tradition as two different things and said he would bridge traditional and modern thinking rather than treating the U.S. government as the model.

• What does that bridge look like in a specific policy?
• Which tradition guides your governance first?

Executive-Legislative Conflict & Title II

Noble's distinctive position: he sees Title II — authored by the late Albert Hale to give the council more power than the chairman — as the root of the conflict, and proposed returning to a chairmanship model as a temporary government with a party system.

• How would a return to the chairmanship be enacted?
• What checks would a chairmanship have?

The Missing $24 Million & Accountability

Noble said responsibility sits with everyone at the top — sitting council incumbents, the Nygren administration, the judicial branch, the executive divisions, and purchasing — and noted money goes missing at the chapter level too; he also flagged the President's prolonged absence from council sessions as a problem.

• What audit or recovery would you order first?
• How do you hold the chapter level accountable?

Veterans

A committed veterans advocate who does motorcycle runs and has Vietnam-veteran family, Noble focused on the disability-rating process and the veterans-housing gap — noting NHA was the only entity that qualified as a designated housing entity — and honored the Code Talkers (Reagan's August 14 designation).

• How would you speed the disability-rating process?
• What's your veterans-housing fix?

Questions that didn’t come up

Topics a voter in this district might still want to hear about:

• Economic development specifics and the Navajo Business Opportunity Act (much of the interview was in Diné bizaad).
• Health care and the 638 system.
• A concrete first-100-days plan beyond reviewing policies and federal advocacy.
• How a return to the chairmanship would actually be enacted.

What a strong answer sounds like

Not a judgment of this candidate — just what a specific, substantive answer includes, so you can weigh any candidate’s response:

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