Marsha Greyeyes is the Shonto chapter president and director of finance at Change Labs, a Navajo entrepreneurship nonprofit. Her interview with Cal Nez was among the most policy-detailed in the field, covering her four-pillar platform, the line-item veto and budget gridlock, government reform, the missing $24 million, and local economic development. Below are the questions Cal asked, short summaries of Greyeyes'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 Marsha Greyeyes’s profile. This page is a nonpartisan summary; the Diné Civic Center does not endorse any candidate.
Greyeyes runs on four pillars — accountability, infrastructure, opportunity, and sustainability — which she says she landed on through deliberate brainstorming before committing to the race, and which appear on her campaign signs. She framed her motivation as wanting to be the “firefighter” rather than watch a sinking ship.
Greyeyes leads Shonto under an Alternative Form of Governance — a nine-member council (three officials plus four directional representatives) rather than the standard chapter structure — in her first term as president after serving as vice president. She also sits on the Black Mesa Review Board and directs finance at Change Labs.
Greyeyes named ego on both sides, weak accountability, and the policies themselves. She zeroed in on the line-item veto: outside the budget, council can override it, but in budget situations a president whose budget doesn't pass can leverage the council's, producing “scratch my back” horse-trading. She would remove the line-item veto or add an override with clear, stated metrics.
Greyeyes knows the 1989 chairmanship-to-presidency transition and is open to reform but cautious — she views the single-format referendum approach (she cited a colleague's proposal) as “a one-man solution,” and wants the people to decide. She argued the council holds any power not delegated, and that a portion of that (she pointed to Title 26) should return to communities; Shonto was the first LGA-certified chapter 27 years ago and still fights for its authority. She leans toward Home Rule as the strongest local-governance form.
Greyeyes called the $24M a systems failure — no due diligence, with financial controls and procurement safeguards not followed — and noted only chapters, never central government, are made to answer. She would require major tribal contracts to disclose beneficial owners, associated elected officials, campaign donors, consultants, lobbyists, and family or business ties, and wants a return-on-investment accounting for the millions spent through the Division of Economic Development and the RBDOs.
From her Change Labs work, Greyeyes said the core gap is that tribal businesses aren't supported to become financially literate, and that communities should draw revenue from their own assets — trust land included, which she insists is still an asset. She argued that if all 110 chapters held Business Site Leasing Authority they could function as their own RBDOs, making the regional offices redundant; she pointed to Kayenta Township and Shonto registering businesses locally, and disclosed that Shonto's own BSL authority was temporarily revoked by the Resource Development Committee.
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: