NM lawmaker looks into Shiprock Navajo Fair status

SHIPROCK, N.M. (AP) – After conducting an internal review of the Shiprock Navajo Fair Board, a New Mexico lawmaker says it’s “a loose, for-profit business enterprise” and is urging constituents to seek answers from tribal authorities.

The board has made claims of being incorporated with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission as a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization. But State Rep. Ray Begaye, D-Shiprock, said he checked with the state Taxation and Revenue Department, the Secretary of State and the Public Regulatory Commission and determined the fair is “not an affiliation of the New Mexico state government.”

The report fuels complaints among lawmakers and residents that the fair, which is the Navajo Nation’s largest traditional gathering, benefits only a handful of people although it brings in as much as $4 million annually in revenue.

The five-member, self-elected board was the subject of a Farmington Daily Times investigation shortly after the fair completed its 98th year in late September. The newspaper said the fair was held in a dusty field in Shiprock with scarce parking, dilapidated buildings and no permanent infrastructure installed.

However, an estimated 100,000 people pay to attend the four-day fair every year and about 200 pay the expensive entrance fee to participate in the Saturday morning parade. The fair charges admission and parade entry fees higher than those at the neighboring San Juan County Fair in Farmington.

“The problem is they do not pay taxes to any government and may have been conducting business with no check and balance,” Begaye said of the fair board.

Members of the board have not returned calls seeking comment on the situation.

The Shiprock Chapter, which hosts the fair, has called on the auditor general of the Navajo Nation, the U.S. Department of Justice and the tribe’s Budget and Finance Committee to audit and investigate the board.

“It’s a for-profit business that they’re running,” Shiprock Chapter president William Lee said. “They’ve mislabeled it as a nonprofit.”

The Internal Revenue Service said it has no record of the Shiprock Navajo Fair Inc. applying for or receiving tax-exempt status.

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Information from: The Daily Times, http://www.daily-times.com