Two former San Juan County commissioners were faulted in a new Utah legislative audit that concluded the two tribal members’ reliance on an outside lawyer for advice may have run afoul of the state’s transparency rules and eroded the public’s trust in local government.
Not named in the audit are Willie Grayeyes and Kenneth Maryboy, Navajo tribal members who were elected to the county commission in 2018, but failed to win reelection in 2022. Before they were elected, both were outspoken champions for the designation of Bears Ears National Monument, a divisive issue for San Juan residents.
The previous commission fought the monument’s 2016 designation and later met privately with Trump administration officials to lobby for its rescission without any repercussions.
Shortly before last November’s election, a trove of emails surfaced detailing communications Grayeyes and Maryboy had with an outside lawyer, Steve Boos, who was providing them pro bono advice and had previously represented the Navajo Nation on various matters.
Boos’ arrangement with the new commissioners was hardly conventional, but necessary given the lack of trust between them and San Juan County government thanks to its history of discrimination against Native Americans, Boos told the Tribune in October.
As a candidate in 2018, Grayeyes had been the target of an inappropriate effort by the county clerk to eject him from...
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