FLAGSTAFF – He made it onto the ballot after receiving 19 percent of the vote, second to the sixth Navajo Nation president. Then the Navajo Nation Supreme Court ordered election officials to disqualify him for his lack of fluency in the Navajo language, prompting a fight that led the tribe to delay the election twice.

Christopher Clark Deschene, 46, a Diné from LeChee, Arizona, swept to a landslide victory against no real opposition in the chaotic Navajo Nation election in 2014, during which he finished second in the presidential primary in August, earning a spot in the November runoff at that point in time.
There was a total of 17 presidential candidates, including then Navajo President Ben Shelly; former Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. from Chinle, Arizona; and current Navajo President Russell Begaye.

Other candidates were newcomers like Dale E. Tsosie from LeChee and Hank Whitethorne from Shonto, Arizona, both who lost and challenged Deschene’s eligibility for office, claiming he did not speak fluent Navajo, or Diné bizaad, a requirement for the Diné president under tribal law.

Deschene left the Navajo Nation and his hometown in Lake Powell Country in 2015 when he was appointed the director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs. He left office last year on May 16.

Deschene in June 2017 joined Washington, D.C. law firm Rosette, LLP, as a partner working in energy development.

He is still working at Rosette but Deschene is back, and he is considering another run for the Navajo Nation’s highest office.

“It’s still early,” Deschene said in an interview on Saturday at Coconino High School, where a voter education by the Navajo Voters Coalition took place. “We’re talking to everybody, I’m talking to my wife. It’s not a yes and it’s not a no, but I’m here and I’m always with you (Navajo Nation).”

Deschene is a graduate of Page High School and the prestigious U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he received advanced military training and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, which secured him a military research engineer position earlier in his life at the National Laboratory in Livermore, California.

The retired U.S. Marine major, who completed two tours in the Persian Gulf, is also a graduate of Arizona State University where he earned a master’s in mechanical engineering and a juris doctorate with a focus on federal Indian law and energy and natural resources.

Among his list of impressive credentials, including being a former member of the Arizona House of Representatives, Deschene cofounded the Law Office of Schaff and Clark Deschene to practice as a tribal energy attorney for indigenous tribes throughout the country.

Deschene is the son of Margaret Deschene from Dennehotso, Arizona, and the late Leo Clark Sr. from Coppermine, Arizona.

He is married to Shaun Deschene, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.