Other Tribes

There are a number of things that I've learned entering my fourth year on Council. One is that tribes are paradoxically, unique, but when you become familiar with some of the goings on in Indian country, there quite often are parallels. In other words, there are eerie similarities. I've included a link below from Wikipedia about what must really be darn close to a worst-case scenario in Tribal politics. The Cherokee website used to have a more in-depth file on all this, as I read it a couple of years ago. But Wikipedia here does a good job of summarizing what were probably the highlights of what appeared to be an all-out legal crisis that seemed to have resulted in a near-government shut down:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Byrd_(Cherokee_Chief)

I've also posted some results from the Umatilla Tribal elections down below:

Board of Trustees Chair
Gary Burke 237Antone Minthorn (I) 389
Board of Trustees Vice Chair
Alvina Huesties 144Leo Stewart (I) 486
Board of Trustees Treasurer
Les Minthorn (I) 343David Wolf, Jr. 293
Board of Trustees Secretary
Kathryn Brigham (I) 277Shawna Gavin 182Robert Shippentower 175
Board of Trustees Members at Large (4 positions)
Adele Guyer-Lynn 168Armand Minthorn (I) 352Jay Minthorn (I) 281Justin E. Quaempts 255William Quaempts (I) 339Jeanine Satterwhite 266Emmet Sheoships 138 Rosenda Shippentower (I) 417Jeff Van Pelt 194Write-in Alan Crawford 41
General Council Chair
John Barkley (I) 286Michael R. Johnson 321
General Council Vice-ChairAlthea Huesties-Wolf 433Write-in Woodrow Starr 34
General Council Secretaryno candidatesWrite-in Shawna Gavin 35
General Council Interpreterno candidatesWrite-in Fred Hill 116

Amendment A - Failed (224 For, 357 Against)Institutes Staggered Terms for Board Members, Changes the Length of Terms for Board Members and General Council Officers, and Returns to At-Large Election of All Board Members

Amendment B - Passed (312 For, 281 Against)Requires Tribal Elections to be by Secret Ballot, with Adequate Notice to All Voters and Providing Absentee Ballots

Amendment C - Passed (325 For, 275 Against)Removes Requirement that the Secretary of Interior Approve Constitutional Amendments Prior to their Taking Effect

Amendment D - Passed (350 For, 240 Against)Corrects Grammatical Errors and Inconsistencies in the Constitution

Amendment E - Failed (241 For, 344 Against)Explicitly Authorizes Closed Board Meetings to Address Confidential Matters

Amendment F - Passed (397 For, 189 Against)Preserves the Federal Government's Trust Obligations

I've often followed other Tribal elections with a slight interest. Umatilla's intrigued me because as you can see they too are looking at Constitutional amendments. One (Amendment C) is to remove BIA oversight in Constitutional amendments, the other Amendment E, and this is really fascinating with compared with how things are run in Grand Ronde right now, prohibits the Board/Council from closing their board meetings. A guy can dream, I suppose.