Yesterday I was interviewed, along with Greg Archuleta, Kathryn Harrison, and Margaret Provost, live on Oregon Public Broadcasting Radio's program "Thinking Out Loud". Click the link below to hear the hour-long broadcast. Plus, a former Council member has posted a comment on their website...
http://action.publicbroadcasting.net/opb/posts/list/1900610.page
Friday, November 21, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Government to Government
Thursday marked the 11th Annual Government-to-Government Summit in Oregon. The conference was started back in the 1990's under then-Governor John Kitzhaber, and Kulongoski has continued the tradition. I have attended the Summit each and every year while on Tribal Council. Like a many conferences, the value lies in the ability to network, for Tribal officials to see, meet and intereact with the assorted State agents who deal with issues pertinent to Indian tribes in Oregon. For state workers, I am sure the vice versa is very much the same.
For 2008 we all converged in Florence, where the Coos tribe just recently opened their own prestigious gaming center. Last year the conference was held in Warm Springs, in 2006 at Cow Creek, and the year before that in 2005 at Portland State University, when Vice-Chair Angie Blackwell staged a famous walk-out. All of us Grand Ronders left when it was our time to speak, and we did so in protest to the Governor leaving early. Our relationship with Kulongoski was not especially good back then, and that we've managed to mend it and been quite cooperative has benefitted both parties. Diplomacy, I believe, always matters.
What I remember from 2006 was that as Chair I was responsible for speaking on behalf of Grand Ronde. The lessons I took from that are numerous, but the two which stand out are first always be aware of where your mouth is in relation to the microphone. Multiple people explained to me that I strayed from the mic one too many times, making my speech inaudible during some stretches. Second I decided from that point forth whenever possible I would draft my own speeches. The one I read from that day was a mix of talking points and my own style, prompting a good friend to note that he could tell which parts of the speech were my own and those that were not. I didn't sound comfortable or natural reading off lines written by another person.
Last year there was a lot of buzz in Warm Springs over Jacobi Ellisbury, a young man born and raised in the nearby community of Madras who starred as a baseball player for the Oregon State University Beavers and the Boston Red Sox. He was already a local hero, in fact if I remember correctly there was a short speech made on his behalf during the opening ceremonies.
This year tribes did their usual updates for one another, as did the Governor and his staff. Of note are that times are tough all around, not just in Grand Ronde. One tribe, the Coos actually, are making the bold move of serving alcohol on the gaming floor, a precedent we in Grand Ronde have been waiting for, although the practice was taken up in Washington State years ago.
I did get a few minutes to chat with the Governor, he was returning to the Summit after a conference call with a number of other elected officials in regards to the water issue in southern Oregon, a call that included Arnold Schwarzenegger. We were both quite ecstatic about the recent presidential election. Of particular importance to us is the mystery over who will be named Secretary of the Interior. He had heard, like us, that John Kitzhaber was a possible candidate, which would be a great thing for Oregonians. I told him we had also heard Tom Daschle was a possibility, though not likely.
The Summit finished early, almost 90 minutes early. The day outside was stunning, and I took a few snapshots of the sanddunes for which Florence is famous. I also drove through Eugene, home to my alma mater the University of Oregon, and dropped some money at the local bookstore to brighten my abode with green and yellow. The biggest surprise of the Summit was that Burns-Paiute sent a representative. They, the most disadvantaged tribe in Oregon, will go long stretches without being heard from. In looking at the Summit Tribal directory, there was nobody listed as the Tribal Chair. It simply said "Chair" with a phone number.
For 2008 we all converged in Florence, where the Coos tribe just recently opened their own prestigious gaming center. Last year the conference was held in Warm Springs, in 2006 at Cow Creek, and the year before that in 2005 at Portland State University, when Vice-Chair Angie Blackwell staged a famous walk-out. All of us Grand Ronders left when it was our time to speak, and we did so in protest to the Governor leaving early. Our relationship with Kulongoski was not especially good back then, and that we've managed to mend it and been quite cooperative has benefitted both parties. Diplomacy, I believe, always matters.
What I remember from 2006 was that as Chair I was responsible for speaking on behalf of Grand Ronde. The lessons I took from that are numerous, but the two which stand out are first always be aware of where your mouth is in relation to the microphone. Multiple people explained to me that I strayed from the mic one too many times, making my speech inaudible during some stretches. Second I decided from that point forth whenever possible I would draft my own speeches. The one I read from that day was a mix of talking points and my own style, prompting a good friend to note that he could tell which parts of the speech were my own and those that were not. I didn't sound comfortable or natural reading off lines written by another person.
Last year there was a lot of buzz in Warm Springs over Jacobi Ellisbury, a young man born and raised in the nearby community of Madras who starred as a baseball player for the Oregon State University Beavers and the Boston Red Sox. He was already a local hero, in fact if I remember correctly there was a short speech made on his behalf during the opening ceremonies.
This year tribes did their usual updates for one another, as did the Governor and his staff. Of note are that times are tough all around, not just in Grand Ronde. One tribe, the Coos actually, are making the bold move of serving alcohol on the gaming floor, a precedent we in Grand Ronde have been waiting for, although the practice was taken up in Washington State years ago.
I did get a few minutes to chat with the Governor, he was returning to the Summit after a conference call with a number of other elected officials in regards to the water issue in southern Oregon, a call that included Arnold Schwarzenegger. We were both quite ecstatic about the recent presidential election. Of particular importance to us is the mystery over who will be named Secretary of the Interior. He had heard, like us, that John Kitzhaber was a possible candidate, which would be a great thing for Oregonians. I told him we had also heard Tom Daschle was a possibility, though not likely.
The Summit finished early, almost 90 minutes early. The day outside was stunning, and I took a few snapshots of the sanddunes for which Florence is famous. I also drove through Eugene, home to my alma mater the University of Oregon, and dropped some money at the local bookstore to brighten my abode with green and yellow. The biggest surprise of the Summit was that Burns-Paiute sent a representative. They, the most disadvantaged tribe in Oregon, will go long stretches without being heard from. In looking at the Summit Tribal directory, there was nobody listed as the Tribal Chair. It simply said "Chair" with a phone number.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...
Okay, the name of the post is one of my favorite David Bowie songs. I was fortunate enough to get tickets to the Democratic Party's bash at the Portland Convention Center on Tuesday, November 4. These pictures don't even come close to doing the event any justice. This could be the most memorable and momentous Presidential election of my life. Tears were flowing, hope and optimism were in the air, and Obama gave an incredible acceptance speech, which I'm sure many people also listened to. For the first time in my life, I am genuinely excited about a President. I really believe that Barack Obama is a once-in-a-lifetime candidate.
My only regret is that after meeting him twice and speaking to him both times, shouldn't I have been the Democrats' version of "Joe the Plummer"? I mean, we have the same hairdo and neither of us are licensed plummers, and we both make less than $250,000...
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