(L to R) John Maker, Talee Red Corn and Everett Waller check in with Bill Meyers at the United Osages of Southern California meeting on April 24 in Oceanside. All three are candidates in the June elections for the Nation's government or Minerals Council and addressed the meeting that day. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News
By Benny Polacca
Osage News
OCEANSIDE, Calif. – With nearly a month to go before Osages head to the voting booths or mail in their absentee ballots, 34 election candidates extended their campaign trails out west to visit the United Osages of Southern California during the organization’s spring gathering to ask for their votes on June 7.
More than 100 people, including candidates, tribal members, and their families, came to the South Oceanside Elementary School for the UOSC’s April 24 meeting where the candidates spoke and met face-to-face with tribal members living in the country’s most populous state or in nearby states.
The 34 candidates are seeking election or re-election to the Osage Nation Congress, offices of principal chief, assistant principal chief, or the Osage Minerals Council. The Osage News attended the UOSC meeting and is presenting in this article a sampling of campaigning shared by those candidates running for office in the legislative and executive branches.
UOSC Chairman Bill Myers allowed each candidate a maximum of five minutes to address the crowd and to use any unused time to take and answer questions from the audience.
First-time candidates and those making another run at office expressed how they felt about the Nation’s current state of affairs and their reasons for seeking election. Several of them touted their professional experience as an asset for holding public office and shared ideas they want to pursue if elected.
Congressional candidate Randolph Crawford, who attended UOSC meetings while stationed in the Navy in nearby San Diego during the early 1980s, said he’s worked in both the state and tribal governments and “one thing we need to look at is the future. If we’re not moving and growing, we’re done.”
“We need to increase our revenues for the casinos… we need to increase our tourism to those casinos. We need to stop taking money from our people – our area – into our casinos. We need to entice people from outside the area to come up to our casino to play, stay, gamble,” Crawford said. “Someone needs to start moving forward with buying back our land… Our biggest land owner in Osage County is the Mormon Church. We need to start buying our land, start taking a stand… especially along the riverfronts, along the lakes and start producing our own resort area,” he said adding he believes it will be a great investment for the Nation.
Congressional candidate John Jech has worked under the tribe’s two prior governments before the new government started in 2006 when he was appointed the Nation’s treasurer. “I’ve worked with a diversified group of individuals in my 15 years of service to the Nation, so I’m very familiar with the things that go on at the Osage Nation.”
“We have to diversify (to create another revenue source for the Nation), we can’t rely on gaming or we’re not going to be able to accomplish any of this,” Jech said of maintaining services to the Nation if the 10th Circuit federal court case involving the Nation’s reservation status is ultimately lost and the three Osage Million Dollar Elm casinos not currently on trust land are forced to close. Jech, a shareholder, said he would also work with the other government entities to protect the Minerals Estate if elected.
Daniel Boone is making a second run for Congress and said he has concerns about the current state of the government. “Over the past few years, it seems like we’ve gone in reverse when we’ve got what it takes to open up and properly run a casino, we’ve got a gag order on people back home who are still in fear of losing their jobs if they say the wrong thing and associate with the wrong people,” Boone said of the protocol and procedure for communication between the Congress and Executive Branch employees.
“The earth turns in one direction and that’s the forward direction, we never go backwards,” said Boone who added he believes the Minerals Estate should be separated from the Nation’s Constitution.
Principal Chief Jim Gray implemented the communication protocol last year which requires Executive Branch employees to get permission to release requested information about the branch’s operations to the Osage Nation Congress. Several tribal members have since started referring to the policy as a “gag order.”
Carl “Chico” Sellers is running for principal chief and said if elected, he plans to drop the ongoing lawsuit between the Executive Branch and the Office of Fiscal Performance Review. “I’d like to go forward with a forensic audit from an outside accounting firm and let them do what they do best and any wrongdoings will be subject to law officials and prosecute as needed.”
On the communication protocol, Sellers said: “I will lift the gag order, when elected chief. I work in a (high-medium) correctional facility. The only thing different from a high-medium and the maximum (security) is we don’t have the death row. So your left hand has to know where the right hand is. At the prison, if we don’t talk and communicate, somebody’s going to get hurt… That’s what’s wrong with our own hill: you have to communicate.”
Tim Tall Chief is also seeking the principal chief’s office in his first tribal election run and said he is interested in pursuing and expanding elder care and health care opportunities for the Nation and opening regional tribal offices to serve Osages around the country. “I’d like to see regional offices here in California manned by Osage people, serving as a liaison to the people back home… If there are issues that come up that you all need addressed, go to that liaison person.”
Tall Chief, who retired earlier this year as deputy commissioner of administration for the Oklahoma State Department of Health Department, said he is also concerned about the relationship between the Nation’s government branches. “If I’m successful, if you all choose to put me in as principal chief and if there are issues, I will get up from behind the desk, walk across the yard and sit down with the folks in Congress, in the Minerals (Council) – wherever it may be – and talk about these things,” he said listing pending legislative bills as an example.
Joseph Shunkamolah, who has taught at the high school and college levels, is running for Congress. He’s taught American history and social studies and said the Nation’s Constitution needs to be looked at, including petitioning and referendums.
“There’s a lot of things in there that people say: ‘well these are the things that are drawn from the Constitution of the United States.’ Well the Constitution of the United States works a lot differently than our Constitution… So we need to take a look at that and say ‘are these things going to actually work?’” he said. “I’m not going to be making any promises other than the fact that I’ll try to work as hard as I can as a Congress person – somebody working with whoever the chief might be,” Shunkamolah said.
Raymond Red Corn, who is seeking a second Congressional term, listed the legislative bills he sponsored or co-sponsored during his first term (including The Whistleblower Act, the Nation’s Election Code and the Open Records Act) and said “there is much, much left to do.” For example, Red Corn said the Nation still needs an Attorney General even though a majority of Congress voted down legislation calling for an Attorney General during this year’s Hun-Kah Session.
“We have several lawsuits right now between the Congress and the Executive Branch that I believe are unnecessary, some of them could have been avoided by the presence of the Attorney General Act,” he said adding the Nation’s Ethics Law also needs to be amended to eliminate the appearance of special treatment when it comes to complaints against Congress members. Currently, complaints against Congress members are addressed only by Congress, itself, while complaints against other tribal officials are filed with the Prosecutor’s Office.
Gray, who is seeking his third term as principal chief, acknowledged the several tensions and in-fights between his office and the First Congress which have occurred over the last four years as the new government started. “Now I understand there’s a lot of passion and I understand there’s a lot of drive to make this a better society for us, a better government… Does this Constitution get us there? Probably not… I think what we’re trying to say is we’re trying to take this document and make it that way and that’s how we have to work together as a people.”
“I think the most important thing I want to convey to you as I ask for your vote for another term as chief… is that we have to find a common ground to build the bridges. I’m not afraid of change, I’m not afraid of adaptation – as a matter of fact, it’s a part of who we are as a people,” Gray told the attendees. “And if we have to amend this constitution to make it better, then let’s do it, but let’s do it together.”
California resident Jake Heflin, who is a firefighter/ paramedic for the city of Long Beach, is running for Congress and has been coming to UOSC meetings since childhood said his “outside perspective” makes him a strong candidate because “a great perspective is fresh, a great perspective that I see how things can be done.” As a California resident, Heflin said he’s seen the state’s tribes exercise their sovereignty and grow their business opportunities to become “self-sufficient.”
“There’s many tribes out there that are doing a great job, that have been very successful and we need to go into partnership with those tribes… go out and research, do the due diligence,” he said of making future decisions for the Nation. Heflin added the Nation should also pursue more health and elder care opportunities and listed more senior housing, assisted living facilities and dialysis care as examples.
Congressional candidate Anthony Webb said he wants voters “to look at us candidates, look at our qualifications and see, Are we problem solvers? Do we have critical thinking skills? Do we rely upon personalities to make our judgments?”
“And that’s where I’m coming from. That’s what I want to do for you,” said Webb who has an engineering background. “I want to do the research, I want to do the data, I want to think about these things and I want to make the best judgment for the majority of the Osages,” he said
Roy St. John, who is running for principal chief, said his platform is “an open door policy” to keep communication lines open and to be respectful to everyone. “As your chief, I want to hear what you have to say and I will promise to answer, get back to everyone who contacts me.”
“The Nation’s employees are a valuable asset, I believe we have an obligation to provide them with enhanced training and skills,” St. John said.
Assistant Principal Chief candidate Everett Waller urged the government officials to work together. “If we’re going to talk, let’s all talk together, if we’re going to eat, let’s all eat together, if we fight, let’s all fight together, but whatever it is, let’s do it together.”
Waller’s past government experience includes serving on the 30th Tribal Council and National Council. “I’ll tell you right now, if you put me in that office, I guarantee I have that proven record of passing those audits. For six years, I got 11 of them.”
Congressional candidate Danette Daniels said “the reason I’m running is because I want to help move this great Nation forward. My job as your congresswoman is to write good law and to appropriate funding.”
Daniels teaches in the Nation’s Language Program and told the crowd she drives weekly to teach the program’s classes in Edmond but pays for the travel out of her own pocket because the program’s fiscal year 2010 travel budget does not have money to cover her trips. “I hope you vote for a Congress who supports online classes of both language and culture and who supports and funds the program that many people talk about, how important culture is, how important language is.”
John Maker, also a language instructor for the Nation running for Congress, said “I will represent all Osages” regardless of where tribal members live. “I think it’s very important because I think a lot of times some of our people feel like they’re forgotten about and I would like to change that.”
“What I’d like to find out while I’m out here is what are some of the needs of the California voters out here,” Maker said, encouraging the crowd to contact him and said he “will do everything I can to help you.”
After the meeting many of the candidates headed north to Oakland where they would also meet with the Northern California Osages and ask for their votes on April 25.
The Oceanside meeting also featured a raffle drawing for prizes donated by UOSC members and candidates, which is the UOSC’s primary fundraiser, Myers said. Items including Native American artwork, plants and bottles of wine were given away to those with winning ticket numbers.
Kathleen Pickett, a Sun City, Calif. resident, said the candidate’s meeting had one of the strongest turnouts she’s seen and she plans on sending an absentee ballot to vote.
Patia Pearson, who splits her time between California and Oklahoma City, describes the candidate interactions as “interesting and exciting. It’s good to hear from the people on what their platforms are.”
When asked what her June 7 plans are, Pearson said she plans on being in Pawhuska to vote in person. “I’ll be there, I have a room reservation.”
For more information on the candidates, their campaigns and upcoming election-related events, go online to osagenews.org
2010 legislative and executive branch candidates at the April 24 UOSC meeting
Principal chief candidates: Jim Gray, John Red Eagle, Carl “Chico” Sellers, Roy St. John and Tim Tall Chief.
Assistant principal chief candidates: Scott BigHorse, Jeff Irons, Cecelia Tallchief and Everett Waller.
Congressional Candidates: Daniel Boone, Randolph Crawford, Danette Daniels, Jake Heflin, John Jech, John Maker, Raymond Red Corn, Joseph Shunkamolah, Geoffrey Standing Bear, William “Kugee” Supernaw and Anthony Webb.
An attendee of the United Osages of Southern California meeting browses campaign materials laid on tables on April 24. Thirty-four candidates running for office in the June election attended the meeting. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News
Campaign literature for Osage Nation Congressional Candidate Jenny Miller sits on a table with other June election candidates campaign materials at the United Osages of Southern California meeting on April 24 in Oceanside. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News
A list of candidates running for office in the Nation's government and Minerals Council at the United Osages of Southern California meeting on April 24 in Oceanside. A total of 34 candidates showed up to address the crowd. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News
Assistant Principal Chief Candidate Jeff Irons listens to the candidates speak during the United Osages of Southern California meeting on April 24 in Oceanside. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News
(L to R) Kathleen Pickett and her daughter Kathy Thrower look at Congressional Candidate Jenny Miller's flyswatter campaign handout at the United Osages of Southern California meeting on April 24 in Oceanside. Miller did not attend the meeting but sent the flyswatters for distribution. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News
Candidates, tribal members, and their families listen during the United Osages of Southern California meeting on April 24 in Oceanside. Photo Benny Polacca/Osage News
Congressman Raymond Red Corn, who is seeking a second term, holds up his raffle tickets after winning a door prize at the United Osages of Southern California meeting on April 24 in Oceanside. Principal Chief Jim Gray, who is seeking a third term, looks on. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News
Osage Nation Congress Candidate Randolph Crawford addresses the United Osages of Southern California on April 24 in Oceanside. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News
Osage Minerals Candidate Charles Pratt and Principal Chief Candidate John Red Eagle listen to the candidates speak at the United Osages of Southern California meeting on April 24. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News
Jeff Irons, who is an Assistant Principal Chief Candidate, addresses the United Osages of Southern California on April 24 in Oceanside. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News
Osage Nation Congress Candidate John Maker walks back to his seat after addressing the United Osages of Southern California during its April 24 meeting in Oceanside. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News
Minerals Council Candidate Myron Red Eagle listens to the candidates during the United Osages of Southern California Meeting on April 24 in Oceanside. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News
