By Benny Polacca
Osage News

The Osage Nation Health and Wellness Advisory Board is planning to meet with government officials to discuss legislation which will lengthen its life. It’s slated to sunset at the end of September.

The board was created through a 2007 legislation bill to start developing the structure of the Nation’s Health and Wellness Division. But the bill (ONCA 07-59) states the board will be “disestablished after a period of three years from the effective date.” Former Principal Chief Jim Gray signed the bill on Oct.3 of that year after the Osage Nation Congress passed the bill with a 7-4 vote.

“The board was created as an advisory one,” said Dr. Ron Shaw, the health board’s chairman. He addressed several executive and legislative branch officials who attended the health board’s Aug. 9 meeting. That means the board’s duties which include making decisions on health-related matters are made as recommendations to government officials, he said.

The health board has hired two consultant organizations to work with the board during its tenure, Shaw said. One consultant evaluated the Health and Wellness Division recommendations compiled and the other consultant conducted a feasibility study on whether the Pawhuska Indian Health Service clinic should be compacted.

One recommendation raised in the IHS clinic compacting study is the Nation should create a governing board, “which is required for compacting,” Shaw said.

According to the study, said Shaw, the governing board should “evaluate and improve the quality of health services provided to the community, provide for meaningful financial resources for ongoing operations and capital needs, provide for the selection and retention of qualified staff – to include the special requirements for licensed and credentialed personnel, to plant programs for the health needs of the community.”

This is the board’s first gathering since the July 19 runoff election in which John Red Eagle was elected Principal Chief and Scott BigHorse Assistant Principal Chief.

BigHorse, who attended the meeting, recommended more meetings between the health board and government officials, including Red Eagle, to pursue legislation that could prolong the health board and possibly turn it into the governing board which would pursue further IHS clinic compacting efforts, according to the feasibility study recommendations.

Red Eagle was at a gaming commission meeting held at the same time of the health board gathering.

The health board also plans to meet with Congressional members who sit on the Congressional Committee on Health and Social Services which is scheduled to meet on Sept. 7. The chairman of that committee is Congressman Archie Mason and vice chairwoman is Congresswoman Alice Goodfox.

A car drives past a sign saying, “You are entering the Osage Nation Reservation” in Bartlesville, Okla. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

Principal Chief John Red Eagle confirmed Tuesday that the Nation will be appealing to the United States Supreme Court before Oct. 22 in it’s lawsuit against the Oklahoma state Tax Commission.

Hanging in the balance are three of the tribe’s Million Dollar Elm casinos located in Skiatook, Ponca City and north Tulsa. The casinos are in jeopardy of being closed because they are not on federal trust land, which is required by the National Indian Gaming Commission. However, two (Tulsa and Skiatook) of the three tribe’s land-into-trust applications have been filed with the U.S. Department of the Interior and the third (Ponca City) will be filed in September.

“I met with Larry Echohawk [DOI assistant secretary for Indian Affairs] yesterday and he is very positive about giving us high priority because of the economic impact it could have if those casinos are shut down,” Red Eagle said.

The tribe found itself in the situation when their nine-year-old case against the Oklahoma state Tax Commission, in which the tribe alleges the state of Oklahoma does not have the right to tax Osage tribal members who work and live on the Osage reservation, didn’t go in their favor. The tribe was denied a rehearing May 25 by the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, forcing the tribe to either live with the decision or file an appeal to the Supreme Court. The tribe was granted an extension to Oct. 22 by Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor July 14, since the tribe was going through runoff elections and new leadership would be deciding the tribe’s next move. The original deadline was Aug. 23.

The land-into-trust process is a difficult one and could take anywhere from six months to three years.

Change in counsel

Red Eagle has been principal chief for six days and in those six days he has had to make monumental decisions for the nation concerning the reservation status case.

One of the first actions Red Eagle took was to relieve the services of Norman-based attorney Gary Pitchlynn of Pitchlynn & Williams, PLLC, who was the lead counsel of the case under the Gray administration for nearly 10 years. However, under Pitchlynn’s recommendation, Red Eagle has agreed to replace him with Patricia Millet of Washington D.C.-based firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

“This is positive news . . . [we have found] someone very well known in the Supreme Court area of litigation and she comes very highly recommended,” Red Eagle said. “We are in contact with Millet and she’ll be taking us forward.”

Millet co-heads the firm’s Supreme Court practice and has argued 28 cases before the Supreme Court, according to the firm’s Web site. From August 1996 to September 2007, Millett served as an assistant to the solicitor general in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice, in Washington, D.C. During that time she argued 25 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and she briefed more than 50 cases.

Red Eagle said the Osage Nation Congress will call a special session next week to appropriate $88,000 to get the case moving forward.

Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry

Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry sent a letter Monday to U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in support of the Osage’s three casinos currently in jeopardy. Former Principal Chief Jim Gray and Pitchlynn met with Henry Aug. 3.

“It is my understanding that, due to recent rulings by the federal courts, there may be some uncertainty about the legal status of several of the Osage Nation gaming facilities that would be clarified if you were to take these lands into trust for the Osage Nation,” Henry wrote in the letter. “It is my hope that your office can assist the Osage Nation in completing the process of taking those properties into federal trust as promptly as possible in order to avoid any possibility of closure of those facilities.”

Henry, who has reached his term limit as the state’s governor, will soon be replaced by either Rep. Mary Fallin (R) or Lt. Gov. Jari Askins (D) on Nov. 2. When elected, Fallin or Askins will be the state’s first female governor. Askins attended Red Eagle’s Inauguration at the WahZhaZhi Cultural Center in Pawhuska Aug. 4.

“A closure, even if only temporary, would result in the unfortunate loss of many jobs and great hardship on many Oklahoma families,” Henry wrote in the letter to Salazar. “There can be no doubt that the success of our tribal economies has a significant impact on the health of our state economy.”

The tribe alleges that the Osage reservation boundaries were never disestablished and that what most Oklahomans recognize as Osage county is in fact the Osage reservation boundaries.

To view the letter to the DOI from Gov. Brad Henry, click here:

Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry letter to DOI

Osage News staff members Benny Polacca and Shannon Shaw hold four of the five Media Awards the newspaper won during the 2010 Native American Journalists Association Conference in St. Paul, Minn. on July 23. Photo courtesy of Tetona Dunlap

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Osage News took home five Media Awards from the Native American Journalists Association’s 2010 conference here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

The newspaper won second place in the General Excellence category for bi-monthly/ monthly newspapers. This year’s NAJA conference was held July 21-24.

The Osage News staff won first and second place for Best Online Writing for stories posted to its osagenews.org Web site and second place for Best News Story in the bi-monthly/ monthly newspaper category. The newspaper also won third place for Best Editorial in the same category.

All articles and newspapers submitted for this contest were published in 2009 and competed against other tribal media outlets across North America.

Editor Shannon Shaw’s Oct. 27 online story titled “Five members of Congress meet behind locked doors to discuss budgetary cuts” took first place for Best Online Writing. Shaw also won second place for “Chief Jim Gray files two suits Friday against the Osage Nation Congress” which was posted to osagenews.org on Nov. 10 and both lawsuits were mentioned in the newspaper’s November edition.

Staff writer Benny Polacca won second place for Best Online Writing for the Dec. 3 story “Tribal members write messages on their cars to ‘Pass the Budget!’”

Tara Manthey, a former Editorial Council member, won third place in the Best Editorial Writing category for her front-page article “Time is of the essence: Readers! Tell the Osage Congress we don’t have forever to set up a free press.” This article was printed in April during the legal debate over a free press which reached the Osage Nation Supreme Court and was decided in December 2009.

The Osage News operates under ONCA 08-07 which is the Independent Press Act of 2008.

This is the second year in which the Osage News has entered the NAJA Media Awards competition which honors Native and non-Native NAJA members for their outstanding contributions to journalism with a focus on Native American people. The newspaper won two Media Awards last year.

A car drives past a sign saying, “You are entering the Osage Nation Reservation” in Bartlesville, Okla. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

The United States Supreme Court has extended the deadline from August to October for the Osage Nation to file an appeal in the reservation status case.

The Nation now has until Oct. 22 to file an appeal of its lawsuit against the Oklahoma state Tax Commission in which the question of whether the Osage Nation Reservation exists is at issue. If the case’s ultimate outcome determines the reservation does not exist, then the operations of three Osage Million Dollar Elm casinos (Skiatook, Ponca City and the nation’s largest in north Tulsa) could be in jeopardy. Currently, the three casinos in trouble were not built on trust land.

The nine-year-old case originated in federal court in Tulsa but was appealed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver where the Nation’s request for a case rehearing was denied May 25. The rehearing denial came at a critical juncture in the Nation’s history with the June 7 election occurring less than two weeks later which resulted in four first-time Congresspersons elected to the Second Osage Nation Congress and a July 19 runoff election in which John Red Eagle was elected Principal Chief and Scott BigHorse Assistant Principal Chief.

Now those elected officials of the Nation’s legislative and executive branches are left deciding the next moves in the case before the Oct. 22 deadline, which was extended 60 days from the original Aug. 23 deadline. The initial deadline would have left less than a month for a decision to be reached by the Nation because Red Eagle and BigHorse won’t be sworn into office until Aug. 4.

“I believe it’s a good thing,” Red Eagle said of the deadline extension. “It gives us more time to evaluate the situation.”

The deadline extension was granted by U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor who is the high court’s circuit justice for the 10th Circuit which includes Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Gary Pitchlynn, whose Norman-based law firm is on record representing the Nation in this case, said the extension was granted by Sotomayor July 14.

“The Supreme Court designates separate justices for the (13) circuits” and Sotomayor is assigned to the 10th Circuit, said Pitchlynn, whose firm filed the request in an “application for extension of time to file a petition for writ of certiorari” one day earlier.

In the deadline extension request Pitchlynn described the ongoing change in the Nation’s government administration because of the June 7 and July 19 election outcomes and also “because of the potential ramifications of the decision on the incoming government and its people.”

“Both the (legislative and executive branches) desire and need additional time to consider and take appropriate government actions regarding the filing of (an appeal to the Supreme Court), including (the new administration) considering whether or not to file a petition,” Pitchlynn wrote in the deadline extension request.

“We wanted (the Supreme Court) to know that (outgoing Principal Chief) Jim Gray wasn’t the appropriate person to make the decision” on whether to make the appeal, Pitchlynn said.

Congress passes appropriation bill to fund litigation fees related to the reservation status case

News of the deadline extension request approval hit the Internet shortly after Congressman Raymond Red Corn, now the Congressional Second Speaker, wrote his latest Update electronic newsletter July 18 in which he discussed an appropriation bill passed by the Congress with a 5-4 vote, which would fund further litigation in the reservation status case. Congressman Geoffrey Standing Bear also discussed the vote on the Osage Shareholders Association blog two days earlier when the $207,000 appropriation bill was passed.

The bill (ONCA 10-57), sponsored by Congressman Eddy Red Eagle, was originally introduced with a request for $100.

Red Corn said in his Update the bill “was filed as a placeholder appropriations bill until the Osage Congress could hear arguments for funding past and future expenditures. That discussion was held in the Congressional Government Operations Committee (July 15). By the Executive branch’s own accounting, $189,000 was spent on attorneys during the appeals process, expenditures made with no prior authorization from Congress. The Executive (branch) sought an additional amount in excess of $300,000 for future expenditures. The Government Operations Committee voted 4-0 (Mason, Boone, Red Eagle, Red Corn) to appropriate the $189,000 already spent, plus $88,000 for future expenditures.”

The now-$207,000 bill became a target of debate during the July 16 Special Session of Congress after Standing Bear introduced an amendment to the bill to only spend the money on a selected list of attorneys who could defend the Nation if the case is appealed to the Supreme Court.

The amendment failed on a 4-5 vote. Standing Bear, Mark Simms, Alice Goodfox and Daniel Boone voted yes. John Free, Archie Mason, Speaker Jerri Jean Branstetter, Eddy Red Eagle and Red Corn voted against. William “Kugee” Supernaw, Anthony Shackelford and Shannon Edwards were absent that day.

In his July 16 OSA blog entry after the session, Standing Bear wrote: “I submitted an Amendment this afternoon to use the money only for attorneys on a list of the top attorneys in the country, that list provided the Osage Congress in a July 1, 2010 letter from Congress attorneys, the law firm of Crowe Dunlevy. Much debate followed with one group opposed to the Amendment for several reasons, including one Congressman who said it would restrict the Chief from choosing his own attorneys.”

Red Corn replied in the same blog posting that day: “At issue was the ability of this Congress to control, via the budget, the selection of attorneys by the Executive branch. Language to specify the legal firms on whom appropriated money would be spent (in this case, three) was challenged when presented on a floor amendment to the appropriation bill. As has often been argued, if the Congress can make that call, we can also dictate who the Nation’s plumber, electrician, and HVAC contractor is by inserting similar language in each appropriation bill.”

The final vote on ONCA 10-57 was 5-4 with Boone, Goodfox, Simms, and Standing Bear voting against. An emergency clause attached to the bill failed on a 7-2 vote with Standing Bear and Boone voting “no,” meaning the $207,000 cannot be spent for 60 days, Standing Bear reported in his posting.

Government officials to sit down and discuss next moves in the case

Red Eagle said he is planning to sit down with Gray and the attorneys involved to discuss all options in the case because “I think we’ve got to take safeguards.”

For example, “fee into trust land is a big one,” he said of options to protect the Tulsa, Ponca City and Skiatook casinos which are not on trust land. Government officials have said such a process can take more than a year to complete.

Assistant Principal Chief candidate Amanda Proctor poses for the Osage News during the Pawhuska In-Lon-Schka. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

Before Amanda Proctor started her law career with a focus on Native American issues, she worked as a program director for two tribes where she found herself taking on duties which lawyers tackle on a day-to-day basis.

“I started as a housing director and I felt as a housing director, I was doing a lot of legal work which included drafting policies, negotiating intergovernmental affairs and litigation” such as eviction matters which ended up in court, Proctor said. Those experiences would fuel her efforts to help several Native tribes and causes by representing them in court after graduating from law school.

Now she is running for Osage Nation Assistant Principal Chief to bring her knowledge to the Executive Branch.

Proctor, 35, won the second highest number of votes in the Nation’s June 7 election out of six candidates for the assistant principal chief’s office. Now she faces a July 19 runoff election against Scott BigHorse while incumbent John Red Eagle makes a run for the Principal Chief’s office against Tim Tall Chief.

If elected, Proctor will be the first Osage woman to hold the assistant principal chief’s office. Proctor said she’s heard concerns about a woman holding the second highest elected position in the Executive Branch, but she believes the Nation is ready for another change in progress.

“We’ve never had a female chief or assistant chief. Some people have told me they didn’t feel the tribe was ready for a female leader,” Proctor told the Osage News during an interview after dancing at this year’s Pawhuska In-Lon-Schka dances. “There’s been a lot of evolution: originally these dances were not open to the participation of women. It might be time for leadership to open up as well.”

What’s next for the assistant principal chief?

As assistant principal chief, whoever is elected will have the task of performing duties which may be delegated by the Principal Chief and will serve as an ex-officio member of the Osage Nation Congress, according to the Nation’s Constitution. When meeting with Congress in committee of the whole, the assistant principal chief shall also have the right to join in debate and cast tie-breaking votes when the 12-member Congress is equally divided.

The assistant principal chief-elect also joins the tribal government which is at a crucial crossroads with the Second Osage Nation Congress taking oath of office this month with four new members and several litigations issues in the air, such as lawsuits filed in the Nation’s court system involving the executive and legislative branches and whether the tribe will make a move in response to the recent federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to not rehear the Nation’s case against the Oklahoma State Tax Commission.

On running for office, Proctor, says she’s “wanted to for quite sometime and really thought this through as the (candidacy filing) deadline approached because it involves sacrifices for me. Anytime you put yourself out there, there are risks and consequences.”

Proctor, who is co-founder of Tulsa-based Shield Law Group PLC which focuses on representing Native American tribes and organizations, said she “certainly will have to disengage from a number of my relationships” since the assistant chief position is full-time.

To date, Proctor has represented nine area tribes which, includes serving as general counsel for the Housing Authority of the Seminole Nation (Okla.) as well as the Absentee Shawnee Housing Authority. She is licensed to practice law in the tribal courts for the Iowa, Ponca, Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee Nations.

Last year, Super Lawyers magazine selected Proctor as one of their Rising Star attorneys who are age 40 and under. According to the magazine’s Web site: “[The Super Lawyers selection process] is a comprehensive, good-faith and detailed attempt to produce a list of lawyers that have attained high peer recognition, meet ethical standards, and have demonstrated some degree of achievement in their field.”

“If elected, I think I will be practicing a lot more law than I am now,” Proctor said. “We are at a critical juncture in the history of this tribe and I think I am in the position to make decisions for the Nation – especially without the comfort of an attorney general (for the Nation).”

Proctor is referring to the Nation’s lack of an attorney general, a position she believes could be instrumental in providing legal advice or resolving conflicts on issues that may arise within the tribal government. “It will keep me sharp in my skills,” Proctor said of holding office, if she is elected. The Nation’s latest effort to establish an attorney general’s office failed earlier this year when the First ON Congress voted down a bill, sponsored by Congresswoman Shannon Edwards which would have created the AG position, during the Hun-Kah Session.

One issue affecting the Osage Nation that Proctor believes she can help with as assistant principal chief is closing the issues raised by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last year after the agency issued a monitoring report to the Nation asking it to account for more than $666,000 in grant funding which had been awarded to the tribe but was unaccounted for.

A HUD spokeswoman told the Osage News in May the agency was still working with the Nation to close the findings in the monitoring report. A follow-up inquiry made last month has yet to be answered.

“Thanks to my background in housing authority, I really know the ins and outs of federal compliance and HUD audits,” she said.

Proctor also believes “we’ve got to put in some long hours” immediately if she’s elected because the Nation must decide on whether to respond to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to not the rehear the Tax Commission case (also known as the “reservation/ rez status case”).

“We need to figure out where we are and where we need to go,” she said because the Osage Nation’s reservation status is at issue which could affect three of the seven Osage Million Dollar Elm Casinos which are not on protected trust lands.

‘Humble’ start to helping Native Americans

Born in Dallas, Proctor (Osage/ Cherokee) grew up in Wichita, Kans., and graduated from high school in nearby Goddard in 1993 before heading east to attend Ivy League-famed Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. “My background is humble with no expectation of (rural residents) going to Ivy League school,” Proctor said adding her parents (mother Karen Proctor is Osage) grew up in rural Kansas.

Amanda Proctor’s uncle and newly-elected Osage Minerals Councilman Galen Crum is one of her most ardent supporters who has championed and defended her on the Osage Shareholders Association blog which has been a lightning rod of discussion, criticisms and praise for all the candidates, newsmakers and rumors aired through the Internet since the election seasons started heating up last year. In a June 29 posting to the blog, Crum wrote:

“When Amanda was barely in high school she announced that she was going to Harvard to study some major that would allow her to serve Native People. I smiled and encouraged her, (I’m her uncle) but I was certain her parents could never afford Harvard, even if she could qualify. But Amanda fooled me. She worked hard, got the grades, did the public service and extra curricular activities etc. that would land the necessary scholarships to pull it off. Harvard was very hard, not just the incredibly demanding curriculum, but also being a thousand miles from home, with little extra money. Scholarships pay for tuition, room, books etc., but not for plane trips home. I suspect a big, empty college campus is about the loneliest place on earth over Christmas and Thanksgiving breaks. But she stayed with her dream and got it done.”

Proctor completed her Harvard studies and graduated with an AB (bachelor’s) degree in anthropology in 1999. Proctor, who has participated in Native American cultural dances since childhood, founded the Harvard University Powwow in 1995 while attending the school.

After Harvard, Proctor started her work in Indian Country by working as housing directors for the Otoe-Missouria Tribe in Oklahoma and the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians in Dowagiac, Mich., before returning to school to pursue her law degree.

Proctor attended the University of Tulsa from 2003 to 2005 when she earned her Juris Doctorate as well as the Native American Law Certificate. The following year, she was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar Association and joined the staff of Sneed Lang Herrold PC, a Tulsa-based law firm where she focused on Native American law and has signed onto cases involving various tribal matters and causes including the Fletcher v. United States case which involves shareholders of the Osage Minerals Estate.

Today Proctor keeps home in Skiatook where she’s lived for the past five years. She is raising three sons as a single mother: Grayson, 8; Amory, 3; and Rhett, 11 months.

As attorney, Proctor is also general counsel for the Ponca Tribe and has provided legal work for the Otoe-Missouria on some projects. She left Sneed Lang Herrold last year to start Shield Law Group PLC with fellow TU law school graduate Katrina Jacuk who is a member of the Kenaitze tribe in Alaska and is of Aleut descent.

In the eight-year-old Fletcher case, in which Proctor is one of the attorneys of record, Osage plaintiffs William Sam Fletcher and Charles Pratt are seeking the return of headright shares which are being paid to non-Osage shareholders and entities with hundreds of defendants who have been served in the case.

Assistant Principal Chief candidate Amanda Proctor poses for the Osage News during the Pawhuska In-Lon-Schka. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Osage Nation Congressman-elect John Free (orange shirt) laughs with Daniel Boone (blue shirt) during a training session for the newly elected congressional members on June 30 in the Congressional Chambers. Both were elected to the Congress during the nations June 7 election. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

Six Osage tribal members elected to the Osage Nation Congress in the June 7 election received training June 29-30 in holding the Congressional sessions they will attend after taking the oath of office this month.

The Second ON Congress will be sworn in to office on July 7 with four new members joining the remaining eight, including two Congressmen who were elected for their second terms last month. In order for all the Congress members to have the same lessons in how the Legislative Branch works, Congressional staffers arranged for a seasoned Native American affairs consultant to come to Pawhuska and teach them.

James Mills, president of New York-based Creating Stronger Nations, led two days of training which touched on Roberts Rules of Order as well as lessons in governing ethics since both will be crucial keys for the Congress members to conduct business in the Congressional Chambers. The Osage News visited a portion of the training in which Mills encouraged the Congress members to use real-life examples during their lessons.

William “Kugee” Supernaw, who won a Congressional second term, referred to the tumultuous relationship the First ON Congress had in recent years with the Executive Branch and suggested that Congress consider stronger legislation which defines the roles of the Nation’s boards. Supernaw referred to the Nation’s Gaming Enterprise Board (the Congress declined to confirm two of three board members earlier this year) which he believed did not always seek or follow the advice of the chief executive officer.

“Congress basically sets the legislation that gives the boards their authority, correct?” Mills asked the group. “What is a board’s rule, what should be their job? A board’s job is to set policy… hire and fire the CEO and nobody else. That’s really what a board should be doing, they shouldn’t be getting involved in the day-to-day operations – that’s the kiss of death in most cases.”

“In Congress, your role is to legislate – simply put. It’s not to do all the other things,” Mills said in his lesson. “I see tribal councils all over the country that get involved in the day-to-day operations, just the single government tribal councils and they usually mess things up too. And then I see tribal councils that are really good at being really smart about the ‘taking your hands off approach.’”

In a brainstorming session, Mills asked all the training attendees to think of some recent issues which still need resolutions and asked everyone to come up with solutions for class discussion. One issue raised by Congressman and former Speaker Archie Mason, who participated in the trainings, involved the Nation’s budgets which became a contentious political topic after the budgets were not passed in time for the 2010 fiscal year. The FY 2010 budgets were not passed until this past January due to several debates between the Executive Branch which must prepare and present the budgets to Congress who ultimately approves them.

Mason said one solution he and another Congress member are proposing to prevent another budget standoff is to enforce a stricter deadline. The stricter budget rule shared by Mason would apply to budgets not handed in by a September deadline in which those budgets not turned in on time would only receive the same amount appropriated in the previous year’s budget.

The crowd offered murmurs of approval to the idea and Mills, who has worked in the private hospital sector before, said he’s seen a similar practice. “There are businesses that practice exactly that… when I was a hospital administrator, if someone didn’t submit their budget, last year’s budget was approved. That’s an effective tool.”

Participating in the trainings were first-term Congress members Alice Goodfox, John Free, Daniel Boone, Geoffrey Standing Bear and current Congressmen Raymond Red Corn, Supernaw and Mason. Also present were Kelly Corbin and Donna Buchanan from the Office of Fiscal Performance and Review and Congressional Clerk Alexis Rencountre and Assistant Congressional Clerk Barbara Rice.

Mills said he’s worked with over 300 Native American tribes on issues ranging from rewriting tribal constitutions, tribal ethics, training on other government topics and leadership training. He works with Jenni Monet (Laguna Pueblo) who is marketing director and also owner in Creating Stronger Nations.

Consultant James Mills reads a copy of the Osage Nation Constitution during a training session he led for the six newly elected congressional members on June 30. The six congressional members elected in the June 7 election take the oath of office on July 7. Photo by Chris Jake/Osage News

Osage News

Today is Inauguration Day at the Osage Nation in Pawhuska with swearing-in ceremonies scheduled for the Second Osage Nation Congress, the four judges of the Nation’s Judicial Branch and the Osage Minerals Council.

The inauguration events will be held in the following order:

All four judges representing the Judicial Branch will be sworn in at 10 a.m. at the Tribal Court Building, 1333 Grandview, with a reception to follow at the Osage Tribal Museum.

Those being sworn in are: Marvin Stepson, Osage Nation Trial Court Judge; Jeanine Logan, Osage Nation Supreme Court Associate Justice; Meredith Descygnes Drent, Osage Nation Supreme Court Associate Justice; and Charles H. Lohah, Chief Justice for the Osage Nation Supreme Court.

The Second Osage Nation Congress will be sworn in at noon at the Congressional Chambers on the Government Campus with a reception to follow at the Osage Tribal Museum.

The six Congress members elected or re-elected in the June 7 election will join the remaining six Congresspersons who have two years remaining in their terms.

First-time Congress members being sworn in are: Daniel Boone, John Free, Alice Goodfox, and Geoffrey Standing Bear. They will join re-elected Congressmen Raymond Red Corn and William “Kugee” Supernaw on the Congress with Jerri Jean Branstetter, Shannon Edwards, Archie Mason, Eddy Red Eagle Jr., Anthony Shackelford and Mark Simms to comprise the Second ON Congress.

The eight-person Osage Minerals Council will be sworn in at 2 p.m. in the Congressional Chambers with a reception to follow at the Dave Landrum Community Center.

Osage Minerals Councilmembers being sworn in are Joseph B. “Sonny” Abbot Jr., Curtis Bear, Cynthia Boone, Melvin Core, Galen Crum, Myron Red Eagle, Andrew Yates and Dudley Whitehorn.

Osage Nation Principal Chief candidate Tim Tall Chief (right) answers a question during the Osage News Political Debates on June 23. Fellow candidate John Red Eagle listens. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

Osage Nation Principal Chief candidates John Red Eagle and Tim Tall Chief returned to the lecterns to answer questions during the Osage News Political Debates held June 23 in Pawhuska.

Both men received the highest number of votes in the June 7 election and will compete in the Nation’s runoff election July 19. The Osage News hosted this second candidate debate for the Principal Chief and Assistant Principal Chief runoff election candidates and asked Red Eagle and Tall Chief eight questions.

Each candidate was allowed three minutes to answer each question and allowed one minute for rebuttal, or follow-ups after both candidates answered the question.

“Since you will have to hit the ground running when you take the oath of office in August, who have you considered for your administration?”

Both candidates did not name those who could be considered for appointed positions in their cabinets. Instead, Red Eagle and Tall Chief described how they would set up their administrations in the Executive Branch, if elected.

“Right now, I would use my assistant chief as the second highest official in charge, whoever that might be, and I plan to have a senior adviser who will advise the chief and possibly the assistant chief,” Red Eagle said. “I will have a legislative analyst who will do a lot of reading and write legislation that the administration wants to do and possibly work with the legislature in their efforts to produce legislation and law.”

Red Eagle said his administration will also have a budget analyst “who will look at the budgets since we do over 100 budgets for the Nation.” He will also have a communications officer and a “government affairs person who will do most of my legwork with other governments, local governments, county governments, state government.”

Tall Chief said he believes “it’s essential that we have the finest, the most highly qualified individuals in all of the roles we have in our administration.” He said his administration would include the positions Red Eagle listed and also “legal counsel and Office of Governmental Affairs. All those things have to be a very important part of what we do. I also believe we need a chief financial officer” who will be helping manage the budgets.

“I really believe that as you look at credentials of people who are going to be in these positions, there are many, many Osage people around the country that are highly qualified… to come and do these different roles that we talked about,” Tall Chief said. “Many of them would love to come back and be a part of this Nation and I think to provide that opportunity to our highly qualified folks out there would be a great move for our Nation to do.”

If elected, Tall Chief said he also plans to establish advisory groups for tribal youth and elders “to help me to help our assistant chief and to help our administration address the needs of our young and our old.”

After Tall Chief finished answering the question, Red Eagle used his follow-up minute to say he will appoint a treasurer for the Nation as allowed by the Constitution, but did not say who that person would be. “Right now that treasurer is the second highest paid individual in the Nation and we have to look seriously at that, consider their duties, what they have to do.”

Red Eagle also said “in the past, Congress has felt that producing boards has had a negative effect at times, we really have to lobby for the boards” because government officials need to consider costs and resources to support boards.

Tall Chief responded in his follow-up minute, stating: “One of the things that’s essential for us to create, ladies and gentlemen, is a team.” He then referred to the assistant principal chief’s position as “as an essential role and part” of the Executive Branch operations.

“What are your plans for the reservation status case?”

Last month, the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals denied to rehear the Nation’s case against the Oklahoma state Tax Commission, which left the Executive Branch 90 days to make a decision on whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nine-year-old case was first filed in 2001 in federal court in Tulsa. The case then went to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals where it ruled in December 2007 that the Nation could proceed against individual members of the Oklahoma Tax Commission. U.S. District Judge James Payne ruled in February of 2009 that Osage Nation employees are not exempt from paying state income taxes and that Osage County is not the Osage Reservation’s boundaries. The Nation asked him to reconsider his “lousy decision,” as Principal Chief Jim Gray put it at the time, but Payne let the ruling stand. The Nation appealed to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals again where there agreed with Payne’s ruling. The Nation asked the 10th Circuit to reconsider their decision in January of this year.

Tall Chief said “at this point, we don’t have any options… we have to keep that case alive… at this point, the only way to do that is to forward it onto the (U.S.) Supreme Court. We need to develop a brief and send it to the Supreme Court. The reason for that is simple: as long as it is alive, the state of Oklahoma has said ‘we will not come in and close your casinos because you all are in the process of trying to make them appropriate.’”

“We’re going to have about 20 days after the inauguration of chief and assistant chief to get that (brief) to the Supreme Court… we’re going to have to act fast.” Tall Chief said it could take eight months for the Supreme Court to decide whether to hear the case, so the Nation should use that time to contact state and Bureau of Indian Affairs officials to get the three casino properties, which are at issue, into trust.

Red Eagle also believes appealing the case is essential to “buy some time,” but noted “It’s my understanding that the percentage of the Supreme Court hearing a case like this is 1 percent.” He believes the Nation needs to communicate with government officials, especially those on the federal level who handle trust land applications as well as the National Indian Gaming Commission to keep the Nation’s casinos operating and to avoid hurting the gaming revenues.

“We are in a situation where we need to make some definite moves, whoever the next chief is going to be, they’re going to have some quick decisions to make,” Red Eagle said.

“With up to nearly 50 percent of our gaming revenue at risk, what is your plan to secure the growth of our tribal resources?”

If the case involving the Nation and the Oklahoma Tax Commission is ultimately lost, the Nation stands to lose gaming revenues generated from the Tulsa, Ponca City and Skiatook casinos if they are forced to close, which prompts the question on what the candidates will do to secure the growth of tribal resources.

Red Eagle referred to the Osage Limited Liability Company which was set up in 2009 to generate non-gaming income for the Nation. “They were given $7.5 million last spring” through an appropriation bill passed by Congress and have made passive investments, he said. “We have to look at that to see if they have the ability to produce some revenue for this Nation.”

If elected, Red Eagle said he will “start an internal audit department to see and assess where we are… see how our money’s being spent, see what’s wasted, what is going out that shouldn’t be going out, what is spent that shouldn’t be spent. We need people that will show us what’s wrong, where it needs to be fixed and that’s what an assessment does.”

Tall Chief said “the answer is diversification, No. 1” in referring to business opportunities which are independent from gaming. He acknowledged the LLC as Red Eagle did in his answer, but noted the Nation will not see instant revenues from the LLC efforts, so the Nation should also “pursue grants very hard.”

“Again, we tend to depend on the money that’s available at hand and we don’t sometimes pursue the grants that are out there that could replace some of the money that we’re using from casinos,” Tall Chief said. In his answer, he also said the Nation should immediately address the trust land issue affecting the three casinos at stake.

“For example, the Ponca (City) casino, that one is on wheels, it’s a double-wide on wheels,” Tall Chief said of the casino’s building structure. “There’s trust land around, there’s trust land we can perhaps purchase, that we could lease. We could pull up that casino and move it to those trust lands and it would not be in jeopardy anymore. Tall Chief said if the worse-case scenario occurs and the Tulsa casino must close, he would like to consider starting a tribal college in that casino’s building which could be an additional source of Nation revenue.

In his one-minute follow-up, Red Eagle said he’s “all for college,” but noted colleges cost money to build and casino revenue has dropped in the past two years from “$50 million-plus to $34 million… If that revenue continues to drop then we’re going to have to do some serious cutbacks, then we have to look at making money in this economy today [and it’s] a little bit harder than it was 25 years ago, so we have to look at this very seriously.”

Tall Chief said in his one-minute follow-up he believes the Nation should buy a bank because “we are generating millions of dollars and those monies are going into someone else’s bank. Believe me, when it hits their bank it doesn’t just sit there, it’s moving, it’s making them money… it needs to be in our bank, it needs to be making the Osage people money.”

“Since you will be handling the program’s budgets for the Nation when you are sworn into office, are you going to advocate to hold the Nation’s spending at 2010 levels?”

Tall Chief said the Nation should prepare two budget plans in case revenue has decreased. The first budget should have all the proposed increases in spending for government operations and cost-of-living salary increases for employees and the second budget should reflect the previous year’s budget if there is no increases in the Nation’s revenue, he said.

Red Eagle said he checked the casino revenue figure in May and believes the Nation is “below budget” for hitting the projected revenue figure of $25 million, so he supports holding government spending at 2010 levels. “From now on, I think we should look at where are we wasting our money? Where we’re spending too much, and then take that money” to build a “rainy day fund” and seek banking advice on investing it.

“If elected, will you be lifting the ‘gag order’? If so, will there be any type of communication protocol with your administration?”

This question refers to the communication protocol implemented last year by Chief Jim Gray 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.”

“Yes, I will be lifting the gag order because I believe that the Nation’s revenue is the people’s revenue and an elected official has every right to see the financials,” Red Eagle said, adding he plans to develop a protocol which would be suitable for Osage citizens and tribal employees “because they are a vital part in our Nation, they need to know what’s going on.”

Tall Chief said “the gag order never should have been put in place, it’s one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard - to tell the employees they can’t talk to legislators, to Congressional people” about their government program’s operations and finances. “The finest, most knowledgeable people in our program areas are the people who are doing it.”

“As far as a protocol, again, I think that any congressperson and any citizen has the right to speak to any employee within this Nation as long as it’s not impeding their work responsibilities,” Tall Chief said.

“What would be the advantages and disadvantages of taking over the management of the Pawhuska Clinic? Does the Nation have the administrative capacity to effectively manage the Pawhuska (Indian Health Service) Clinic? Why or why not?

Tall Chief, who is currently the vice chairman of the Nation’s Health and Wellness Advisory Board, said he and other board members recommended the Nation take over the operations of the IHS-run clinic two years ago. A feasibility study on whether the tribe should take over the clinic was recently conducted and its results say the takeover effort “would be very appropriate,” he said.

“The finances are there, the people are there, the expertise is there and we can manage that,” Tall Chief said of the clinic feasibility study. He said the clinic should focus on its third-party billing practices to generate revenue and referred to an example from his Oklahoma State Department of Health post.

“When I was at State Health, we raised our Medicaid (our third-party billing money) from $2 million - in three years, it was to $18 million… We can bill Medicaid for the (clinic) services we are providing if our customers we are serving are eligible - we need to make sure that everybody applies.” Tall Chief believes increased clinic revenue should be used to increase clinic services and the number of staff including doctors and nurses who handle patient care.

Red Eagle said the clinic could serve more Osages by expanding the patient service area if the Nation takes over its operations because only patients living in Osage and Pawnee counties are eligible to receive care at the clinic. Compacting the clinic “would give us the revenue and right now, I believe that revenue is around $5 million to operate that clinic yearly. We would take that and we could manage that revenue in how we wanted to” run the clinic, he said.

“What is the scope of responsibilities of the chief of staff now that there is a tribal operations director?”

Red Eagle said the “current chief of staff advises the principal chief and that is primarily her job. She advises him on tribal matters, on those tribal matters dealing with other tribes… She advises him on legal counsel even though our present chief of staff is not an attorney… I believe that she writes legislation, she reads legislation, she advised the chief on whether to veto a bill or not to veto a bill, whether that bill is good or whether it’s not good, so primarily her job has been those duties over the past year since the new director of operations came on board.”

Red Eagle is referring to current Chief of Staff Hepsi Barnett who also “participates in the finances of the government” and he said he believes “she is given primarily more authority over the assistant chief at the present time.”

Tall Chief said the tribal operations director is a relatively new position, but “I’m not sure it needs to be there.” He said he is not proposing to add more positions, but he “would like to combine some roles into an existing position and add some additional responsibilities to the folks.”

“As far as the chief of staff,” said Tall Chief, “I believe the current chief of staff’s role has gone beyond its appropriate level and I really believe the role of the chief of staff is to be the assistant in every possible way to the chief. I don’t think decisions, at the magnitude that John (Red Eagle) described should be in the hands of the chief of staff. I think the chief of staff is there to manage folks, to oversee some of the operations, but to not make those kind of decisions – those decisions belong to the assistant chief and to the chief.”

“Who would you like to work with as your Assistant Principal Chief and why?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Tall Chief said with a smile after the moderator read the question out loud. “Let me say this ladies and gentlemen, both of the folks that are in the running for assistant principal chief have some wonderful credentials.

“Now you understand I’m probably not going to answer this, but understand I’ve known Scott BigHorse, we’ve been in that arena for many, many years,” Tall Chief said. “I’ve danced to Scott’s songs for many, many years… he has some experience in state government. Amanda Proctor is Harvard-educated, she has a law degree, she’s an attorney, she’s done a lot of work with many, many tribes,” he said.

“I’ve spent some time with both of them, I’ve talked to them, we’ve talked about what-ifs, we’ve talked about how to move forward, how do we continue to work together,” Tall Chief said. “And I believe in my heart that I could work with either one of them and help this Nation move forward and be successful. That’s no answer, but it’s my answer,” he said with the audience reacting with laughs.

“The two individuals who made the runoff after the general election are two very qualified individuals as Tim said,” Red Eagle said. “Amanda is an attorney who would bring a lot of good things to the Nation. Scott would bring his legislative experience and I believe that because of the relationship that I’ve had with them – Scott (in the Indian culture) is actually my nephew, so I could have a little say-so over him, Amanda is probably my niece because she’s made a relationship with my father,” he said jokingly before ending with “I trust the Osage people to make the right decision.”

About 100 people came to the June 23 runoff candidates’ debate at the Wah-Zha-Zhi Cultural Center. The Osage News formed a question committee to brainstorm and develop the questions posed to the candidates who participated in the Political Debates. The debate was emceed by Susan Shannon, host of KGOU’s Indian Times and was moderated by Jim Hill, a volunteer from the League of Women Voters of Greater Tulsa.

Audience members listen to the Principal Chief candidates speak during the Osage News Political Debates on June 23 in Pawhuska. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Principal Chief candidate Tim Tall Chief answers a question at the Osage News Political Debates on June 23 in Pawhuska. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Principal Chief candidate John Red Eagle answers a question at the Osage News Political Debates on June 23 in Pawhuska. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Moderator Jim Hill (green shirt) wishes the Osage Nation Principal Chief candidates John Red Eagle and Tim Tall Chief the best of luck after the candidates answer eight questions at the Osage News Political Debates on June 23 in Pawhuska. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Osage Nation Principal Chief candidate John Red Eagle returns to his seat after answering questions at the Osage News Political Debates on June 23 in Pawhuska. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

The Osage Nation campus. Osage News file photo

[Editor's Note: This story was modified on June 15 to note that re-elected Osage Congressman William Supernaw was not going to have a celebration dinner but an appreciation dinner. The Osage News regrets the error.]

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

The Osage people have chosen the six members of Congress they wish to serve for the next four years.

Those six are Geoffrey Standing Bear, incumbent Raymond Red Corn, incumbent William “Kugee” Supernaw, Alice Goodfox, Daniel Boone and John Free Jr. More than 2,500 Osages voted in the June 7 election.

Standing Bear, who received the most votes, said he wasn’t surprised by the results because he knew that the Osage people wanted a change, a different direction and transparency in their government.

“I want to thank all those who showed me that by their vote I have a job to do for our people,” said the long-time attorney and past Assistant Principal Chief who served from 1990-1994. “We need to get to work immediately in changing the structure and processes in this government which has led to so much distrust and disagreement.”

According to Standing Bear’s Web site, standingbearosagecongress.com, he will first focus on protecting the Mineral Estate and second he will work on creating a tribal economy to “keep the Osage people together, connected and economically prosperous.”

Red Corn, who will be serving his second term, said that he wanted to thank the Election Board and its staff for all the hard work they did under the time constraints and stressful situation.

“I just want to thank all of those who offered their support and their votes during the election process,” Red Corn said. “We have much work to do, and the challenges before us will test both veterans and newcomers. The election process obviously needs fine-tuning, but that’s what amendments are for - there is always room for improvement.”

Red Corn, who is the author of the Nation’s election law and the Osage Limited Liability Corporation, is the author of 49 pieces of legislation during his first term on the Osage congress. Out of those 49 pieces of legislation 25 have been enrolled (delivered to the chief for signature), according to a preliminary report compiled by Osage Congress Communications on April 23 of this year

Supernaw, who will be serving his second term, said he wanted to thank everyone who participated in the election process.

“The new officers face some of the most challenging problems the Osage Nation has ever encountered,” Supernaw said. “We will all have to work together to resolve them. I am hoping the new administration will work to reduce the size of the bureaucracy and focus our attention on the people we should serve.”

He also added that he’s been so busy that he and another recently elected official were going to have an appreciation dinner since he never formally got to announce his candidacy in the Osage News. Supernaw also sponsored the first amendment to be considered by the Osage people June 7 but the amendment failed to get the required 65 percent of the vote.

Supernaw, who is known for his Notes to the Nation e-mail newsletter and the development of the Office of Fiscal Performance Review, authored 26 pieces of legislation during his first term on the Osage congress. Out of those 26 pieces of legislation 10 have been enrolled (delivered to the chief for signature), according to a preliminary report compiled by Osage Congress Communications on April 23 of this year.

Goodfox, who is currently employed as the Human Resources Supervisor with the Million Dollar Elm Casino and lives in Hominy with her husband and son, was also “pleased” that a large number of Osages came out to vote on Election Day.

“There were several candidates that I did not know before the campaign started and over the last few months it has been wonderful to make new friendships,” Goodfox said. “ I am looking forward to working with the six year congress members as well as the newly elected congress members. There is a lot of work to do, and I am ready to get started.”

According to Goodfox’s campaign Web site, she has her bachelor’s in Family Studies from the University of Maryland and her master’s in Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma. Goodfox is also a certified focus group moderator and has worked with tribes across the country on issues involving alcohol and substance abuse prevention and treatment, mental health, and education “doing both quantitative and qualitative research.” To learn more about Goodfox visit alicegoodfox.com.

Boone, who is the son of re-elect Minerals Councilwoman Cynthia Boone, had only this to say, “On behalf of ‘Boone in June’ my family and I would like to thank everyone who voted for us, donated to us, and those who came by for a meat pie and pop!”

Boone, who lives in Pawhuska and owns his own landscaping company, said that his main areas of focus once taking the oath of office will be to support cultural perpetuation and accountability in government.

Free could not be reached for comment by the time this article was published. Free is the owner of the successful bronze studio called The Bronze Horse in Pawhuska. A known artist and sculptor, his works can be seen around Oklahoma. He said his main areas of focus upon taking the oath of office will be to protect the operations of our casinos and promote an open and honest government.

Newly elected Osage Nation Congressman Geoffrey Standing Bear

Re-elected Osage Nation Congressman Raymond Red Corn

Re-elected Osage Nation Congressman William Supernaw

Newly elected Osage Nation Congresswoman Alice Goodfox

Newly elected Osage Nation Congressman Daniel Boone

Newly elected official John Free Jr.

A map outlining the 300 foot perimeter around the poll on Election Day. Map courtesy of the ON Properties Department

[Editor's Note: This story was modified on June 1, 2010.]

Osage News

Election Day is fast approaching and soon Osages will go to the poll.

On the ballot for the general election race will be 31 candidates, three Osage Nation Supreme Court justices up for retention and a proposed amendment to the Osage Constitution. On the Minerals Council ballot are 24 candidates to choose from.

The poll opens at 8 a.m. on June 7 at the Osage Nation Tribal Administration Building, also known as the Congressional chambers and the Minerals Council chambers, and closes at 8 p.m. The results of the general election will be announced at approximately 10 p.m.

The Osage News will be posting news throughout the day on osagenews.org and will post the results as soon as they are announced.

Electioneering law

One new law that separates this election from past elections is the new electioneering law. No printed or written material for a specific candidate will be allowed within 300 feet of the polling place on Election Day. That means t-shirts, pens, cups, water bottles, hats, fans, bumper stickers, fly swatters etc. anything campaign related.

The Osage Nation Police Department will be checking coolers for “meatpies with fortune cookie messages” and other possible electioneering materials, watching for people making cell phone calls campaigning within the 300 foot perimeter, said Lisa Otipoby, election supervisor. The penalty for ignoring this law could result in arrest, being charged with a misdemeanor, a $1,000 fine and up to three months in jail.

The poll

A person must be 18-years-old or older and possess a government issued photo ID in order to vote.

Assistance will be provided for those that are disabled or have a language barrier, at least two election officials will assist those persons disabled, no proxy voting will be allowed.

Voting will be supervised by representatives from the company TrueBallot, election volunteers and the Osage Nation Election Board. Once a person’s ballot is completed, that person then hands it to the representative of TrueBallot and he/ she then scans the ballot and a picture duplicate is made.

At 8 p.m. the polls will close and the counting will begin. TrueBallot representatives will then run their patented computer program TrueReview that will go through each scanned ballot to tally the votes. This electronic ballot system displays, counts, searches, sorts and audits electronic (scanned) images of the paper ballots cast. The scanned ballots are then brought up onto a computer screen which will be reviewed by election board staff.

For each discrepancy or questionable ballot, the ballot committee will look at the computer image of the ballot in question to determine whether the ballot will be counted or rejected. For more information about TrueBallot, Inc., visit their Web site at www.trueballot.com.

TrueBallot is a new company being used by the election board and has not been used in previous elections.

Absentee ballots

The counting of absentee ballots will begin at 10 a.m. on Election Day.

An eligible voter who has requested an absentee ballot may vote in person on Election Day once they have turned in their absentee ballot that was issued to them. If the voter doesn’t have the absentee ballot that was previously issued to them they can sign an affidavit saying that the voter has not previously cast the absentee ballot and that they wish to vote in person.

All absentee ballots that are received after 10 a.m. on Election Day will be held at the Pawhuska Post Office for 48 hours and then retrieved by the election board supervisor and handed to the election board on June 9. All absentee ballots postmarked before June 7 will be counted in the event those ballots would make a difference in a race.

Run-off election

In the event that a candidate does not receive 50 percent plus 1 of the vote in the principal and assistant principal chief races, the two candidates that receive the highest number of votes will be in a run-off election that will be held on July 19.

All those that voted by absentee ballot in the June 7 election will automatically receive an absentee ballot for the July 19 run-off election. Those that voted in person for the June 7 election but will have to vote by absentee for the July 19 run-off election must request an absentee ballot by June 30.

In the congressional race if there are three or more candidates tied for the sixth position, the names shall be placed on the runoff ballot or all candidates tied for the sixth position can agree in writing to decide the sixth position by lot drawing.

For more information on the election contact the election board office at (918) 287-5286, toll free (877) 560-5286 or email aharris@osagetribe.org or ddavis@osagetribe.org.