GRAYHORSE VILLAGE – On a sunny Sunday evening here, Joe Tillman hosted a campaign dinner as he seeks reelection to Osage Nation Congress in the 2024 General Election.
Approximately 100 attendees heard comments from Tillman in the village community building on April 28. Charles “Chuck” Tillman introduced his brother during the event stating: “He’s served two terms already, he’s going for his third term. I had a great opportunity to listen to some of the things my brother has talked about … His main concerns are for our elders, for our children. He would talk about funding and being fiscally responsible in making sure our money balancing the budget, he would say we only get this much money from gaming and we don’t need to overspend, but we need to take care of our kids and we need to take care of our elders.”
In his remarks, Tillman noted the Nation’s membership is now about 24,000 Osages with a government that employs about 500 people and has more than 100 annual budgets that Congress reviews and approves each year with both tribal and grant funding. “I’ve learned so much in my eight years of serving the Osage people on Congress about how this government works, there’s a lot to run this Nation … And that’s why I ask you to vet every single one of the candidates that are running this election,” he said.
Tillman said in recent years, the Nation received approximately $180 million in federal funding and most of it is earmarked or spent. “We have a lot of builds, new facilities, the list is out there, I think there’s 17-18-19 projects that will be built. Some of them are still on the shelf, the money’s been earmarked for those programs and buildings. One of my biggest concerns is the lack of planning that we had, we have to sustain these programs, buildings that we’re going to stock employees in and that costs money,” he said.
“Going forward, our responsibility as a Congress person is to look at every single appropriation bill that comes across our desk and we assign it to the proper committee of jurisdiction and we go in, usually in Appropriations, and we have to do a good job of vetting that bill, amending that bill, even if you have to amend it twice. Discussing that bill … it’s got to be passed out, it’s got to be scrutinized while it’s in there,” he said.
“I want you to know I take the job seriously, I’ve been around some wonderful leaders in my life, former Chiefs that I have a lot of respect for, my dad (the late Charles O. Tillman Jr.) is one of them,” Tillman said. “I’ve been Speaker, I’ve been Second Speaker, I’ve been chair of standing committees, chair of select committees, I’ve enjoyed my job. Congress has taken me to the right coast, left coast, but I want to run again and I hope you understand my passion for my job and what I do.”
