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Red Eagle elected OMC Chair, Cheshewalla elected second chair

The council discussed the upcoming 2026 election, a possible lease sale, grants and other minerals business at their Sept. 6 meeting

The Osage Minerals Council has new but familiar leadership in place.

At their Sept. 6 meeting, Councilman Myron Red Eagle was elected Chairman in a 6-2 vote. Voting “yes” were Councilors Kenneth Bighorse Jr. (who made the nomination), Joe Cheshewalla, Stephanie Erwin, Myron Red Eagle, Paul Revard and Anthony Shackelford. Voting “no” were Councilors Talee Redcorn and Everett Waller.

Cheshewalla was elected 7-1 to serve as second chair. Voting “yes” were Erwin, Redcorn, Red Eagle, Revard, Shackelford, Bighorse Jr. and Cheshewalla. Voting “no” was Waller.

Red Eagle replaces Waller as chairman and per the Minerals Council’s bylaws on elections, the council is required to hold an election of leadership every year in July. The council has not had an election since 2021. The council tried to call a special meeting on Aug. 8 to elect leadership and discuss other important matters but failed to make a quorum.

Waller, who first served as the Council’s chairman from 2014-2018 and again from 2021 to present, expressed his gratitude for serving in the leadership role.

“It’s been an honor to represent the Osages, for the last three tours of the Minerals Council. I want to say that it’s always a privilege and an honor. I also want to say it’s been an honor being on the Osage Tribal Council and the Osage Minerals Council,” Waller said. “And with that, I will assist my chairman and co-chair the best I can, and I appreciate you all. I understand the situation, I understand it very well. And with that, Thank You all, God bless you all, and God bless my people.”

Red Eagle, who has also served as chairman in the past, said he only wanted to serve as chairman for one year.

“It’s a big honor. I told some of the members that I would hold this for one year, just one year only,” he said. Then he would like for someone new to come on as chair in July 2025.

2026 Election

As the meeting continued, the Council discussed sending members to the Northern California Osage fall gathering on Oct. 6, a membership with Renewable Business Alliance, new oil leases and a Department of Energy grant.

They went into executive session to discuss Terrapro Solutions, a legal counsel update from their attorney Rollie Wilson, an attorney resolution correction and the Osage Nation vs. Department of Interior lawsuit. When the council came out of executive session, no action was taken from the items discussed in executive session.

Chairman Red Eagle wanted to discuss the upcoming 2026 election. He said he knew it was early to be discussing the election, but he wanted a head start on addressing the issues that arose in the 2022 election.

During the 2022 election and due to a post office error, 47 absentee ballot requests went unanswered. The post office had inadvertently placed the ballot requests in with the ballot lockbox and the error wasn’t discovered until Election Day.

The 47 absentee ballots are a significant number to be missing when one considers that the Minerals Council is not elected based on one person, one vote. They are elected by the total percentage of each headright a shareholder possesses. For example, if a voter has one headright, their vote counts more than a voter who has half. Those 47 missing ballots could have changed the tide of the election, especially for those candidates who narrowly lost. However, no contests were made to the 2022 election results.

Red Eagle said this is a scenario that can’t happen again. He did express optimism that the Pawhuska Post Office now has an Osage postmaster, Jim Stabler, who would know the difference between an absentee ballot request and an absentee ballot.

The council also discussed whether one of their staff members could serve as the OMC Election Designee, a position that Grayhorse elder Billie Ponca has long held.

Ponca told the Council in 2022 that part of the confusion from absentee voters was the fact there were two election offices, the OMC election office and Wahzhazhe Elections, with the latter hosting the Osage Nation’s general election. Some shareholders thought that if they requested an absentee ballot with Wahzhazhe Elections then they would also receive an absentee ballot for the Minerals Council election. They didn’t know there were separate election offices with different rules.

For instance, Wahzhazhe Elections offers the convenience of permanent absentee ballots, early voting, and allows voters to request absentee ballots online. In contrast, the OMC elections office does not provide these options, requiring shareholders to request absentee ballots through traditional mail.

The council discussed setting up an election committee to address the concerns and educate the public more about their election process.

Author

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Shannon Shaw Duty
Shannon Shaw Dutyhttps://osagenews.org

Title: Editor
Email: sshaw20@gmail.com
Twitter: @dutyshaw
Topic Expertise: Columnist, Culture, Community
Languages spoken: English, Osage (intermediate), Spanish (beginner)

Shannon Shaw Duty, Osage from the Grayhorse District, is the editor of the award-winning Osage News, the official independent media of the Osage Nation. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a master’s degree in Legal Studies with an emphasis in Indigenous Peoples Law. She currently sits on the Freedom of Information Committee for the Society of Professional Journalists. She has served as a board member for LION Publishers, as Vice President for the Pawhuska Public Schools Board of Education, on the Board of Directors for the Native American Journalists Association (now Indigenous Journalists Association) and served as a board member and Chairwoman for the Pawhuska Johnson O’Malley Parent Committee. She is a Chips Quinn Scholar, a former instructor for the Freedom Forum’s Native American Journalism Career Conference and the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute. She is a former reporter for The Santa Fe New Mexican. She is a 2012 recipient of the Native American 40 Under 40 from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. In 2014 she helped lead the Osage News to receive NAJA's Elias Boudinot Free Press Award. The Osage News won Best Newspaper from the SPJ-Oklahoma Chapter in their division 2018-2022. Her award-winning work has been published in Indian Country Today, The Washington Post, the Center for Public Integrity, NPR, the Associated Press, Tulsa World and others. She currently resides in Pawhuska, Okla., with her husband and together they share six children, two dogs and two cats.

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