REGION
Saturday, October 16, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
Tribal incumbents face challenge to reelection bids
and board vice chair, and Andrea Hall.
Watchman talked about the need for the
tribes to recover from the pandemic, but he
said he appreciated everyone who continued
to participate in general council meetings
virtually.
Hall said she wants to grow general coun-
cil membership and engage with disenfran-
chised tribal members.
“I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘I don’t
bother with the (Confederated Umatilla Jour-
nal), I don’t look at the general council,’”
she said. I want to change that. I told them,
‘You’re my intended audience.’”
Crawford did not participate in the forum.
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
MISSION — Two years after Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
members swept out most of the incumbents
on its board of trustees, several are making a
bid to return to the board.
Ahead of the Nov. 9 election for the board
and offi cers on the CTUIR General Council,
tribal members held a virtual voters forum
Monday, Oct. 11, that featured 14 candidates
running for nine positions. Not all of the
candidates attended the forum and the four
candidates who are looking to return to the
board after losing in 2019 — Aaron Ashley,
Gary Burke, Rosenda Shippentower and
Willie Sigo IV — were absent.
The forum’s moderators, activist Briana
Spencer and Don Sampson, a former board
chair and executive director, provided each
candidate time for an opening statement
and answers to three pre-written questions
covering a variety of topics, including tribal
sovereignty, the environment and economic
development.
Board chair
Two years ago, Chair Kat Brigham ran
against the incumbent Burke to win the top
seat on the board. Now she’s running on her
record as she faces a challenge not only from
Burke but also from former Chair Elwood
Patawa and former at-large member Justin
Quaempts.
Brigham said she wanted to focus on
rebuilding the Thornhollow Bridge and work-
force development in her new term. On the
topic of climate change, Brigham said she
was more optimistic that work could be done
with the arrival of the Biden administration.
“Everything is connected,” she said. “You
cannot draw a straight line, as many, many
non-Indians have done, and say this is where
we’re going, we have to understand all of
these things are connected.”
Among the themes Quaempts touched on
were American Indian civil rights and the
need to end qualifi ed immunity for police offi -
cers across the country
“When you’re honest (and) open, you don’t
have anything to hide,” he said. “I’ve been
harassed and stopped by police in this coun-
try for unknown reasons. It’s not fair and it’s
not fun”
Burke and Patawa did not participate in
the forum.
Vice chair
Jeremy Wolf was one of the few incum-
bents to survive 2019, but he decided against
running in 2021. That opened up an oppor-
tunity for at-large member Jill-Marie Gavin,
who is running against Ashley, a former
at-large member who lost a race for secre-
At-large
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A ballot box sits outside the Nixyaawii Governance Center n Mission on Wednesday, Oct. 13,
2021. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation on Nov. 9 will hold an elec-
tion for its board of trustees and offi cers on the general council.
tary in 2019.
Gavin said she wants to continue working
on the tribes’ social services and highlighted
her community radio show, which she uses to
explain her political decisions.
“It’s not always positive, because people
don’t always feel happy about what we do,
but it’s important that we remain accountable
and that’s what I want to do over the next two
years,” she said.
Ashley did not participate in the forum.
Secretary
When incumbent Secretary Sally Kosey
was an at-large member in 2019, other board
members attempted to remove her from offi ce
over a residency dispute. After a trip to the
CTUIR Tribal Court, Kosey kept her seat on
the board, won her election for secretary and
saw all of the board members who tried to
remove her voted out of offi ce. In 2021, Kosey
is attempting to hold her secretary position
while facing challenges from David Wolf and
from Sigo, a former general council chair-
man.
Kosey said she’s learned a great deal since
becoming secretary and praised the CTUIR
for its strength before briefl y addressing the
residency issue.
“We grew up 5 miles off the reservation.
Does that make me any less Indian?,” Kosey
said. “No. I’m Indian, every day I wake up
and I want people to know that’s why I’m
here. I’m here to work for the people.”
Wolf advocated for more services and
benefi ts for the tribes’ veterans and elders,
HEAR ME
MY CHIEFS
adding that other tribes have more robust
services.
“I’ve listened to elders from other tribes
who have their insurances paid for, for their
health,” he said. “Suddenly, their life is richer.
Isn’t this something that we’ll think about
doing for elders? How many more elders that
we’re going to lose?
Sigo did not participate in the forum.
Treasurer
Tribal voters in the wave of 2019 elected
Sandy Sampson as treasurer. She seeks
reelection against Eugena Stacona.
Sampson said tribal government has been
responsible in the way it’s handled money
that came from multiple rounds of COVID-19
stimulus and would like the tribes to explore
new investments, such as growing hemp.
“Wheat is good, but we’re looking at other
sustainable sources,” she said.
Stacona pointed to her experience in both
public and tribal fi nance as making her a good
candidate for treasurer and later added the
general council should get more power to
make policy making decisions.
“There’s no checks and balances,” she said.
General council chair
The general council, a body composed
of the entire tribal electorate, votes for its
own set of officers, but the council chair
is the only position that also gets a vote
on the board of trustees. Incumbent Lind-
sey Watchman was elected in 2019 and
is running for a new term against Alan
Crawford, a former general council chair
All at-large candidates run on the same
ballot, with the top four vote getters securing
seats on the board. Incumbents Boots Pond
and Cor Sams are running for reelection.
Rounding out the fi eld is Lawanda Bronson,
Babette Cowapoo, Lisa Ganuelas, Michelle
Moses, Toby Patrick and Rosenda Shippen-
tower.
A member of the tribes’ Law and Order
Committee, Sams said the Umatilla Tribal
Police Department recently underwent an
external review that resulted in use-of-force
training and body cameras.
“We want equity,” she said. “We want
reform. We want to ensure that we trust our
police department.”
Ganuelas talked about her experience
advocating for the Yakama Nation and the
CTUIR in state legislatures and emphasized
the importance of the tribes fi ghting for water
rights in the face of widespread drought.
Pond, the other at-large incumbent, talked
about the need to keep the lines of commu-
nication open between the tribes and the city
of Pendleton.
“They’re right next to us so we need to
at least, biannually (or) annually meet with
them to fi gure out the issues that they have
that aff ect us and our issues that aff ect them,”
he said.
Moses advocated for the tribes to preserve
their traditional way of life and pass it down
to their children and later added that water
customers on the reservation who use it for
agricultural purposes should be charged a
regular bill.
While several candidates were interested
in the CTUIR getting involved in the hemp
industry, Cowapoo was more skeptical.
“Right now it’s not selling, because it’s
overrated ,” she said. ”And the market is
fl ooded out.”
Having run a huckleberry gathering camp
for many years, Patrick said climate change
was a threat to the tribes’ treaty rights and
their ability to gather, fi sh and hunt.
Shippentower and Bronson did not partic-
ipate in the forum.
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