Turtle Talk

From the Leelanau News:

An attorney representing the Grand Traverse Band Election Board said the tribe is moving forward to resolve challenges filed by several tribal members including a candidate for the Tribal Chairman’s seat following the tribe’s Regular Election on May 21.

Tribal attorney William Brooks of Manistee said the Election Board met Monday evening in Peshawbestown to set procedures and a timeline for reviewing election challenges filed by Tribal Chairman candidate and sitting Tribal Councilor Derek J. Bailey, as well as three other tribal members, Katrina Smith, Rosemary Fay Antoine and Johnna L. Milks.

Brooks said he believed challenges filed with the Election Board over problems allegedly encountered by some voters at a polling place should be resolved by the board “within the next few weeks.” However, allegations of impropriety against the Election Board and its chairman, tribal elder Sam Evans, will take longer to resolve, he said.

In his election challenge, Bailey questioned not only the accuracy of the vote count, but also the “integrity of the outcome.” Under the Tribal Constitution, any allegations of impropriety against the Election Board must be considered by the Tribal Judiciary. Brooks said earlier this week that no Tribal Court hearing in the matter had yet been scheduled.

Challenges in the 2008 election process mark the second time that the seating of newly-elected or re-elected Tribal Council members has been delayed. Challenges filed during the Spring 2006 Tribal Election cycle resulted in the postponement of a swearing-in ceremony for three Tribal Councilors until January 2007.

Incumbent members of the Tribal Council continued to served beyond their terms until the 2006 challenges were resolved. In this year’s election, two of three Tribal Councilors whose terms were to expire on May 23, David Arroyo and Sandra Witherspoon, ran successfully for re-election. The third successful candidate in this year’s election, and new to the Tribal Council, was Brian Napont. He was a front-runner throughout the 2006 election cycle.

In that election, however, Napont’s name was removed from the Regular Election ballot by the Election Board following allegations that he violated campaign rules. The election challenges Napont filed against the Election Board in 2006 were dismissed – however, his challenges and others led to a major revision of the tribe’s election regulations last year.

Napont said this week he finds it “ironic” that following his clear victory in the 2008 Regular Election, he has still not been seated as a member of the Tribal Council because of ongoing allegations of impropriety against the Election Board.

Napont was to replace Bailey on the Tribal Council.

In his election challenge, Bailey asserted that voting machines in Benzie County did not work properly and polling places were not properly manned. In addition, Bailey accused the Election Board of distributing a “slanderous” email message about him to tribal employees just 22 hours before the election, giving him no time to respond.

“This discretionary abuse of power by the Election Board exhibited toward one candidate over another is unethical, immoral and not in the best interests of the tribe’s electoral process,” Bailey stated.

According to unofficial results of last month’s election, two-term incumbent Tribal Chairman Robert Kewaygoskum defeated Bailey in a 233-210 vote with just over half of the tribe’s eligible voters participating. Although the GTB has about 4,000 members in North America, only adults residing the the tribe’s six county service area in northwest Lower Michigan are allowed to vote in tribal elections.

Members of the tribal Election Board are all appointed by the Tribal Council – leading critics to suggest that an amendment to the Tribal Constitution should specify a different method of selecting Election Board members. Tribal members have also suggested that Tribal Judges, the Tribal Prosecutor, the Tribal Police Chief and other officials should be elected rather than appointed by the Tribal Council A committee of tribal members has been formed to consider what amendments to the Tribal Constitution might be appropriate.