d
The Gold King Mine spill: One year later
d
Trahant Reports: Where are your women?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Hillary Clinton’s acceptance of the Democratic nomination for president last week sent a message that traveled far beyond the convention hall in Philadelphia.
This is Trahant Reports.
It was a story told in hundreds of tweets from mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts and uncles, and those who make up a larger American family. So many beautiful tweets that showed a daughter watching television at the moment Clinton walked on stage.
One second, one idea, one moment, that said so much about what’s possible.
A tweet from Margo Gray (Osage): “@HillaryClinton you accepted and my Granddaughter said take a pic and post it to her.” That she did.
It was like that across my twitter feed. Many fathers in tears, crying about what their daughters might do. It meant so much, so many said, to see their daughter’s face and excitement for the first female presidential nominee.
“When there are no ceilings, the sky’s the limit,” Clinton said. A line we all knew to be true.
As the tweets rolled past: I thought about Wilma Mankiller. She was fond about telling a story about the first treaty negotiations between the Cherokee Tribe and the United States. One of the first questions: “Where are your women?”
Mankiller said it was common for Cherokee women to be included in ceremonies and it was inconceivable that the United States would come to pass a negotiation alone. How can you bargain anything with only half your people or half a way of thinking?
“Where are your women?” That question has a new meaning when 14 United States senators told their stories at the convention. One of those women, Sen. Barbara Mikulski,was the first woman elected to the Senate. That was only 1986.
The story of women in Congress parallels that of Native Americans running for and winning office across the country. First one person wins, then another, then another, and so on. “Where are your women?” is a question with a different answer every election. In state legislatures, Congress, and soon, possibly, the White House. Where are your women? Running governments.
A young man once asked Mankiller what he should call her. She was then principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, and twice elected as the leader of some 200,000 people. But this young man was uncomfortable with what he called a “male” term. “Should we address you as chieftainess?” he asked. Mankiller didn’t say a word. Then, after hearing the suggestion “chief ette,” she responded. “I told him to call me `Ms.-Chief’ or `misChief.’ ”
And so it goes for a would-be Madame President. Her acceptance speech included plenty of policy — and that will be the subject of many commentaries going forward. But first, we need to think about the barrier that was lifted because so much mischief possible in a world without ceilings.
I am Mark Trahant.
Trahant Reports is brought to you by Kauffman & Associates, Inc., a Native American owned, woman-owned small business that has delivered innovative .solutions for government and commercial clients since 1990. KAI’s expertise spans diverse specialty areas, including public health, education, and economic development.
Trahant Reports – #NativeVote16 Democrats take the stage
Democrats take the stage this week in Philadelphia. Like the Republicans last week, a political convention represents a party’s best pitch to voters.
This is Trahant Reports.
The Democratic convention will be a stark contrast to the Republican event. This time around the positions of the two major parties could not be more different. It’s not just about Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump; it’s a debate about a range of policies from healthcare to climate change.
The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, including the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. The Democrats don’t.
Democrats want a climate change plan; Republicans don’t buy the science. Instead they favor more oil, gas, and coal development.
One thing you will see this week: There will be a large number of Native American delegates.
The Democrats’ platform also includes a significant section on Native American issues. Quote: “American Indian and Alaska Native tribes have always been sovereign, self-governing communities, and we affirm their inherent right to self-government as well as the unique government-to-government relationship they share with the United States.”
There are many other provisions, including strengthening tribal jurisdiction in the Violence Against Women Act.
Deborah Parker, a former vice chair of the Tulalip Tribes, served on the platform committee. Delegates will vote to approve a final platform. One Native voice, State Rep. Peggy Flanagan, representing St. Louis Park, Minnesota, will be a speaker at the convention. She is Ojibwa.
As this convention begins there are new questions about the primary process. A batch of stolen emails—the polite word is hacked—show that party leaders were working behind the scenes on behalf of Hillary Clinton and against Bernie Sanders.
This is exactly what Sanders and his supporters have been saying for months.
Two important points: First, this is an ideal moment to embrace election reform. Shake up the primary system, make it more fair and transparent. Second, I’d like to see Indian Country have its own primary election in the future. It would be the ideal, government to government vehicle, for Native people to have more of a say in the future of the country. I especially like the idea that America’s First Nations should go first.
However it happens, election reform is critical and it’s essential that people’s votes are counted fairly. There remain too many barriers to voting in many parts of this country. And that needs to be fixed. Both in the primary and especially in the November election.
Indian Country has done well during the past eight years under President Obama — so it’s important to find out how the next Democratic team will build on that legacy. How do we make the next four years, or eight, even better? That’s the question that will need an answer this week. I am Mark Trahant reporting.
***
Trahant Reports is brought to you by Kauffman & Associates, Inc., a Native American owned, woman-owned small business that has delivered innovative .solutions for government and commercial clients since 1990. KAI’s expertise spans diverse specialty areas, including public health, education, and economic development.
Trahant Reports – #NativeVote16 Guide to Republican Convention
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
#NativeVote16
It’s time for the Republican Party and its soon-to-be nominee Donald J. Trump making their best case for winning the White House and Congress.
This is Trahant Reports.
This will not be an election where the color gray will be debated. The differences on issues between Republicans and Democrats are stark.
The Republican Party platform will be a good place to start in exploring the choice ahead. The party says the bible should be a guide when legislating and laws “must be consistent with God-given, natural rights.”
Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, who is chair of the platform committee, said the document is conservative, “reflecting the views, and the values, and the vision of the Republican Party.”
What does that mean for Indian Country?
Much of the party’s focus right now is on energy policy. Trump has said several times that he would remove barriers to oil and coal production to create more jobs.
Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, is one of the convention speakers. He recently said: “In communities like Colstrip and other small communities, coal and other natural resources are the only answer. For the great coal nation of the Crow, there’s treaties. The treaties specifically state the United States shall not interfere with their destiny if they choose to mine their coal. As a sovereign nation they have every right to export their coal as they choose. But when the government gets in the way, as we have done, we have violated a treaty.”
I am not sure where that line in the Crow Treaty of 1868 is “specifically” found.
In this election cycle, Republicans are carrying the banner for more coal development, what the party calls, “an abundant, clean, affordable, reliable domestic energy resource.”
The problem, however, is that a Republican victory will not bring coal markets back to life. Natural gas is cheaper. Shipping coal to China is problematic (and Chinese consumption is declining anyway) plus every day more renewable sources come on line. The future is doing something else instead of coal as the “only answer.” And, if a kicker is needed, it’s this: Northwest tribes have also asserted their treaty rights to fish for salmon. And salmon require waters that are not polluted by coal dust.
Another draft plank in the Republican platform impacts treaty rights and that’s the call for Congress to “immediately pass universal legislation providing the timely and orderly mechanism requiring the federal government to convey certain federally controlled public lands to the states.”
Tribal rights to hunt and fish on public lands are often included, yes, even, specifically in treaty language. So any transfer of those lands ought to go to the tribes whose land it was first.
So there you have it: There is no climate change, only coal. This reflects the GOP’s best case.
I am Mark Trahant reporting.
Trahant Reports is brought to you by Kauffman & Associates, Inc., a Native American owned, woman-owned small business that has delivered innovative solutions for government and commercial clients since 1990. KAI’s expertise spans diverse specialty areas, including public health, education, and economic development.
The new landscape for Alaska Native land decisions
sdfsd
Trahant Reports – The mechanics of democracy
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Amy Croover will work with Montana Democrats to encourage more Native Americans to register and vote. (Photo via press release.)
Politics is usually about policy choices. But it’s also about basic election mechanics, figuring out who does what.
This is Trahant Reports.
The Montana Democratic Party hired Amy Croover as director of its Native Vote program. Her task is to increase the number of Native American voters.
The message is significant. Montana Democrats are investing resources to give American Indian voters a greater say.
Croover has a solid resume. She’s a Ho-Chunk tribal member who has already worked with Montana tribes and was Sen. Jon Tester’s Native American liaison.
Now let’s put this news in context.
At its core politics is about two things: Policy and mechanics. Policy is the ideas, often the stuff that happens after elections; mechanics is how policy gets made.
Another way to think about the difference: Policy is usually what politicians talk about. Mechanics is the work that’s actually done by people whose names we may never know.
Political parties (both Republicans and Democrats) talk a lot about American Indian and Alaska Native policy. President Nixon’s 1970 message that declared an end to termination and the promotion of self-determination was a policy prescription. But the mechanics was left to Congress, largely, Forrest Gerard working with Sen. Henry Jackson and Franklin Ducheneaux, who was Rep. Morris Udall’s counsel in the House. The idea was not enough. Someone had to do the work.
It’s the same with elections.
This election is the right one to test the mechanical side of democracy in Indian Country because there are so many Native candidates on the ballot. The incentives are aligned in Montana for people to vote for Denise Juneau as well as Native candidates for the legislature.
Other states have seen initiatives to improve the mechanics of the Native vote. Two years ago, for example, Sen. Mark Begich made Alaska Native voters a key element of his unsuccessful bid for re-election. But. The thing is. Begich made the election a lot closer than it would have been had he not made the effort. And, his staff work in the many villages probably helped elect Gov. Bill Walker and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallot. The mechanics paid off.
The most common complaint I hear from Native candidates (especially former candidates who have lost) is that they get no help from their state or national party.
That needs to change because in the years to come Indian Country will need more investment in the mechanical side of politics. As the demographics of the nation shift, there will be more and more states and districts where the Native vote will make the difference. But for that to happen, someone has to do the work.
I am Mark Trahant reporting.
***
Trahant Reports is brought to you by Kauffman & Associates, Inc., a Native American owned, woman-owned small business that has delivered innovative solutions for government and commercial clients since 1990. KAI’s expertise spans diverse specialty areas, including public health, education, and economic development.
Trahant Reports – Stick Games
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Greg Gianforte, a Republican candidate for governor in Montana, plays stick games at the Arlee Celebration. (Photo via the candidate’s tweet.)
Make no mistake: The 2016 election is not routine. If you want proof, look no further than the weekend encampment at Montana’s Arlee Celebration. This is Trahant Reports.
The Arlee Celebration has been around for 118 years and it’s always on July 4th. So on Friday afternoon the Republican candidate for governor, Greg Gianforte, showed up at the celebration with a colleague and then proceeded to serve grilled burgers to all comers. Free food? At a powwow? Sure. Fire. Hit.
After the food, Gianforte played a round of stick games. That’s a traditional gambling game played in many parts of the country where you to try to discover in which hand someone is hiding a bone.
While Gianforte’s visit was friendly; he wasn’t exactly talking policy. This is where a Republican gamble for Indian Country gets tricky.
In any election it is smart for a Republican to try and peel off a few Native American votes. Montana Democrats have been successful reaching out to tribal communities for a long time, especially after the 2005 election of Gov. Brian Schweitzer. And it makes perfect sense for the GOP to pitch Native voters at a powwow.
But just a few miles from the camp is a visible reminder about how complex a simple idea can be. Just as you enter the reservation, a billboard advertises against the water compact with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes as an assault against non-Indian property rights. (It’s a deal that still must be approved by the federal government.)
Again in normal times it would be easy to dismiss antics of what are essentially fringe groups. But the Confederated Tribes’ territory, where the annual July 4th celebration occurs, is the heart of Montana’s opposition to tribal treaty rights, tribal management of resources, and, well just about anything with a reference to a tribe in any phrase.
This is where the Republican fault line is visible. The same people who shout at their government for working with tribes to solve problems are the ones who formed the Tea Party.
What makes this GOP divide even more pronounced is Donald Trump. As the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party he is adding fuel to The Hateful Mix, a blend of racism and anti-government rhetoric.
And that’s a mixture that not every Republican can tolerate.
On Friday former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot wrote in The Washington Post that he could neither endorse nor vote for Trump. Yet Rep. Ryan Zinke not only endorsed Trump but suggested he might make a good pick as vice president.
So every Republican candidate this election will play stick games. Look close: Which hand is hiding the bone marked Trump and which hand will be free?
I am Mark Trahant reporting.
Trahant Reports is brought to you by Kauffman & Associates, Inc., a Native American owned, woman-owned small business that has delivered innovative solutions for government and commercial clients since 1990. KAI’s expertise spans diverse specialty areas, including public health, education, and economic development.
Native in the Spotlight: Rita Coolidge
Natural disasters in Native America
dagrdasdf
