Please watch this first:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#47381174
[ I am 1/32nd Chippewa and have the same Indian blood as Mr. Baker. Could I qualify like he does? Just curious! ]
After a bitter campaign in which the candidates attacked each other on everything from job creation to use of a private plane, one of the nation's largest American Indian tribes chose a new leader in an election decided by 11 votes.
http://newsok.com/cherokee-nation-elects-new-leader/article/3580753
After a bitter campaign in which the candidates attacked each other on everything from job creation to use of a private plane, one of the nation's largest American Indian tribes chose a new leader in an election decided by 11 votes.
MULTIMEDIA
Longtime councilman Bill John Baker unseated three-term incumbent Chad Smith and will be sworn in as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation on Aug. 14.
The tribe has nearly 300,000 members, making it one of the biggest in the nation and the largest in Oklahoma, where it has a 14-county jurisdiction. Many of its members live elsewhere, and the biggest different between the tribal election and a typical U.S. congressional campaign is the percentage of people who vote by absentee ballot. In 2007, it was nearly 20 percent.
More than 15,000 votes were cast this year, and the margin between Baker and Smith had been fewer than 30 since late Saturday. Tribal election officials spent the night behind closed doors, scrutinizing so-called “challenge” ballots, which are similar to provisional ballots, before determining the winner early Sunday.
Baker, who has served 12 years as a tribal councilman, will take the oath of office on Aug. 14.
“I'm humbled and honored to be the new Chief of the Cherokee Nation,” he said in a statement. “I want to thank everyone who supported me. … I think it's fair to say that every vote counted. We've come far, but we have far to go.
“Every day on the campaign trail I have said `we all come from one fire.' Now that the election is over, I hope we can all join together to keep our fire burning brighter than ever before. “
A noticeably fatigued Smith expressed appreciation to his supporters and staff “who accomplished great things in the last decade. We'll take action to review and affirm the ballot and the election.
“When you have 11 votes out of 15,000, you want to ensure that the count is affirmed,” he told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
Smith rose to power in 1999 after another tough campaign that ended with him unseating Joe Byrd, who replaced legendary tribal chief Wilma Mankiller when she retired. He campaigned largely on the tribe's business success, touting the creation of more than 5,000 “stable jobs” during the past decade, in fields as varied as hospitality, gaming, health services, education, security, information technology and tourism.
Smith claimed most of those jobs went to American Indians, largely Cherokees but some members of other tribes.
Baker disputed Smith's figures, claiming 1,000 Cherokee jobs were lost during his time in office and more needed to be done to employ the tribe's members. He accused the tribe of announcing a jobs initiative only in response to his stump speeches — a charge Smith denied, saying it had long been in the works.
Baker also criticized Smith for using a tribal airplane for travel and called for the tribe to spend more of its gaming revenues on health care. Smith said he followed a budget approved by the tribal council in using the tribe's twin-engine airplane. He also noted tribe went from spending $18 million per year health care in 1999 to more than $300 million a year now.
The campaign was as expensive as it was contentious, with the men combining to spend nearly a half-million dollars. Smith outdid Baker in fundraising and donations, but Baker, a Tahlequah businessman, loaned his campaign more than $115,000.
The turnout for this year's election was considerably higher than in 2007, when Smith won a third term as 13,903 voters cast ballots.
Tribal voters rejected measures that would have eliminated term limits for the principal and deputy chiefs and for seats on the tribal council. The term limits were put in place eight years ago. Smith had supported repealing them, even though he said during the campaign he didn't intend to run again. Baker supported keeping them.
Mankiller's stepson Chris Soap will face a runoff election next month in the race for deputy chief. He received almost 47 percent of the vote in a four-way race. His opponent will be Joe Crittenden, who finished second with a little more than 36 percent.
Soap was Smith's running mate, while Baker opted not to ally himself with any of the four deputy chief candidates, saying he would try to work with whoever won the election.
Read more: http://newsok.com/cherokee-nation-elects-new-leader/article/3580753#ixzz1uYs1yeA8
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http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/Article/Index/4922
The older Cherokee lady named as Tribal Councilor Bill John Baker’s great-grandmother on his (campaign) brochure is my great-grandmother, too. Ebben, my grandfather; Nancy Osage; Phillip Osage; and Mary Osage are all listed on the Dawes Rolls. Nancy was less than a full blood. She was married approximately five times. One gentleman was a Frenchman by the name of Dubois. Out of that union came Audey Baker, who was less than half Cherokee. Audey married a white man, out of which came Tim Baker, who was then less than a fourth Cherokee. Tim married a white woman and had children, so John must be less than an eighth Cherokee. My mother is Mary Osage Helton. She’s 96 and still living. She still talks about how difficult her life was with Audey Baker and John Carey as an aunt and uncle. How little they helped her and her family when they went through difficult times. Nancy Walker was married to men with the following last names: Osage, Dubois, Carey, Leathers and Tiner. I may have misspelled a name; something might be slightly incorrect, but if it is, it’s not out of trying to tell something that’s not true. I am telling my story from things that I learned from my mother. I am writing out of concern for the Cherokee people’s having the best person to lead them into an unsure future. Rather than being from a family known for self-promotion, I feel that I want someone who has demonstrated a real concern for the Cherokee people to lead the tribe. This information was unsolicited. I want the Cherokee people to have the opportunity to know how little Cherokee Mr. Baker really is. In my opinion John Baker needs to make his Certificate Degree of Indian Blood card information public. Linda Helton Mannford, Okla. Editor’s Note: Tribal Councilor Bill John Baker is listed in the Cherokee Nation Registration as having one-thirty second degree of Cherokee blood. Former Principal Chief John Ross was listed at one-eighth Cherokee, while Principal Chief W.W. Keeler was also one-thirty second. Former Principal Chief Ross Swimmer is listed as one-quarter, while Wilma Mankiller was half Cherokee. Current Principal Chief Chad Smith is listed at half Cherokee, too. The Cherokee Nation does not have a blood quantum for citizenship or for holding office. Citizens only need to have a Cherokee blood ancestor listed on the Final Dawes Rolls.
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Bill John Baker is a fourth generation of Cherokee, born and raised in Cherokee County and the great-grandson of Nancy Walker Osage, an early Tahlequah business owner and Cherokee Healer. Nancy’s mother, Sarah Tackett was brought to Tahlequah Indian Territory by friends after her parents died on the “Trail of Tears”. He and his wife Sherry have six children and nine grandchildren. He is a Graduate of Tahlequah High School. He graduated from Northeastern State University in 1972 with degrees in Political Science and History in Education with minor in Psychology and Sociology. Bill John has served on every standing committee for 12 years on the Tribal Council and was re-elected to a new 6 year term in June of 2007 before being elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in 2011.
