Shiyo Snowbird and Cherokee County. My name is Larry Blythe and I am running for the office of Tribal Council Representative for our community. It would be an honor to serve again on our Tribal Council as your representative. I ask for your vote on June 1, 2017.
I have served in public office for our Tribe for 40 years. I was Forest Manager for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Cherokee Agency, for 25 years. I served on our Tribal Council for 14 years ( 8 for Painttown and 6 for Wolftown). I served for 12 years as the Vice Chief of our Tribe from 2003-2015. I have a unique perspective that I can bring to our Tribal Government having served in both the Executive and Legislative branches. All of this combined gives me the Experience that no other candidate has.
I am married to Wanda Jackson and live on Jackson Branch. We have 9 children and 14 grandchildren. We attend Little Snowbird Baptist Church. I am the son of Dorothy Shuler Blythe and the late Pete Johnson. I enjoy hiking, fishing, playing golf, playing guitar and singing.
As your Tribal Council Representative I am committed to getting legislation passed that protects our Tribal employees. Currently Tribal employees are considered at-will employees. This means that they can be terminated at any time, without cause and without recourse. This is just not right! I propose to give our Tribal employees, who feel that they have been wrongly terminated, the ability to have their issue heard in Tribal Court. This will require a waiver of our Tribe’s sovereign immunity but I feel it is the right thing to do.
As your Councilmember I will work to get a new Snowbird Tribal Complex constructed at the Jacob Cornsilk center to house our programs and employees presently there. Our Community deserves this. I also want to get the planning and construction of the Junaluska Museum underway. This Museum can be a center point for visitors to Graham County as it relates to our Cherokee story. It can encompass teaching, language, research and other facets of our history and culture. I want it to be world class. , For Cherokee County I will work to get an assisted living facility constructed, as well as getting adequate transportation returned to the Cherokee County Senior Citizens program, specifically: Vans.
We as a Tribe must continue to seek opportunities for Diversity in our economy. One way to do this is to truly look at the opportunity of 8-A contracting. This would require an organizational structure to pursue Federal contract set-asides which are specifically for minority owned or Tribal owned 8-A companies. The Tribe would totally own it. Another opportunity is in the area of Eco-Tourism. We must re-establish and strengthen our presence in both Raleigh, Washington DC and throughout Indian Country. We must get the Land-to-Trust committee reorganized and the Land-to-Trust issues back on the front burner. Future housing and economic development depend on it.
We must take a serious look at providing our Tribal members a legal forum to address grievances against Tribal Government decisions. This can be accomplished by fully clarifying and enabling our members to use the protections in the Indian Civil Rights Act.
I would appreciate your vote on June 1 to be your Tribal Council Representative.
THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR EXPERIENCE. Thank you.
