By ROBERT JUMPER
One Feather Editor
“In the primary election, the two candidates receiving the most votes for the office of Principal Chief shall be certified by the Board of Elections and their names shall be placed on the ballot for the general election.” Section 161-5 of the Cherokee Code.
As we continue to speed through time to the primary election, the community has many questions; questions for those who govern and for those who aspire to govern. And when it comes to the Principal Chief’s election, Right Path Adult Leadership Alumni and EBCI Communications are poised to seek answers from the candidates for the high office of Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
Candidates for Principal Chief are the incumbent-Principal Chief Richard G. Sneed, former Principal Chief Michell Hicks, Robert Saunooke, Gene “Tunney” Crowe, Jr., Lori Taylor, and Gary Ledford.
On Wednesday, May 17 at the Chief Joyce Dugan Cultural Arts Center on the campus of Cherokee Central Schools, hopefully, the six candidates will appear to answer questions from the community on a range of issues that are critically relevant to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The plan includes a one-hour “meet and greet” with the candidates from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., then an approximately two-hour debate session from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
“The debate is being organized by the Right Path Adult Leadership Alumni. It is people who have successfully completed the Right Path Adult Leadership Program. The program graduated its first cohort in 2011. The main organizers of the debate are the officers – Ahli-sha Stephens, Chavella Taylor, Lakoda Bird, Michelle Long, Tara McCoy, and Tonya Carroll. And then our partners are the EBCI Communications Department, and they will live stream the event, so if people cannot attend the event, they may watch it live or on the live stream site later,” according to Tonya Carroll.
Jayson Crusenberry and Kristy Maney Herron, who are part of the EBCI Communication team, are also Right Path alumni. Jessica Winchester and the team at the Chief Joyce Dugan Cultural Arts Center are also contributing to the effort to prepare the space for the debate. Additional volunteers from the Right Path Adult Leadership Alumni will also be there to assist.
Jayson Crusenberry, director of EBCI Communications, stated that the debate will be live streamed to the EBCI Communications Facebook page. The debate will also be shown on Cherokee Cable Channel 28, but not until the next day. He said that when Communications goes “out on location” their equipment will not currently allow for live broadcast on Channel 28, but he is working on upgrades to hopefully be able to do that in the future. The debates will also be replayed on the Communications Facebook page and EBCI.com.
Carroll said she appreciated that people who might not be able to attend would have the option of seeing it virtually.
Lakoda Bird agreed, saying, “I think it is good for people who live in Snowbird, because they don’t get Channel 28 down there and it is quite a drive to come up here to Cherokee. The internet service has improved down there so it is something they can tune into while they are there.”
Carroll stated that a few community members had reached out to Alumni members asking if Right Path would consider doing a Chief’s debate before the Primary. With six candidates and several issues and topics that the community would like to hear each candidate’s views on, it was felt that a forum to discuss those issues in a way that the community could evaluate them needed to be held. Other entities, including the One Feather, had considered a pre-primary debate, but timing and other issues prevented it. The May 17 date was the only available day that all three primary entities, Right Path Leadership Alumni, EBCI Communications, and the Chief Joyce Dugan Cultural Arts Center, could work the debate into their schedules.
“It is just a way for us to give back to the community and to people who are interested in hearing from the candidates,” stated Carroll.
The committee is working on topics for questions to ask the candidates. Only the topics will be sent to the candidates prior to debate night. None of the candidates will see or hear the actual questions until that night. Having six candidates and the need to give each candidate time to substantively respond to questions, Carroll said that it is likely that between six and eight questions will able to be addressed if all six candidates make it to the event. The committee plans to ask the community to provide input for the questioning and will be sending the One Feather a survey question for social media so that community members may share their thoughts.
Crusenberry and Ahli-sha Stephens will be moderating the event. Crusenberry has studied the format and structure of debates. He said, “We want to have a debate similar to the presidential primary debates. Candidates for Chief, we will give them around three minutes to introduce themselves and their platforms, then we will divide the remaining time into six questions. We want to allow each candidate two minutes to respond to the question, and should they mention another candidate, the candidate mentioned would have a minute to respond or rebut that. We know we have robust public speakers among the candidates, so we are attempting to provide equal time to each while getting into as many topics as possible.”
Carroll said all candidates have been notified of the debate and seemed enthusiastic about participating, however, no firm commitments have been secured. She stated on Monday, May 1, the candidates will receive the selected topics for the debate and at that time will be asked to commit to attending.
Crusenberry thinks the debate is another way to get community members who would not otherwise be engaged in the process to participate. “Yes, I think that candidates are making their way door-to-door, as our parents and grandparents preferred them to do. But I think this is going to give the opportunity for the broader audience to hear how these candidates truly feel about the topics, about the challenges and concerns that the Tribe faces. And I think that this forum is really going to enable the community to see how our leaders respond in real-time to specific questions of import to the community.”
The Election Board plans to be at the Chief Joyce Dugan Cultural Arts Center during the debate to register voters, so there will be an opportunity for any eligible tribal member who has not yet registered to vote to do so.
