Posts Tagged ‘Shoshone-Bannock Tribe’

2
Nov

Trahant reports: Election night musings on nation ‘united by our divisions’

   Posted by: admin    in Mark Trahant, Native politics

Mike Trahant

Mike Trahant

Mark Trahant is a writer, speaker and Twitter poet. He is a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and lives in Fort Hall, Idaho. Trahant’s new book, “The Last Great Battle of the Indian Wars,” is the story of Sen. Henry Jackson and Forrest Gerard.

All election night the message was about how the people have spoken with a clear voice and returned Republicans to power.

In Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul called it the “Tea Party tidal wave.”

Or the soon-to-be Speaker of the House, John Boehner, said “it’s clear tonight who the real winners are, that’s the American people.” He said change begins again because the “American people are demanding a new way forward.”

Sorry. I beg to differ. Division won. A Republican House of Representatives, a Democratic Senate and White House. (And, if you want to get snippy about it, I would add a Republican-controlled Supreme Court to this list).

We, the American people, are united by our divisions.

The urban core of the United States remains, essentially, a base for Democrats. It’s a similar story for African American, Native American and Latino communities. On the other hand the rural West, Midwest and South remain Republican. Independent voters play the field. This time they went Republican. Last time they favored the Democrats.

Elections are one thing, governing is another. Divided government creates all sorts of problems.

This divided election continues the real differences from our leaders in how we go about solving the problems facing the country. So many of those in Congress who were willing to work across party lines (both Democrats and Republicans) were some of the first politicians defeated.

Indeed, CNN’s exit poll captured this American division well. It reported that a majority of voters did not see the Tea Party as a factor. “The percentage that said they wanted to send a message in favor of the movement (23 percent) was just a few points higher than those who said they were trying to strike a blow against it (18 percent),” CNN reported.

We love the Tea Party – unless we don’t.

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30
Dec

Idaho tribes seek cabinet-level post to smooth relationships with Indian people

   Posted by: admin    in Coeur d'Alene Tribe, Nez Perce, Shoshone Paiute, Shoshone-Bannock


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Coeur d'Alene tribal Chairman Chief Allan

Coeur d'Alene tribal Chairman Chief Allan

Saying there’s no trust between local and tribal police, leaders of the Coeur d’Alene, Nez Perce, Shoshone-Bannock and Shoshone Paiute tribes have met with Idaho Gov. Butch Otter seeking a cabinet post dedicated to pursuing tribal relations.

Some 34 other states – including neighboring Montana and Washington – have such posts or similar ones, John Miller of the Associated Press reports here.

“Tribal economies in Idaho generate at least a half billion dollars annually, provide thousands of jobs, and pay millions of dollars in Idaho tax revenues that flows into state coffers,” Coeur d’Alene Tribe Chairman Chief Allan tells Miller today. “It only seems fair for tribes to have place within Gov. Otter’s administration.”
Miller writes:

    This past decade, Idaho and its tribes have tussled over water rights, taxes on reservation gasoline, even Depression-era murals depicting an Indian’s lynching in the Boise building that housed the Legislature for two years.

    Those were resolved, but other concerns remain, including cross-deputization of tribal and county authorities. The Coeur d’Alene Tribe has such an agreement with Kootenai County in northern Idaho that lets tribal authorities arrest non-tribal members, but a similar pact with Benewah County collapsed in 2007. That’s contributed to law-enforcement disputes on Lake Coeur d’Alene’s southern waters.

But Marc Stewart, a Coeur d’Alene Tribe spokesman, said such issues could be handled more efficiently if Otter had a cabinet member devoted to them full time.

“This is long overdue,” Stewart says.

Gwen Florio

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