Yakamas Undergo Infighting Government Repeal, Recalls Hot Topics At Tribal Council

Rumbles of discontent have been heard at the Yakama Indian Nation’s annual General Council meeting as members tried - unsuccessfully - to first repeal the form of government and then to recall three officers.

“This year the mood seems to be different,” said tribal member Frank Mesplie. “I don’t know if everybody’s uptight about the casino or … problems with debt or housing issues or high unemployment, but I think it’s going to be positive when the dust clears, and we can all hopefully try to better each tribal member’s life.”

The tribe’s General Council is composed of all enrolled, voting-age Yakamas, about 9,000 people. Typically, a few hundred turn out for the annual elections and it’s not uncommon for meetings to close for lack of a quorum. This year, however, the meeting hall has been full.

Last week, some members launched an effort to repeal the present form of Tribal Council government, which oversees the day-to-day business of the tribe. That move failed, but in the first of seven Tribal Council elections, General Council members voted out two incumbents.

This week, some tribal members proposed a recall of the General Council’s three elected officers. That motion was also defeated.

Leo Aleck, a retiree who served as General Council secretary for 11 years, said tribal members are tired of waiting for projects they approved as far back as 1994, such as a casino, a sawmill in White Swan and a retail outlet store.

Aleck said his motion to recall the current General Council’s officials was intended as a wake-up call.

“Yes, things are beginning to move now, but for 2-1/2 years, people were just out in the dark,” Aleck said Wednesday. “The Tribal Council never did give any kind of information out and that really bothers the people. When are they going to give us some kind of report in the newspaper? It seems like everything was kind of confidential.”

Tribal Council Chairman Ross Sockzehigh said he believes the anti-incumbent mood will stop short of sweeping all the offices.

“Primarily it must be the feeling of perhaps wanting new blood, but I’m not too sure,” he said.

Defeated incumbents Augustine Howard, credit committee chairman, and Dave Blodgett, who served on the committee, were under scrutiny for their roles there, Sockzehigh said. That committee determines the borrowing power of tribal members, he said.

White Swan lawyer Jack Fiander will replace Howard while Indian education consultant Patsy Martin will take Blodgett’s seat on the Tribal Council.