Cherokee chief calls delegate in Congress `historic first step'
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said Thursday that the Oklahoma-based tribe expects Congress to fulfill treaty obligations and create a seat for a tribal delegate.
Hoskin, who became principal chief last week, nominated Kim Teehee, a former White House advisor on tribal issues, to be the Cherokee Nation's first delegate. The tribal council must confirm Teehee.
Hoskin and Teehee said at a news conference at tribal headquarters in Tahlequah that they expect a long process before a delegate is seated.
“This is an historic first step,” Hoskin said.
“We know our rights and we are prepared to assert and defend our rights. … The journey to getting our delegate seated in Congress may be a long one, but it is one we are willing to take.”
Hoskin called on the Oklahoma congressional delegation to introduce legislation to create a seat for a Cherokee Nation delegate.
Two members of the delegation have expressed uncertainty about how the process would work.
On Monday, U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, said the tribe's effort created a lot of questions.
“I intend to sit down and listen to it,” Cole said. “I'm always sympathetic to tribes, particularly Oklahoma tribes, so I'm interested in having the dialogue.
“But I think we're a long way away at this point. … Where the membership of the (House) would be, I just simply don't know.”
Cole is a member of the Chickasaw Nation and a strong advocate in Congress for Native Americans. He said previous Cherokee leaders had talked to him about having a delegate.
U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas, R- Cheyenne, the longest serving Oklahoma member in the House, said Tuesday, “I'm not a constitutional scholar. I don't know what the mechanisms of the treaty were. I don't know all that sort of thing. I think it's a fascinating idea.”
U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R- Westville, whose district includes Tahlequah, is a Cherokee. Gov. Kevin Stitt is also a member of the tribe.
According to the tribe, the right to a delegate is included in the 1835 Treaty of New Echota that immediately preceded the tribe's forced relocation to what is now Oklahoma. Hoskin said that provision was reaffirmed in a treaty signed in 1866.
He said he vowed when running for chief to ensure mutual obligations under treaties were observed.
The tribe has about 370,000 members, making it the largest in the United States.
Teehee is vice president of government relations for the tribe. Former President Barack Obama appointed her in 2009 to his domestic policy staff as a senior advisor for American Indian Affairs. She had been working for a Democratic member of the U. S. House when named to the White House staff.
“I have always tried to represent the best of our nation and the best of our people,” she said.
Congress has six non- voting delegates, including four from U.S. territories; one from Washington, D.C.; and a resident commissioner from Puerto Rico.