Nominee list for Ute board stretches 42 names long

FORT DUCHESNE, Uintah County — The list of nominees for the upcoming elections to the Ute Tribe's governing board is 42 names long, and the nomination process is typically not immune from controversy. This time, the clamor is tied to an election ordinance enacted four years ago.

Two of the nominees this year, Luke Duncan and Ron Wopsock, were the targets of an amendment that prohibited elected leaders who are cast out of office from running again for four years after their ouster. This would make their nominations void.

Duncan and Wopsock were expelled from office by their counterparts on the board's Business Committee in 2003, after they filed a lawsuit that was critical of tribal financial advisor John Jurrius.

According to the amendment — considered by some tribe members to be illegal because no vote was ever held in accordance with the tribe's constitution — the two can't run for office for another year. Sandy Hansen, a Vernal attorney representing the duo, claims that their expulsions violated their First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

Hansen said the offense against her clients was compounded a week after their expulsion, when the remaining Business Committee members — Maxine Natchess, Smiley Arrowchis and Richard Jenks — and former member Roland McCook Sr. enacted an ordinance that created the four-year ban on ousted leaders being nominated for office. Natchess, Arrowchis and Jenks all currently serve on the committee.

"This ordinance is unlawful because it amends the requirements specified in the tribal constitution for seeking election to tribal office," said Hansen. "Federal and tribal law are quite clear on this issue. The only way you can add, detract, amend or alter the qualifications to hold elective office is to amend the constitution."

According to Hansen, the only way to do that legally is through an election called and conducted by the Secretary of the Interior. When the ordinance

that prevents Duncan and Wopsock from seeking elected office was adopted, no election was held.

Barring the 2003 election ordinance, to be eligible to run for elected office in the Ute Tribe, a nominee must be an enrolled tribal member who is over 21 years old and has resided on the Uintah-Ouray Reservation for at least one year before the date of the election.

The list of 42 nominees is expected to be pared down prior to the primary election on Tuesday by people voluntarily withdrawing their names

because they don't want to become involved in politics. Others may be found ineligible to run.

It takes just one vote to become a nominee for tribal office. The three incumbent Business Committee members — Natchees, Jenks and Arrowchis — each had the highest number of nominations within their respective bands. The top two vote-getters in each band will advance and face each other in the April 10 general election.

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