http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414040

Native vote is big in Montana
11-17-06
by: Jack McNeel / Indian Country Today



BROWNING, Mont. - Montana state Senator-elect Carol Juneau of Browning was happy with the results on election night, when a total of 10 Indians - all Democrats - won election to either the state House or state Senate.

''This is the most we've ever had in the state Legislature,'' she said.

When she was first elected to the state House of Representatives in 1999, four Indians were serving in the state Legislature: and that was higher than in earlier years. It has gradually increased since that time, and in the last session there were eight.

''We had hoped there would be nine this year. Because I was term-limited and couldn't run for the House again, Shannon Augare ran for my seat. He was unopposed and was elected.'' Juneau said. ''I ran for the Senate, where a non-Indian had served before, but he wasn't eligible and I was elected. That made nine of us. Then Douglas Cordier, a Salish Kootenai man from Columbia Falls, ran against the incumbent and Cordier won. We were very pleased.''

Redistricting takes place every 10 years after the U.S. Census is completed. After the 2000 Census, redistricting designed six House districts and three Senate districts in which Indians were the majority. This ensured compliance with voting rights so Indian people would have an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice, and was a major reason for the high number. Cordier was in a district where Indian people were in the minority.

Those now in office or just elected include three in the Senate: Frank Smith, Gerald Pease and Juneau. The first two were not up for re-election this year, and Juneau will begin her first Senate term. House representatives include Norma Bixby, in her fourth term; Margie Campbell, in her second term; Joey Jayne, in his fourth term; Veronica Small Eastman, in her third term; and Jonathan Windy Boy, also in his third term. Augare and Cordier are the two newly elected members who will be serving their first term.

''We worked very hard on the 'Get Out the Indian Vote,''' Juneau said. ''It had a big impact on the U.S. Senate race. I looked at data here in Browning on the Blackfeet Reservation. In the precincts on the reservation we had 2,461 people vote, and 83 percent voted for Jon Tester. If you add all the Indian votes from throughout Montana's seven reservations and figure that about 80 percent voted for Tester, that made a huge impact on the senatorial election.'' That election, in which the Republican incumbent was defeated, was very close and the Indian vote certainly had a big impact.

''I think Jon Tester will be a good senator. He did a big tour and visited all the reservations the week before elections and had very positive reactions from Indian people. It shows the power of the Indian vote in Montana and the power of things we can change nationally. It's something Indian people in Montana can be proud of,'' Juneau said.

The impact of the Native vote was felt in many other elections throughout Montana. Big Horn County, where the Crow Reservation is located, had a full slate of Indian candidates and in some cases, Indians were running against other Indians for office.

Juneau laughed about the results on her own reservation, comparing the voting to a horse race. ''The first returns are always from the precincts that have a high non-Indian population and we're always getting beat. Then returns start coming in from the reservation itself, and we begin to gain and finally end up with a big win. We're starting to have an impact on county governments. We just elected a clerk and recorder and a county commissioner here in Glacier County.''

That newly elected county commissioner is Ron Doore, an enrolled Blackfeet member. His observations about the voting pattern closely resemble Juneau's. ''I was down a little over 600 votes after the first six precincts reported. They pretty much make up the non-Native community. There were five Native American candidates running for county offices and there was a little fear of what could possibly happen. After the first six I was pretty nervous but on the other hand I thought I'd fare well, as that's kind of what happened in the primary. In the 10 precincts that are primarily Native American voters, I got nearly 85 to 90 percent of the vote.'' Doore ended winning by 994 votes.

Doore, whose mixed parentage includes Welsh and Irish ancestry on his mother's side, campaigned hard off the reservation as well as on. ''I look at it like I have the opportunity to bridge that gap between the tribal council and county-level government.'' He concedes there is still a very prominent racial problem from both Native and non-Native people although, he said, it feels like the majority would like to see the communities get along and move forward. He also feels that many opportunities have been missed in Glacier County to make the county blossom both financially and culturally.

''At the end of my term I'd like to be able to look back and have those non-Natives who were so fearful of Native American influence in the county say, 'Wow! What were we fearing?'''

Great story. Montana is turning blue. If I could visit any state in the Union I would choose Montana, and not because of its politics.

Way to go Montana!

I lived for 5 years in Montana. Small town by the name of Anaconda. If you look at a map, it's a few miles West of Butte. The mountain that rises up out of the valley Anaconda sits, Mt Haugen, rests on the contenental divide. Down Town Anaconda's elevation is nearly 6000 feet. The summers though absolutely awesome are short. The first summer I was there we got 4 inches of snow in early August! Was told it's not a big deal, unless you wanna have a garden. Spring and Fall each last maybe 2 weeks. Winter is generally Halloween to Easter. I've seen 50 below 3 times. I've worked outside when it was 20 below, and worked shirtless because I was sweating. I've had my 4x4 pickup not start because it's so cold, even though it had a battery blanket, a magnet heater on the oil pan, a water line heater pump, a dipstick heater, and a trickle charger on the battery. I've had to sleep in all my clothes because it was about 40 below with about 50 mph winds, and even with the main heater going all night long I worried about the kitchen and bathroom pipes freezing because in the bad old days when they built houses like the one I lived in, they didn't insulate them. I've seen the sky sparkle, that absolutle magic time when it's super cold and the ice crystals are suspended in the air and the sun is out. I've seen Many many Elk and deer, Brown bear, Grizzly, Moose, Cougars, Hawks, Eagles, Owls and I once walked among a heard of Mountain goats. I've driven my truck on a frozen lake to ice fish, though it's such a freaky feeling to hear the ice cracking under the weight, that I never did it again.

In the town I lived in I decided to become active in the local political system. I even once got myself elected to a position on the advisory council. Never mind that only 3 people ran to fill 5 positions! I was on several volunteer advisory commissions, and it was during this part of my time here that I found out who was who. In that small town, most people were pretty zenophobic. I mean, no matter what I did, or how long I lived there, I would always be an outsider, and they always treated outsiders a bit rough. Once they held a community meeting to give the town a chance to discuss how to spend some money the Feds had given them. Someone stood up and said their piece, and said something about how they, the new people in town were treated. Several locals spoke up without standing to say that they don't do that, and I actually stood up and said (I'll will always remember the moment) "The hell you don't! Some times I think you outta just build a gate at each end of town to let people out and nobody in. Unfortunately that will kill this town, and that is exactly what you're doing" Lotsa grumbling followed, but no one actually said anything. I kept a low profile for a few weeks just in case. But it made me mad the way thay hassled that women, just because she spoke the truth.

I also learned a bit about racism and sexism. In this town, men do the hunting, while the women do the firewood collecting, laundry and house work and the cooking. Then while the men are drinking in the living room, the women gather in the kitchen to clean up and then sit at the kitchen table together. My ex-wife hated camping, because she was so condition that she will get all the shit work, and then not be included in the general socializing. Racism was pretty much a two tone affair. There were very few Blacks or Latinos in Montana, but there were a lot of Natives. At least while I was there the Natives were the lowest social strata, and were generally given little if any respect. Though I can say those I knew were very genuine, open and honest human beings. In other words, my kinda people.

To say the least, Montana is one of my Favorite places in the world, and if finding gainful employment wasn't such an issue, I might still be there. I knew a man who had a masters degree who was working at the local Hardee's burger joint and had been for sometime, and he was lucky to have a job! If you excluded the government, Wal*Mart was the largest employeer in the area.

Still, I would love to be able to buy a Cabin a few miled down a dirt road that started off a few miles of gravel road, for which I had to drive several miles of two lane road to get too after spending several hours on a freeway. Western Montana is a special place, but ya gotta be prepared for life to be a little bit rougher, and a little bit poorer, and it's an absolute must that ya gotta be able to go with the flow, and to expect anything.
I once had a very drunk guy step up to me as I sat on a bar stool and tell me I was sitting in his spot. I said, 'scuse me', and gave it up. I had been challenged, and according to the rules in a male dominated testosterone world, I wasn't sposed to give it up. But I did.

Great stories. The article, and yours, Sky.

But what about mine? I did mention I would love to visit Montana more than any other state. That should be worth a mention.

It was for you that I wrote that short story.
I hope you get a chance to spend some time in Montana. If yer very fortunate and can spend some real time there, you will not regret it.

Actually, sky, that was an awesome story. Especially about the brutal winters and the abundant elk, moose, and other assorted wildlife. I just taped an episode of "Nature" on PBS that I have not watched, and its called "Winter at Yellowstone".

A few years ago a girlfriend and I made plans to spend a week there. I had KOA cabins lined up at Yellowstone, had already bought the plane tickets, and we were going to take all the camping essentials. It was after doing a little research that I realized, even in July, evenings got into the 30's temp. wise. That was a surprise. Well, the relationship didn't last, and the airfare was all I ended up eating on the trip.

Yellowstone is still at the very top of my vacation list. I have been told before the tradeoff to living in Montana is jobs are few and far between, and money can be hard to come by, but you live in one of the most beautiful places on God's green earth.

I dont know if I'm cut out for those winters but I have always been outdoors in wintertime, skiing and snowmobiling, and just may find out one of these days.

I saw that show. Excellent, though I thought that photoigrapher sleeping outdoors under nothing but a tarp when it's 20 below with 50 mphs winds was farkin crazy! Even in a goose down sleeping bag.



Don't get me wrong. I suffered the cold too. As I mentioned the time I slept in all my clothes, and that happened more often that a few. Once helping pack out a brother inlaws Elk kill, an expedition that took literally all day, I suffered some pretty severe hypothermia. But ya see, that ass hole brother in law was right. He told me before we left that I was gonna have a day the likes of which I would tell stores for the rest of my life. I told him as I shook from the hypothermia that if he ever called me for one of these stupid ass things again, I shoot him myself and call it a hunting accident.

Funny thing is, the last eventful moment of that day before I sat down and the hypothermia set in, was something substantial. We were walking down the road towards the truck and were maybe 50 yards from it, when a heard of maybe 20 cow elk stepped over the cut back, then crossed the road in front of the truck and ambled up the road towards us. Brother in law whispered "Freeze! Don't move!" And I'll be god damned if those Cows didn't walk right through and past us like we were tree stumps. After he said that they couldn't see us unless we moved. I asked about smelling us and he said that yeah, he was very surprised they walked through us like that.


Anyway. 40 below is fucking cold. 20 below, if there's no wind and the sun is out, once you get active it's pretty nice. 0 and no wind is exceptionally tollerable. I live in the Northwest where a cold day is like 25 degrees with wet snow. Lemme tell ya. I'll take 0 over 25 anyday.

Going farther OT, I agree with you on the cold, what is a major imfluence on the cold is the wind chill, 0 degrees might be tolerable on a crisp night with no wind (and a full moon and cloudless sky, what the hell) but factor in wind chill and it changes everything. A cold wind can kill fast. That is pretty cool seeing all those cow elk like that. What range were you in? Was that the Tetons or perhaps the Bitterroot? Those are the only two I can name in MT. Good thing about the cold months in Montana, and being outdoors in it, is that no Grizzlies to accidentally bump into. Also a good article in the months Mens Journal about National Parks and the Bush assault on them.

"Winter at Yellowstone" is gorgeously filmed - though I agree with Sky about the sanity of the photographer who was sleeping outside!!

I traveled through the northern US about 10 years ago, when I moved from NH to Northern CA. There were 2 places I could go back to (happily) and live - Montana and Wyoming. I lived in CA for 2 years, and whilst there, learned that I belong here in NH (the new, blue, NH!!) which was not a bad lesson to learn, but I would love to go back to visit Montana again.

So who do you think Bush will put in charge of Indian Affairs? Ohhh Nevermind... it will still be the fat white guy! who am I kidding!

And to all... great stories, thanks much for sharing!