Does Citizens United apply to Cherokee elections? Candidates for chief weigh in on this and other issues at televised forum

Hosted by RSU-TV, Thursday night’s candidate forum featured eight questions to David Walkingstick, Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Dick Lay on a range of topics, but the use of liability companies in campaigning popped up early and often.

The first question specifically asked the three about election reform and their thoughts on applying the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission to the tribe’s campaign finance laws. The ruling allows for unlimited independent electioneering expenditures, but the tribe’s election code is silent on the matter.

Both Hoskin and Walkingstick have ethics complaints pending against their campaigns over the use of LLCs.

The Cherokee Nation Election Commission will hold a hearing at 9 a.m. Friday to consider disqualifying Walkingstick from the principal chief’s race over allegations that his campaign coordinated with and accepted illegal contributions from a corporation established by a former campaign staffer.

An attorney for the corporation in question, Cherokees for Change LLC, has maintained that the contributions are in line with Citizens United, prompting raised eyebrows from two of the candidates Thursday evening.

“Citizens United was bad for the American democracy, and it would be bad for the Cherokee democracy,” Hoskin said. “Applying Citizens United would take us down the road of dark money.”

“With election reform, we need to be careful,” Lay said. “We just haven’t figured it out yet. I’m seeing some things in this election that I don’t really agree with, including the use of LLCs and other issues like that.”

The three also disagreed on the direction they want Cherokee Nation Businesses, the tribe’s economic arm, to take in the future. About 40 percent of CNB’s revenue comes from nongaming entities, including government contracts across the country and in a handful of foreign countries, prompting Walkingstick to call for those positions to be relocated to northeastern Oklahoma.

“The jobs aren’t in the heart of the Cherokee Nation,” Walkingstick said. “We need these contracts here to put our people to work.”

One of the few subjects all three men agreed on was the need for more doctors, nurses and behavioral health staff within the tribe’s 14-county jurisdictional area, both in general and specifically to address the opioid epidemic.

“We focus on hiring more doctors and nurses,” Hoskin said. “We can do that. We need to give the recruiters the tools they need to bring in the doctors and pay them what the market demands. Same with the nurses.”

“The opioid epidemic, … it is a personal issue for me,” Walkingstick said. “It is important that we put behavioral health counselors and more resources across the 14 counties. We can’t wait on the state of Oklahoma to address the problem for us.”

The three also indicated that they are closely watching the U.S. Supreme Court for a ruling in Murphy v. Carpenter, which potentially would formally reinstate the reservation status of the bordering Muscogee (Creek) Nation. All three indicated that they would be open to possibly pursuing a similar claim if the court sides with the Creek Nation.

“Whoever is elected chief when that decision is handed down, they’re going to have to be nimble … and know how to work through the system,” Lay said. “It could be an opportunity or a bucket full of problems. We just don’t know yet.”

Early walk-in voting starts on May 25 at the tribe’s Election Commission office in Tahlequah. The general election is scheduled for June 1, with a possible run-off slated for July 27. Absentee ballots for the June 1 election have already gone out.