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TAHLEQUAH, OK - Candidates in four political races addressed a standing-room-only crowd at the Cherokee Nation tribal council chambers early Friday evening. Democrat Brad Carson and Libertarian Neil Mavis, candidates for the 2nd District U.S. House of Representatives seat, attended the forum, as did a representative for Republican candidate Andy Ewing. Both candidates for Cherokee County Sheriff attended, as did both candidates in the Oklahoma House District 4 and District 86 races.

"I appreciate the candidates coming to speak with us just a few days before the election," said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. "Its important that we know where they stand on issues relating to tribal sovereignty, because the Cherokee Nation must work with the local, state and federal governments to achieve many of our goals."

The forum began with the candidates for the 2nd District making opening statements. They then responded to several questions addressing issues of tribal sovereignty.

Carson, a Cherokee tribal member, said that he would work to make sure that the Five Nations Land Reform Act, introduced into Congress this year, would pass in the next session, and that he would support a settlement on the Arkansas Riverbed issue in excess of $40 million.

Mavis indicated that he would advocate dissolving the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which would make some parts of the Five Nations Land Reform Act moot.

Ewing's representative stated that Ewing would continue the policy set in place by the current representative from Oklahoma’s Second District, Tom Coburn. Ewing’s representative said that Coburn has been hesitant to endorse the Act without consent of several smaller tribes. The Act would protect the land belonging to individual members of the Five Nations in eastern Oklahoma: the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole Nations.

The candidates for sheriff spoke next, addressing issues of tribal sovereignty, especially relating to law enforcement.

Incumbent Sheriff Delena Goss repeated her public statements that she agrees that cross-deputization between Cherokee Nation Marshals and the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office would be a good idea. Cross-deputization would give Cherokee County officers authority to enforce the law on Indian lands within the county, and would allow Cherokee Nation Marshals to help enforce the law outside of Indian lands.

Goss indicated that the marshals were well trained, and noted that many of them formerly worked for the sheriff’s office. Goss stated that politics was one reason that cross-deputization agreements have not yet been implemented.

Goss' challenger, George Kirk, said that he considered the lack of a cross-deputization agreement "bordering on negligence." He supported the idea of the two law enforcement entities working together to better stop crime in Cherokee County.

Candidates from the District 86 House race, incumbent Larry Adair and challenger Russell Turner, and candidates from the District 4 House race, Ed Brocksmith and Jim Wilson, spoke next.

Adair, a Cherokee tribal member, has represented the district for 18 years. He said he has always has been supportive of tribal sovereignty, has worked with tribes in the past and will work with the Cherokee Nation on a compact for car tags. Adair represents the district in Oklahoma with the highest Indian population, and has promised to be strong Indian advocate for tribal sovereignty in the future.

Turner, the challenger, said that if other Indian tribes have car tags, he saw no reason to deny the Cherokee Nation the right to have tags as well.

In the District 4 race, Wilson and Brocksmith both supported tribal sovereignty.

Wilson stated that Cherokee Nation’s unique sovereign status was both its biggest asset and its biggest liability in terms of economic development capacity. He said his focus would be to improve economic development in the district, and that he would work with Cherokee Nation Industries and Cherokee Nation Enterprises to bring economic growth to the region.

Brocksmith has long been an advocate for clean water in the area. He referred to himself as "the candidate with the canoe on top of his car," and promised to work closely with tribal leaders. He said that he would work with the Cherokee Nation on Indian issues if he were elected to the State House of Representatives.

The Cherokee Nation has not endorsed any political candidates. The candidate forum was designed to educate the more than 100,000 Cherokees in northeastern Oklahoma about where candidates stand of Indian issues.