Governor Archives » Native Voice One

What the Heck, Alaska?

October 22, 2018 By Bob Petersen

What the heck, Alaska? Think about one week’s worth of news ….

This is Trahant Reports.

Alaska’s Lt. Governor Byron Mallott, Tlingit, resigned, citing “inappropriate comments” and was replaced by Valerie Davidson, Yupik.
Then Davidson spoke to the Alaska Federation of Natives convention. Her talk was thoughtful, warm, and left many delegates wanting her as the next governor. But lieutenant governor works. For now.
On Friday, Independent Gov. Bill Walker, Davidson’s de facto running mate, asked to address the convention. There he announced he was suspending his campaign for governor and tossing his support to Democrat Mark Begich. The math of a three-way race was impossible, guaranteeing the Republican candidate, Mike Dunleavy, an easy path to victory. “Alaskans deserve a choice other than Mike Dunleavy,” he said.
Walker’s announcement was historic. A politician sacrificing ambition for the greater good. He said that Alaska has a lot to lose, especially Medicaid expansion. The convention gasped. Many cried. And delegates made their way to the stage to honor the governor and his legacy with song, with jewelry, and with words.

So what now? There are only a couple of weeks for Alaska voters have to forget what’s on the ballot and choose between two very different sets of visions.

“That’s what this campaign is going to be about: What’s Alaska going to look like in the future?” Dunleavy said in a debate at the AFN convention. He talked about working in rural Alaska and understanding the issues facing Native communities. He said he met his wife, Rose, in such a community and saw the need for jobs. Then he talked about mining, energy, and other development that is his Alaska future. This would mean more development even in areas that put traditional food gathering at risk. He also promises less government (and a larger payout from the state’s permanent fund to residents.)

Former Sen. Mark Begich is on the other side of just about every issue. He supports Medicaid expansion.

Medicaid has been extremely important to Alaska Natives (and the two people who ought to get a lot of credit for making it so is Gov. Walker and his now Lt. Gov. Davidson). This one federal program has insured some 44,000 Alaskans, many of them Alaska Natives, and created a sustainable revenue stream for the Indian health system. It’s telling that when Dunleavy talked about Medicaid to AFN he mentioned insurance and efficiency and other parts of the system that have no bearing on the Indian health system. He did not talk about a funding reversal would do — and how that would be a cost borne by Native people and communities.

Will Walker’s sacrifice make a difference in this election? Is it too late? Open questions. There are probably nine ways for Dunlevy to win and only one for Begich. And Dunleavy made this prediction: “There is only 18 days left, so don’t be surprised if there’s more surprises along the way.”

I am Mark Trahant.

Mark’s Musings on the Idaho Governor’s race

April 2, 2018 By Bob Petersen

A couple of weeks ago I was driving across the border into Idaho from Montana. I stopped the car and took a picture of the “Welcome to Idaho” sign. I thought: It would be cool if that sign read, just under the Idaho greeting, “Paulette Jordan, Governor.”

Jordan, a Coeur d’Alene citizen, is running as a Democrat in what is perhaps the reddest, most Republican state in the country. So it’s an impossible task, right?

Let’s do the math. This is Trahant Reports.

Paulette Jordan is one of seven Native American candidates running for statewide office — and one two Native women running to a lead a state (something never been done before). She will be the first of those candidates to face voters — and she will need to win a contested Democratic primary on May 15.

One of the most important reasons for Native American candidates is the aspirational aspect. It’s a way for young people to see a future (one that is far more important than just politics.)

Jordan recently told a group of Native voters on the Shoshone-Bannock Reservation that public policy issues don’t affect just tribes. “Every single issue that tribes push forward are issues that are good for everyone.”

Jordan is running against A.J. Balukoff in a primary election and she has to earn a few thousand votes. That’s plausible, especially in a season where nontraditional candidates are getting a second and third look.

Votes from Idaho’s five reservations could help, too. The numbers are small, but if they are one-sided — say 100, 200, 300 votes to a handful, well, it could give her an edge. Especially in a primary.

Jordan should have an edge with younger Democratic voters and with Hispanics. These two constituent groups that are growing in numbers and importance. Idaho is a young state: There are more people under 18 than any other demographic group. And younger voters — 18 to 25 — are a relatively small cohort. But in the last elections this group increased its turnout rates, so there is a potential upside. Hispanics now account for 12 percent of Idaho’s population and, according to Pew Research, some 80,000 eligible voters (or far more than what would be needed in a primary election.)

So the math is there. It’s possible.

What about Jordan’s message? Is she reaching primary voters? That’s a much tougher call. She has to campaign in a state with two time zones and a distinct geographic north, south divide.

And after the primary? The toughest hill to climb come after the primary. Jordan would need to make her case to Idaho’s deeply conservative Republican voters. But if there is ever a year to do just that, this is this one.

I am Mark Trahant.

Jordan First Native American Woman to Hit Campaign Trail for Governor

December 18, 2017 By Bob Petersen

Paulette Jordan is campaigning to be the Governor of Idaho.

This is Trahant Reports.

There have been very few Native Americans who have ever run for office at that level (I can think of three: Alaska’s Byron Mallott, Idaho’s Larry EchoHawk, and Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota).

Now add Jordan to that list. And she’s the first Native woman who has the audacity to ask citizens to run their state. Yay!

She also already has winning over conservative Idaho voters. Two years ago when Democrats were losing races across the country, she captured her second term as a state representative, winning by a margin of 290 votes. That might not sound like a lot, but she won during a Republican wave.

Jordan is a citizen of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe.

She grew up in a farming family, Jordan says her grandparents showed her that cultivating the land was a continuation of our ancestral traditions of caring for homelands. The Coeur d’Alene peoples have cared for Idaho homelands since time immemorial and Idahoans today practice the same combination of self-sufficiency and cooperation that her grandparents once did. She told her constituents: This is what connects us to each other.

At her announcement, Jordan said, “when asked, ‘what are you going to do next to improve this world?’” She answered: “I am going to run for governor.”

Idaho once regularly elected Democrats to state office, including former Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus (who won office a record four times). These days it’s a super-majority Republican state. But things change. Idaho is also a state where the legendary National Congress of American Indians President Joe Garry served in the state senate and was a candidate for the U.S. Senate. It’s where Jeannie Givens served in the legislature and she ran for the U.S. House of Representatives (in fact, likely the first Native woman to do so). Both Garry and Givens are Coeur d’Alene tribal members. It’s also a state that that elected Larry EchoHawk, a Pawnee, first to the legislature, and later as Idaho’s state’s Attorney General. EchoHawk did lose a bid for governor. And, so yes, it’s an uphill climb for Jordan. But it’s not impossible.

One telling story about Jordan is that she lost her first race for the legislature in 2012 by less than a hundred-fifty votes. She did not give up. She went right back to work — and won two years later.

Jordan said there is even an advantage to being a member of the minority party. She said being in the majority can be insular and keep their circle small. She said: “In my family, our circle can always get bigger, and that’s what I see for Idaho. A bigger circle is what achieving justice for all looks like.”

I am Mark Trahant