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Two
candidates, including the current chairperson of the Hoopa Valley
Tribe, are in the running to be the tribe’s next tribal council
chairperson.
After the April 24 primary election, Hoopa Valley Tribe
Chairperson Clifford Lyle Marshall and Councilmember Wendy George
— who represents the Hostler-Matilton field/district — remain
in the running for the tribe’s next chairperson in the June 19
general election, said Pliny McCovey, administrative assistant to
the chairperson.
McCovey said there was a total of five candidates in the April 24
primary election and a total of 786 Hoopa tribal members voted out
of the 1,357 who were eligible to vote.
Marshall and George did not return phone calls from The Eureka
Reporter by Friday evening.
During the primary election, McCovey said
Marshall
received 238 votes; George
received 205 votes; Andrew Andreoli, 118 votes; Joseph LeMieux,
131 votes; and Byron Nelson Jr. received 86 votes.
McCovey said a chairperson of the council does not have to be a
council member to run. And, “just as every other (tribal)
elected official,” a candidate has to be qualified.
“We have an election board who review (candidate applications)
and make qualifications judgements,” McCovey said, such as “if
anyone has any accrued debts (to the) tribe or past (legal)
judgments that might make them ineligible to participate in
elections.”
Tami Hostler, election board administrative assistant, said there
are various election criteria for possible candidates, including a
potential candidate must be a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe,
live within 100 miles of tribal land, be 21, must not have
committed any felonies or misdemeanors involving moral turpitude
(such as fraud, embezzlement and theft), must be bondable and
cannot have financial/business interests that might create a
conflict of interest if elected.
According to the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s Web site, the tribe’s
“council is comprised of seven elected council people and one
elected chairperson.
“Of the seven council people, one is elected by the council to
represent them as the vice chairperson,” the site indicates.
“The seven elected officials are representatives of the seven
fields or districts that correspond to traditional village sites
and make up the
Hoopa
Valley
.”
McCovey said each district is up for re-election every two years,
but the elections are on a rotating basis so that not every
council member is up for re-election at the same time.
For more information on the tribe’s council, visit www.hoopa-nsn.gov.
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