TULSA, Okla. (AP) – After a bitter, drawn-out election that lasted almost four months longer than it should have, new Cherokee Nation Chief Bill John Baker treads into yet another political minefield after his inauguration ceremony: squarely, should descendants of slaves some Cherokees once owned retain their tribal membership?

The protracted struggle of the 2,800 or so descendants, known as freedmen, became a major issue on the campaign trail. Baker's opponent, former Cherokee Chief Chad Smith, was among the major supporters of a 2007 vote by tribal citizens to kick the freedmen out of the tribe and cut off benefits such as health care, grocery stipends and housing assistance. Baker, a longtime tribal councilman, also backed the measure, but appeared far less vocal about it while he was campaigning.

That strategy likely won the support of untold hundreds of freedmen, who were allowed to vote in the Sept. 24 special election because of a last-minute deal brokered before a federal judge. Baker beat Smith by nearly 1,600 votes.

The citizenship issue has landed back in Tulsa federal court and the stakes couldn't be higher for the 300,000-member tribe, which is based at Tahlequah. In the weeks leading up to a Sept. 24 special election, the government demonstrated what could happen if the freedmen are excluded from the tribe: nearly $40 million in federal housing funds was frozen and the assistant secretary for Indian affairs warned that any election the Cherokees held without granting suffrage to the freedmen would be illegal.

“We're going to have to do a balancing act,” Baker told The Associated Press as his Sunday ceremonial inauguration approached. “I've taken an oath to protect and defend the Cherokee Nation, and we're going to have to protect and defend the $500 million we get in federal funding. It's a tightrope,” he said.

Baker is keenly aware of the risk. About 12 years ago, when the Seminole Nation voted to oust freedmen descendants from its tribe, the government cut off federal programs and refused to recognize its elections. Their freedmen were later allowed back in, but the tribe is still paying the price for its decision.

“To this day, they still haven't gotten all their funding back, some of it has been lost forever,” Baker said. “That's why when we sit here and talk about if they cut our funding, that's not just something we're picking off a shelf. We've got a roadmap of what could happen in the Seminole case.

“It's no pie in the sky that could happen; we're sitting there looking at what did,” he said.

Marilyn Vann, president of the Oklahoma City-based Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes, said her organization hopes Baker will make the issue a priority during his four-year term instead of an afterthought.

“The majority of the Cherokee people, I think, they are tired of the disunity, tired of (leaders) making war against the freedmen,” Vann said. “I would like to think they'd like to see more unity and harmony.”

Stacy Leeds, the first woman to serve on the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court, from 2002-2006, and a former candidate for Cherokee chief in 2007, described the freedmen status as the first major political challenge for Baker's administration.

“Part of that has to do with making sure that the federal government recognizes our existing constitution, and that's going to be the first legal hurdle,” said Leeds, a Baker supporter and the recently appointed dean of the University of Arkansas School of Law.

Also on Baker's agenda is an attempt to earmark 5 percent of casino profits annually for Cherokee health care programs, a total of about $5 million. Baker said he also wants to foster a better relationship between his administration and the tribe's 8,000 employees.

Much like an American president, the chief administers an annual tribal budget, has veto power and sets the tribe's national agenda, which is important given that many members live outside Oklahoma. The chief also oversees the tribe's casinos and health care facilities.

To become chief, Baker had to defeat a 12-year incumbent in Chad Smith. The political battle was brutal because the two were at odds on almost every issue, trading barbs over how many jobs each one would create, health care spending and even Smith's use of a twin-engine airplane the tribe owned for years.

Balloting was initially conducted in June, but the results of that election flipped several times on recounts – with Smith and Baker each being declared the winner twice. After the fifth count again turned up different numbers, the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court declared it couldn't say with confidence which candidate had won, and ordered a new election for Sept. 24.

Baker said he always had faith the votes would be there for him, regardless of how many counts were done.

“We're about the business that I think I'm meant to be doing,” Baker said. “And I hope to meet all of our goals and expectations and leave the wood pile a little higher at the end of the day.”

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Associated Press Writer Kelly P. Kissel contributed to this report from Fayetteville, Ark.