The tribes’ treasury announced the $251.31 per capita checks would start being mailed Monday, Dec. 16
CONCHO, Okla. – Enrolled Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal citizens will receive December per capita checks after all.
On Dec. 12, the tribes’ treasury announced the $251.31 per capita checks would start being mailed out on the following Monday thanks to a loan from the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tax Commission. The loan comes after the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Concho office denied a drawdown request last month from one of the tribes’ two claimant governments due to questions over who are the tribes’ legitimate leaders.
The tribes have been dealing with a constitutional crisis for almost three years, with both Prairie Chief-Boswell and Leslie Wandrie-Harjo claiming to be the legitimate governor. The two women ran for office and were inaugurated together in January 2010, but their alliance dissolved within a year over a series of allegations. Since the women’s political partnership fell apart, each has formed her own government, claiming to be the legitimate authority over the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. Boswell and her supporters are working out of the tribal complex in Concho, while Wandrie-Harjo and her government is based out of nearby El Reno.
Federal law gives the Prairie Chief-Boswell administration 30 days to appeal the decision to the Southern Plains regional office in Anadarko, Okla., or it will become final.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court affiliated with the Prairie Chief-Boswell administration still has not handed down a decision in either pending appeal of the tribes’ Oct. 8 primary election. The justices heard appeals from former governor and disqualified gubernatorial candidate Darrell Flyingman and tribal member and employee Joyce Woods on Nov. 15 and initially announced that a decision would be handed down within 10 days. With the tribal complex closed five of the first 10 business days after Thanksgiving, no verdict has been announced.
Gubernatorial candidate Roberta Hamilton and her running mate, Jerry Levi, have filed an additional appeal with the Supreme Court. Hamilton and Levi are challenging the election board’s decision to certify Eddie Hamilton and Cornell Sankey the winners after two recounts. Roberta Hamilton and Jerry Levi were originally named the winners on election night by a 10-vote margin. A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 17 at 11 a.m.
Without a verdict in any of the appeals, the run-off election for Arapaho District No. 2 and Cheyenne District No. 2 is still on for Dec. 17 as of press time. Polling places in Geary, Kingfisher, and Concho will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.