CONCHO, Okla. – One of the two claimant Cheyenne and Arapaho Supreme Courts has denied three challenges to the tribes’ election.
Gubernatorial candidate Roberta Hamilton and her running mate, Jerry Levi, appealed the results of the run-off election conducted in November by the commission affiliated with Janice Prairie Chief-Boswell’s administration. The pair was initially declared the unofficial winners by a 10-vote margin, but lost to Rollin “Eddie” Hamilton and Cornell Sankey after the close count prompted a recount.
On Dec. 17, after less than 30 minutes of deliberating, the Supreme Court denied Roberta Hamilton and Levi’s challenge to the results on the grounds that the pair did not demonstrate sufficient grounds to overrule the certified results from the general election.
The Supreme Court also denied challenges from gubernatorial candidate Darrell Flyingman and tribal employee Joyce Woods. Despite promises that decisions would be handed down within 10 days of the Nov. 15 hearing, the rulings did not come down until Dec. 18.
With the tribes facing an almost three-year old leadership schism, Flyingman and his running mate, Adrianna Harris, were the only executive branch candidates to file with both claimant election commissions. They were also the only executive branch candidates to file with the commission affiliated with Leslie Wandrie-Harjo’s administration and in September, were certified the unopposed winners in that commission’s election.
After initially receiving approval to remain on the Prairie Chief-Boswell commission’s ballot, the Flyingman-Harris ticket was disqualified over a question of whether the former governor owed money to the tribes. Under the Cheyenne and Arapaho’s election law, having a debt to the tribes is sufficient cause to have a candidate removed from the ballot.
“It is this court’s determination that the burden is on the plaintiff to expressly deny owing any money or funds to the tribes; and further to prove that he does not owe any money or funds to the tribes,” Chief Justice Daniel Webber wrote in the three-judge decision. “In this instant proceeding, the plaintiff failed to affirmatively show by sworn testimony or evidence that he did not owe the tribes money.”
Despite losing his appeal, Flyingman has not ruled out further appeals through the federal court system and still plans on taking office on Jan. 4, 2014.
“I knew they’d deny my filing, but you’ve got to try, so I did,” he said. “It’s not over just yet. We still have not heard from the BIA or the IBIA, except for requests for information on both elections, so there is still that.”
The tribe has an action pending with the Interior Board of Indian Appeals tied to its three-year-old leadership schism. No timeline has been given on when a decision will be handed down. Additionally, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has not publicly acknowledged which set of election results it recognizes.
