Rocky Boy results protested

The four new members of the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation Business Committee were voted upon Nov. 4, but had to wait until Monday to see if any objections were filed.

Jonathan Windy Boy was one of the people on the eight-person list voters could choose from and said he filed his objection Friday afternoon.

Only a candidate who was defeated in the election is eligible to contest the results of the election.

Windy Boy said he filed his complaint because there was a voter who broke the rules of the tribal constitution.

“To vote, the voter has to reach a certain percent of blood quantum to be a member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe,” Windy Boy said.

The Rev. Pete Guthneck, who was made an honorary member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe, voted in the elections, and Windy Boy said the constitution stated that a voter must be at least a quarter Chippewa Cree to be eligible to vote.

Guthneck is a longtime pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church at Rocky Boy and St. Anthony’s in Box Elder.

“Granted, he was given honorary membership status,” Windy Boy said. “That should not allow him the privileges everyone who is a tribal member has.”

Windy Boy added that he filed the objection based on principle, and he is doing it to “remedy a situation before it escalates to anything larger than this.”

He said he believes this could possibly cause problems with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and could jeopardize the reservation’s funding.

“I don’t know if the election board is going to accept this,” Windy Boy said. “A violation of the constitution has been committed here.”

Lynn Fagen, the attorney for the election board, said Monday she had not heard about the objection yet, but was able to speak on the board’s policies.

“The board has a certain amount of time to consider the protest,” Fagen said. “The election board will consider the protest. They usually take a little bit of time to look at the allegations and look into what they are.”

Fagen said the board generally tries to come out with the decisions on objections fairly quickly, but did not know if the Rocky Boy board had a time limit to consider objections.

“If they decide it’s valid, they can hold another election,” Fagen said. “If not, then they will just go ahead and swear people in.”

If the board decides to conduct another election, someone can appeal that decision, much like the situation with the tribal council chair St. Marks, who was elected to the position July 2013 and still has not been sworn in due to appeals.

“If there is another tribal election and this costs me votes, I’m fine with that,” Windy Boy said. “If I don’t take a stand now, who will?”

The four newly elected members of the business committee are Calvin Jilot, who received 589 voted, Harlan Gopher Baker, who received 520, Beau Mitchell, who received 518, and Jody Lamere, who received 488. Jonathan Windy Boy had the fifth-highest number of votes with 377.