New Rocky Boy elections canceled

The recent court decision ordering a new election at Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation has been appealed, and the new Chippewa Cree Business Committee members will have to wait to be seated.

Lynn Fagen, the attorney representing the election board against Jonathan Windy Boy, said she filed for the appeal Friday, and it should be accepted in the tribal appellate court soon.

Once the request is accepted, she and the head of the election board, Cecilia Parker, will have a maximum of 30 days to file a brief. Windy Boy and his attorney, Teresa Harris, will then have 30 days to file a response. Once both are in, the judges will schedule a hearing and the court will issue a decision.

This will be the final stop for the matter, Fagen said, as Windy Boy will not be able to appeal the decision of the appellate court because the federal courts will not hear an internal tribal matter.

Fagen and Parker’s argument during the Dec. 16 hearing was based on recognizing that the election board did make a mistake when it allowed Father Pete Guthneck, who was given an honorary tribal membership, to vote in the election, But since this one vote is not enough to change the results, Windy Boy’s request for invalidating the entire election should be thrown out, she argued

Fagen reference ad court decision throughout her argument in which Chippewa Cree tribal chairman St. Marks lost against the election board when he was contesting 16 votes. The judge presiding over that case ruled in favor of the election board because the 16 votes would not have changed the results of the election.

“I feel our chances are very good,” Fagen said Monday. “I believe that the precedent made in the St. Marks case is quite clear.”

The new members of the business committees will not be seated now that the appeal has been made and no special election will be held until this matter is resolved.

“It’s unfortunate, in my opinion, that the tribal judge didn’t follow the appellate court ruling,” Fagen said in reference to the St. Marks case.

Windy Boy, upon learning of his opponents’ decision to appeal, said “that’s their right.”

“I’m confident my argument will withstand the appeal,” he said, adding that the fact their argument includes the fact that they made a mistake will help him. “I’m confident I’m in the right. If I wasn’t in the right, I would have conceded the day after the election. I’m not backing down.”

According to the election ordinance, only a defeated candidate can file a complaint about the results of an election in Rocky Boy. Windy Boy was defeated by 111 votes, and said he is not contesting the results because he lost, but because the election was conducted incorrectly.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s tainted 1 percent or if it’s tainted 99 percent,” Harris said during the Dec. 16 hearing. “If it’s tainted, it’s tainted.”

Windy Boy and Harris maintained that the election ordinance should have been followed by the book and an updated and current list of registered voters should have been available to all members of the election board.

“If the decision went the other way, I would have appealed,” Windy Boy said. “I guess we’ll just keep on appealing until someone makes a decision.”