Werk unseats Azure for chair in Fort Belknap elections

A former council member unseated Fort Belknap Indian Community Council President Mark Azure in Tuesday’s tribal elections.

Andy Werk Jr. confirmed this morning that he and his vice presidential candidate, Gerald “Manny” Healy, won the election against Azure and his vice presidential candidate Alvin “Jim” Kennedy.

He said that he and Healy are very thankful and very blessed.

“It was a tough, hard-fought election,” Werk said. “I just wanted to thank all the people that voted in the election and all the candidates that ran and all the people that supported us.”

Werk said that he and Healy worked as a team and their win was because they worked hard to reach out to Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribal members on and off the reservation.

He said he is thankful for Azure’s service to the tribe.

Azure said this morning that he thought he and Kennedy presented some good ideas going forward and ran on Azure’s record from the last four years,

“We wish the other team all the best going forward, and it is what it is. That is elections. There are winners and there are losers, and we came up on the losing end this time,” he said.

He said that Werk and the new council will be sworn in today.

Current Vice President George Horse Capture Jr. did not seek re-election.

A picture of a signed unofficial election return posted on Facebook shows Werk and Healy defeated Azure and Kennedy 777 to 630 votes.

Fort Belknap election officials could not be reached for comment before print deadline today.

The unconfirmed results of several other races also were listed on the image on Facebook, including that Brandi L. King defeated John A. King 710 to 684 votes in the race for the Assiniboine Representative-at-large seat.

Phillip V. Shortman beat John K. Hawley 858 to 529 votes in the race for Gros Ventre Representative-at-large.

Nathaniel “Nate” Mount defeated Kyle “Wheels” Bigsby 196 to 176 votes in the race for River Assiniboine District Representative.

Dominic R. Messerly defeated Virgil M. Talks Different 246 to 183 votes for River Gros Ventre District Representative.

Lynn Cliff Jr. defeated Lacey A. Philips 136 to 88 votes in the race for Mountain Assiniboine District Representative.

Curtis Horn was unopposed in his run for Assiniboine representative-at-large and received 487 votes. Warren Morin received 296 votes in his unopposed run for Mountain Gros Ventre District Representative.