The Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes both chose new leadership recently in elections featuring candidates with pending charges.
Wichita voters rejected a reelection bid by Myles Stephenson Jr., the tribe’s secretary who is facing criminal charges alleging lewd acts with a minor in Caddo County, while electing Amber Silverhorn-Wolfe as the tribe’s new president. A runoff election for three members of the tribe’s executive committee is scheduled for Sept. 14.
Meanwhile, after months of delays and an unusual announcement of charges against candidate Carla Carney, Ponca voters finally elected four members of the tribe’s Business Committee. Earl “Trey” Howe III, Rene Kemble, Molly Kemble and Daniel Sherron were sworn onto the committee Aug. 9 following a contentious and elongated election season.
In non-election news, the Osage Congress selected its next speaker, and the Muscogee Nation penned a cross-deputization agreement with the City of Okmulgee, a long-awaited development between the tribe and the city where it is headquartered.
Twists and turns define the 2024 Ponca election cycle
The fifth time was the charm for this year’s Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma election. Originally scheduled for March, the tribe’s elections were delayed with multiple lawsuits filed, multiple election boards sworn in and a multitude of complaints from tribal members.
In September 2023, a recall petition was circulated by Business Committee member Carla Carney’s brother against Chairman Oliver Littlecook, Vice Chairman Robert Collins and committee member Maria DeLaGarza. The recall petition garnered nearly 400 signatures, enough to trigger a recall election.
The next month, the new Ponca Election Board was chosen, and the Ponca Business Committee held a meeting to discuss the removal of Carney from the committee. By Nov. 6, the Business Committee officially voted to remove Carney from office for missing three consecutive meetings. Carney maintains she was never informed of the meetings she missed, and her attorney referred to them as “secret meetings.”
Before the new election board was officially sworn in Nov. 13, the Business Committee filed a lawsuit in Ponca District Court to delay the recall election, and the court ordered the election board to begin preparing for the 2024 general election instead of the recall election. On Nov. 16, Carney was notified of her removal from office, and she filed suit arguing her removal was unconstitutional.
The first candidate filing period was opened by the election board for two hours Nov. 24, a move which generated substantial criticism for its closeness to Thanksgiving and short timeframe. In January, the Ponca Business Committee requested the court to order the reopening of candidate filing. Judge Marsha Harlan nullified the candidate list generated from the two-hour filling period and ordered the election board to redo election procedures that had occurred to that point.
On Feb. 9 the Ponca Business Committee voted to suspend four elected members of the election board and to ask the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs to administer the 2024 election. The BIA accepted the tribe’s offer to run the election but delayed the election from March 16 to April 20 for logistical purposes.
On April 17, the BIA certified the candidate list for the 2024 election, which included certifying Carney to appear on the ballot. The federal agency announced the election would be delayed until May 16. On May 6, the Business Committee filed in Ponca District Court to force the BIA to remove Carney from the ballot.
U.S. Department of Interior Field Solicitor Conor Cleary wrote a response letter May 8 arguing the court lacked jurisdiction over federal officials and declined to appear at the court hearing. Shortly afterward, the Business Committee voted to cancel its contract with the BIA to oversee the election. Harlan appointed a five-member Special Ponca Election Board to oversee a June 22 election. The special election board was also sued to remove Carney from the ballot, but that effort was unsuccessful.
Ponca Tribe election results: Howe elected chairman, 3 new members join committee
Ultimately, the Special Ponca Election Board moved the election to its final date of July 27, where Earl “Trey” Howe III, Rene Kemble, Molly Kemble and Daniel Sherron were elected to the tribe’s seven-member Business Committee. Two incumbent members — Vice Chairman Robert Collins and Matilda Lucille De La Garza — failed to win reelection.
Official tabulations of the election were not posted on the tribe’s Facebook page or website prior to the publication of this article, despite Littlecook — the prior chairman — indicating official results would be made public.
However, a post in the Ponca People for Responsible Citizenry Facebook group appears to show handwritten tabulations of results, and the tribe eventually announced the swearing in of four winners from the election in its own Facebook post. Business Committee members chose Howe as the committee’s new chairman. Howe succeeds Littlecook, who was previously deemed ineligible to seek reelection owing to issues with the tribe’s audit process. Rene Kemble was elected vice chairwoman, and Molly Kemble was elected secretary/treasurer.
All 2024 Business Committee candidates ran on the same ballot, and the top four vote earners were elected. According to the unofficial Ponca Tribe election results posted in the Facebook group, longtime committee member Howe led with 342 votes, with the other three elected candidates more than 50 votes behind him.
Sherron, chairman of the Ponca Enterprise Gaming Board, placed second with 287 votes, while Rene Kemble followed closely behind with 281 votes. Molly Kemble was one vote behind with 280 votes, which won her the last seat on the committee up for election this year.
Carney placed fifth with 239 votes. Her seat on the Business Committee is currently de facto vacant while its de jure status (legal recognition) is litigated. Other candidates on the ballot received the following number of votes, according to the unofficial Ponca Tribe election results:
- Bobby Rhodd Sr. and Amos Simpson tied with 177;
- Sara Emily Bell, 172;
- Lucinda Garcia, 118;
- Scotty Simpson Jr., 109;
- Cher Komesataddle, 98;
- Matilda Lucille De La Garza (incumbent), 96;
- Christine Calls Him, 62;
- Robert Collins (incumbent vice chairman), 59;
- Darci Renee Lieb and Kinsel V. Liev, tied with 49;
- Judith Wilson, 45; and
- Roland Jack No Ear Jr., 33.
Silverhorn-Wolfe elected Wichita president, voters reject charged secretary
The Wichita Tribe, officially the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco and Tawkoni), has a new president after voters elected Amber Silverhorn-Wolfe to replace Terri Parton on July 20.
While Parton filed to run for reelection, several incumbent member of the tribe’s Executive Committee did not file. Vice President Jarrod Prince, Treasurer Claudia Spybuck and committee members Shirley Davilla, Gage Boardingham and Tiffany Lonewolf did not seek reelection. (However, Spybuck is running for one of the committee seats.)
Vote totals for candidates were not included in official results.
The Wichita Tribe is governed by the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes Council made up of every member of the tribe over age 18 and a seven-member executive committee. The committee is made up of a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and three council members elected every four years. All seven positions are elected simultaneously.
Tasha (Fridia) Mousseau won the open race for Wichita vice president, defeating Chris Davilla and James Derek Ross for the post. While vote totals were not announced, Wichita law required Mousseau to receive a majority vote to avoid a runoff.
Vanessa Vance won the treasurer election, defeating Mike Bert. In the most unusual race of the cycle, Starr Chavez won the secretary race over former Secretary Myles Stephenson Jr., who is the son of former Wichita President Myles Stephenson Sr. The senior Stephenson served in various positions of tribal government for 20 years.
Stephenson Jr. was serving as the tribe’s secretary and on the Wichita Housing Authority at the time of his April arrest. A middle school teacher and coach at Boone-Apache Public Schools, Stephenson Jr. was charged April 19 with two counts involving lewd or indecent conduct with a child under 16. Stephenson Jr. resigned from his position April 22, but his name remained on the tribe’s 2024 ballot for the secretary position.
“After reviewing everything possible to make the best decision for the tribe and our Wichita people, acceptance of the resignation was deemed the least costly to the tribe,” Parton said in a press release. “The Wichita Executive Committee took the proper action in the best interest of the tribe to put this behind us. The Wichita and Affiliated Tribes will move on.”
Ten candidates filed to run for the three open committee seats, and eight advanced to a runoff scheduled for Sept. 14. The following candidates advanced to the runoff:
- John Bowman III;
- Ladana Johnson;
- Corey Allen Reeder;
- Samuel Riffel;
- Matthew Roberson;
- Claudia Spybuck;
- Robert White Jr.; and
- Don Wise.
Daniel Collins and Mikayla Lamar-Schaaf also ran but failed to advance to the runoff.
Muscogee Nation signs agreement with City of Okmulgee
On Aug. 13, the Muscogee Nation and the City of Okmulgee announced the signature of a cross-deputization agreement after “months of dialogue and rebuilding relationships,” according to Mvskoke Media.
The agreement allows Muscogee Lighthorse Police and the Okmulgee Police Department to enforce each other’s laws and forward cases to their respective courts.
While Okmulgee Police Department’s public statement highlighted “months of dialogue,” the need for a cross-deputization agreement between the sovereign tribal nation and the city government has been discussed for years.
Signed after Danny Owen became the new chief of the Okmulgee Police Department earlier this year, the agreement also comes after a December fracas at the Okmulgee County Jail resulted in jailer Matthew Douglass facing charges in Muscogee Nation District Court for assaulting a tribal police officer. Despite a New Yorker article claiming the case was dismissed, Douglas’ criminal case is on hold pending a federal lawsuit filed by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond that argues the tribal government lacks jurisdiction over Douglas, a non-native.
The agreement does not affect Douglas’ case, but the lack of a cross-deputization for Muscogee Lighthorse officers to enforce Okmulgee municipal law against non-tribal residents was an underlying tension that contributed to the December jail incident.
Pam Shaw elected Osage Congress speaker
With the Osage Nation’s elections wrapping up earlier this year, the 12 members of the Ninth Osage Congress voted to select the next speaker and second speaker of the Osage Congress.
Pam Shaw was elected speaker by acclamation when she was the only candidate nominated for the office, according to Osage News.
Otto Hamilton was nominated as second speaker and also was elected by acclamation.
Shaw and Hamilton’s terms run through the Osage Congress’ April 2025 session.
