Members of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians will head to the polls Wednesday, April 9, to vote in a Primary Election that will narrow a field of 20 candidates running for three seats on the Tribal Council and three candidates running for the Tribal Chairman's seat.

YARD SIGNS are out in force for Tribal Council candidates.
A Primary Election Wednesday, April 9, will narrow the field
of Tribal Council and Tribal Chairman candidates.

A Regular Election is slated for May 21, when the top six vote-getters in next week’s election will be on the ballot for the Tribal Council seats along with the top two for Tribal Chairman. Newly elected or re-elected officials will take office the next day. The annual pay for tribal councilors begins at around $60,000, according to tribal officials.

The GTB Tribal Council controls the largest government operation in Leelanau County, with an annual budget of more than $50 million. In addition, the Tribal Council comprises the board of the tribe’s Economic Development Corporation. Through the Leelanau Sands Casino, the tribal EDC is the largest single employer in Leelanau County and one of the largest employers in the entire Traverse Bay area with a total gross payroll of some $23 million and annual gross revenues of more than $100 million.

Although the GTB has about 4,000 tribal members, only adult members residing in the tribe’s six county service area in northwestern Lower Michigan are eligible to vote. Tribal membership is based primarily on blood quantum and generally requires at least one-quarter Indian ancestry. In the April 2006 tribal Primary Election, the number of eligible voters was 907, with 404 actually casting ballots.

THE THREE candidates for the Tribal Chairman's position include (from left) Derek
Bailey, Robert Kewaygoshkum and Thurlow "Sam" McClellan.

Tribal Election Board chairman Sam Evans on Tuesday could not immediately provide the number of voters eligible to participate in the April 9 Primary because the deadline for voter registration was Tuesday at 4 p.m. He said tribal members who had not already cast absentee ballots will cast ballots at three polling places on April 9, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tribal voters residing in Leelanau County will cast ballots at the Tribal Administration Building in Peshawbestown. Polling places are also located at the tribe’s Three Mile Road office in Grand Traverse County, and at a tribal community center in Benzie County.

The three candidates for Tribal Chairman include the incumbent, Robert Kewaygoshkum; a seated Tribal Councilor, Derek Bailey; and a former Tribal Councilor, Thurlow “Sam” McClellan.

Kewaygoshkum told the Enterprise that under his leadership the tribe has maintained a “healthy financial position” but that additional spending in the future “must be done wisely” in view of a declining economy in the state of Michigan and declining gaming revenues for the tribe.

Bailey said that he hopes “to take the tribe into the next era.” He said he expected to run a “positive, progressive and proactive” campaign in the coming weeks and would “make sure that tribal members are informed voters.”

McClellan told the Enterprise that he believes the tribe has overextended itself with new construction at the Turtle Creek Casino in Grand Traverse County; and that he is hoping to enact sweeping changes. “Just about everything needs to be looked at,” McClellan said.

Kewaygoshkum’s second four-year term as Tribal Chairman is expiring, as are the terms of three of the six Tribal Councilors including Bailey. The two other incumbent Tribal Councilors whose first terms are ending are running for reelection: David Arroyo and Sandra Witherspoon.

Also running for seats on the Tribal Council are Wilmer Alberts, Sandra Anderson, Desmond Berry, Loi Chambers, Joyce Duford, Steven Feringa, Shocko Hall Sr., Gerald Harter, Suzanne McSawby, Brian Napont, Thomas Peters, Freddy Raphael, Frank Shinos, Clifford “Jack” Swanson, David Wonegeshik Jr., Sandra Yannott, Donald Yannett, and Sonya Zotigh.