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Former Washington State Governor Booth Gardner passes on

March 19, 2013

He was a friend to Indian tribes and served two terms as governor of Washington state; Booth Gardner, a democratic, died at the age of 76 on Friday, March 15 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

“Governor Booth Gardner was a wonderful man and an exceptionally good governor. He was clearly a very close friend of the tribes, a man who truly understood the great value of establishing and maintaining positive relations with us, on a government-to-government basis, and who had the courage to stand up for what is right,” said Fawn Sharp, president of the Quinault Indian Nation and the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, in a statement.

“It was under Booth’s leadership that the State of Washington and the Northwest Tribes stepped away from constant court battles into a new era of cooperation in the 1980’s. It was he who signed the Centennial Accord with tribal leaders in 1989 and it was he who helped open the door to positive state/tribal relations in places where conflict and polarization existed before,” Sharp continued. “Booth Gardner was a brilliant and visionary man. We pray the leadership he provided in his life will live on for generations to come. We extend our deepest condolences to his family and to all the people of Washington who we know will also miss this great and vastly accomplished man.”

Superintendent search nears its final steps

By Kirk Boxleitner, Marysville Globe

MARYSVILLE — The search for the Marysville School District’s new superintendent is heading into its homestretch, and as he has throughout the process, MSD Board President Chris Nation is encouraging community members to take part in the selection.

The six candidates whom the Marysville School District Board of Directors have selected to move forward to the first round of preliminary interviews on Saturday, March 23, are Dr. Becky Berg, Dr. Carl Bruner, Dr. Tony Byrd, Michelle Curry, Dr. Dennis Haddock and Jon Holmen.

“Each interview should take about an hour and 10 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes each,” Nation said. “If we start at 8 a.m., we should be able to wrap it up that Saturday by 5 p.m. If members of the public want to attend and submit feedback to the Board in writing, we’d only ask that they do so for all six candidates, since that’s only fair, but they can drop in to observe them at any time during the day.”

According to Nation, the Marysville School Board will ask questions of the candidates in the MSD Service Center Board room, and narrow the selection from six semifinalists to three finalists that evening, based on those interviews, so that the three days of finalist candidates’ interviews and visits to the district — from Monday, March 25, through Wednesday, March 27 — will devote one full day to each candidate.

Marysville School District staff, parents, students and community members will be able to meet each day’s candidate during open forums scheduled at 11 a.m., 4:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., again in the MSD Service Center Board room.

In the wake of the applicants’ files being screened on March 15, Nation reiterated the Marysville School District’s commitment to conducting its superintendent selection process as transparently as possible.

“This is not just the decision of the Board, but of the community as a whole,” Nation said. “We wanted to make sure that the community and school district staff were involved in this process, because the new superintendent will be a leader to both, hopefully for years to come. Through observation and feedback, we hope the community will help us choose a superintendent who fits the needs of our community, because if that person doesn’t understand our relationships, especially with the Tulalip Tribes, they might not get done what’s needed. Everyone has to be on board for this.”

The Marysville School District Service Center Board room is located at 4220 80th St. NE. The full schedule for the candidate visitations is posted on the MSD website at www.msvl.k12.wa.us. For more information on the search process, contact Jodi Runyon by phone at 360-653-0800 or via email at jodi_runyon@msvl.k12.wa.us.

Special Olympian Brady Tanner Leads Six New Inductees Into American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Cherokee Nation citizen Brady Tanner completes a deadlift during a competition.

On Saturday, March 16, six people were inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame, which is located on the campus of Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas. Leading the group of outstanding athletes and coaches was gold medal-winning powerlifter Brady Tanner, Cherokee, of Lawrence. Tanner is the first Special Olympian to earn a place in the prestigious Hall.

Tanner won three gold medals and a silver at the 2011 World Special Olympic Games in Athens. He also competes in the World Association of Bench and Deadlifters and Natural Athletic Strength Association events. After Tanner completed high school, a football player from Haskell University (where Tanner’s father was coach at the time) noticed Tanner’s strength and began helping him train.

Tanner is a champion. (Submitted to Topeka Capital-Journal)

Meet the other five inductees:

• Kenneth O. Tiger, Seminole, who played football for Kansas in 1961-62 and was part of the Jayhawks 1961 Bluebonnet Bowl-winning team (a 33-7 victory over Rice). He was co-captain of the 1962 team.

• Roy Old Person, Blackfeet, who won the National Junior College Athletic Association cross country title in 1965 while attending Haskell. Old Person also was a two-time all conference selection at Wichita State.

• Herman Agoyo, Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, who played on the Manhattan College baseball team that won the New York City Baseball League Championship in 1957. He also was a standout Senior Olympian.

• Yawna Allen, Cherokee/Quapaw/Euchee, who was a Junior National Open Doubles Champion in 2000, 2002 and 2003 and is a seven-time North American Indian Tennis Association Women’s Open Singles Champion. Her aunt, Dawn Allen, also a tennis star, was inducted into the Hall in 1995.

• Sid Jamieson, Mohawk, who was the first lacrosse coach at Bucknell University and worked at the school for 38 years. He was the Patriot League’s Coach of the Year three times and is part of the Pennsylvania Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

Tribes keep language alive

Recent conference led by the Kalispels draws hundreds of participants

March 14, 2013 in Washington Voices

By Cindy Hval of The Spokesman-Review

The unmistakable melody of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” filled the packed room at the Pavilion at Northern Quest Resort and Casino. A trio of women took the stage, executing the iconic dance moves as the lead singer, sequined hat, one glove and all, belted out the song.

The tune was familiar but the words were not.

That’s because the song was performed in Salish at the Salish Karaoke Contest on March 6 during the Celebrating Salish Conference.

More than 400 tribal members from across the Northwest registered to attend the three-day conference. They had much to celebrate. Just a few years ago, the Salish language languished in near oblivion.

Tribes plan for worst with looming budget cuts

When it comes to the automatic spending cuts that began taking effect this month, federal lawmakers spared programs that serve the nation’s most vulnerable – such as food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans’ assistance – from hard hits.

By Felicia Fonseca, Seattle Times

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — When it comes to the automatic spending cuts that began taking effect this month, federal lawmakers spared programs that serve the nation’s most vulnerable – such as food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans’ assistance – from hard hits.

That wasn’t the case with programs for American Indian reservations, where unemployment is far above the national average, women suffer disproportionately from sexual assaults, and school districts largely lack a tax base to make up for the cuts.

The federal Indian Health Service, which serves 2.1 million tribal members, says it would be forced to slash its number of patient visits by more than 800,000 per year. Tribal programs under the U.S. Department of Interior and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs that fund human services, law enforcement, schools, economic development and natural resources stand to lose almost $130 million under the cuts, according to the National Congress of American Indians.

“We will see significant impacts almost immediately,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told The Associated Press, referring to the BIA. “We will have to furlough some employees. It will mean that there’s going to be a slowing down of the processing of applications and so there will be an impact on the work that the BIA does on behalf of Indian Country.”

The timing and magnitude of most of the cuts are uncertain as Congress looks for a way to keep the government operating beyond March 27 with no budget in place. In the meantime, tribes across the country are preparing for the worst.

Some are better-positioned than others.

In northwestern New Mexico’s McKinley County, where about a third of the population lives below the federal poverty level, the Gallup-McKinley County School District is facing a $2 million hit. The cuts could result in job losses and more crowded classrooms. The district that draws mostly Navajo students from reservation land not subject to state property taxes relies heavily on federal funding to pay its teachers and provide textbooks to students.

“To me, it seems very unfair that one of the poorest counties with one of highest Native enrollment in the country has to be impacted the most by sequestration,” said district superintendent Ray Arsenault. “We are very poor, we’re very rural, and it’s going to hurt us much more.”

The district faced enormous public pressure when it wanted to close schools on the Navajo Nation due to budget shortfalls, so it won’t go that route under looming cuts, Arsenault said. Instead, he would look to reduce his 1,800 employees by 200 – mostly teachers – and add a handful of students to each classroom.

The Red Lake Band Of Chippewa Indians in northern Minnesota expects 22 jobs, mostly in law enforcement, will be lost immediately. Tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr. said police already operate at a level considered unsafe by the BIA. Deeper cuts forecast for later this year will increase job losses to 39, and “public safety operations at Red Lake will collapse,” he said.

On the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota, a new $25 million, 67,500-square foot jail that was to provide cultural and spiritual wellness programs for tribal members charged with crimes sits empty. The annual operating budget of $5 million would be reduced to around $840,000 because of the automatic budget cuts, said jail administrator Melissa Eagle Bear.

“I don’t think this is intentional, but I do feel like it’s the government’s way of controlling things,” she said. “They definitely have control, and we’re going to keep going. … I know Indian people. We tend to survive off what resources we have.”

The National Indian Education Association said the cuts to federal impact aid will affect the operation of 710 schools that serve about 115,000 American Indian students. Those cuts would be immediate because the money is allocated in the same school year it is spent.

In Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation said it is well-poised to handle cuts to its diabetes, housing rehabilitation, Head Start and health care programs. The tribe put a freeze on nonessential hires and halted most travel and training for tribal employees. The tribe’s $600 million budget for services and programs comes largely from federal funds, but tribal businesses also post annual revenues in the same amount that have been used to fill in gaps, said Principal Chief Bill John Baker.

“What this really is going to boil down to mean is that there won’t be any new purchases, new equipment, and probably we’ll hold our programs but not be in a position to add new programs,” Baker said. “Luckily, we’re in pretty good shape.”

Baker and other tribal leaders have argued against the cuts, saying the federal government has a responsibility that dates back to the signing of treaties to protect American Indian people, their land and tribal sovereignty.

While food distribution, welfare programs and health care services that serve the needy are exempt from the cuts, similar services on reservations aren’t, said Amber Ebarb, a budget and policy analyst for the National Congress of American Indians.

“Tribes have too little political clout, too small numbers for those same protections to be applied,” she said. “I don’t think it’s the intent of any member of Congress. The ones we hear from, Republicans and Democrats who understand trust and treaty rights, think it’s outrageous that tribes are subject to these across-the-board cuts.”

Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona said he doesn’t believe Congress as a whole understands the potential impact to tribes and the duty that federal agencies have to meaningfully consult with them on major actions. He and Republican Rep. Don Young of Alaska are urging their colleagues to spare those populations from automatic budget cuts, particularly when it comes to health care.

“It’s not about creating a niche for American Indians. It’s about addressing areas in which need is great,” Grijalva said.

Clara Pratte, director of the Navajo Nation’s Washington, D.C., office, said regardless of the outcome of the budget talks, tribal leaders should press Congress to make funding for Indian programs mandatory, not discretionary.

Nearly two-thirds of the Navajo Nation’s $456 million budget comes from federal sources that go to public safety, education, health and human services, roads and infrastructure. The tribe is facing up to $30 million in automatic budget cuts.

“A lot of these programs go to people that cannot lift themselves up by their bootstraps,” Pratte said. “I’m talking about grandmas, grandpas, kids under the age of 10. We can’t very well expect them to go to work.”

Snoqualmie tribe gives casino plan another look

The Snoqualmie Tribal Council is taking a fresh look at the tribe’s possible casino-expansion plan that has been controversial in the town of Snoqualmie.

By Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times

Lynda V. Mapes / The Seattle TimesArlene Ventura, a Snoqualmie tribal elder, urges members to make a fresh start by establishing a government and membership that meets constitutional requirements. — Lynda V. Mapes / The Seattle Times
Arlene Ventura, a Snoqualmie tribal elder, urges members to make a fresh start by establishing a government and membership that meets constitutional requirements.

The Snoqualmie Tribal Council is taking a fresh look at the tribe’s possible casino expansion, including the idea of a 20-story hotel next to its casino.

The tribe canceled a meeting of its general membership in February to discuss refinancing its debt for the project, while the council takes a second look at the plan.

The project has been controversial in the town of Snoqualmie, where the hotel would be the tallest building for miles. An original proposal called for a 340-room hotel, conference center, larger casino and theater, and two new parking structures.

One estimate indicates that could pump up total revenue for the tribe’s casino property to nearly $300 million a year, including $230 million in gambling revenue. That would be a big jump from 2012, with $189 million in gambling revenue and $40 million from the casino’s restaurants and other facilities.

The city of Snoqualmie provides sewer, emergency and fire services to the tribe’s casino property, and is in negotiations about what size expansion of the Snoqualmies’ development it would or could service. The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe beat out the Snoqualmies in 2007 to purchase the nearby Salish Lodge.

Consideration of the development comes at a time when the tribe is struggling with other issues.

The tribe’s longtime administrator, Matt Mattson, is on paid administrative leave during separate investigations by the tribal council and tribal gambling commission.

Robert Roy Smith, attorney for the Snoqualmie Tribe, said he could not discuss the details of the investigations.

Tribal members also met last week to try to resolve a long-running enrollment dispute but did not have a quorum to take action.

At issue is the base roll of tribal members. “The base roll is just a mess,” said Milo Gabel, a tribal member who turned out for the meeting at the Preston Community Center on Sunday.

Members at the meeting Sunday signed a statement declaring they are true Snoqualmies, entitled to vote or hold office, because they are at least one-eighth Snoqualmie in their blood line, as the tribe’s constitution requires.

They also agreed to accept an enrollment audit done last year, so far ignored by the tribal council, and to submit it for final review.

“We have to start somewhere. This is a starting point for our tribe,” said elder Arlene Ventura, of Renton, one of 38 tribal members of all ages who gathered at the community center. They needed 40 members to take official action.

Elwha gnaws away at a century of sediment

There’s more sediment and more wood than expected coming out of the Elwha River as the Elwha dams are taken down — causing more than a few surprises.

By Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times

Greg Gilbert / The Seattle TimesGlines Canyon Dam is two-thirds down, with the Elwha River pouring through the gap. Elwha Dam, 8.6 miles downstream, is already gone. — Greg Gilbert / The Seattle Times
Glines Canyon Dam is two-thirds down, with the Elwha River pouring through the gap. Elwha Dam, 8.6 miles downstream, is already gone.

A mother lode of mud is making its way down the Elwha River, and with it, an armada of floating and waterlogged debris.

Contractors are taking two dams out of the Elwha River as part of a watershed and fishery recovery project that is the largest of its type ever in the world. The first, Elwha Dam, came out a year ago. Glines Canyon dam is about two-thirds gone.

Scientists recently learned there was about 41 percent more sediment trapped behind the dams than originally thought — and that the river is transporting more mud and wood than they expected.

As the river, dammed for 100 years, comes back to life, the other surprise is a forest of waterlogged wood and other organic debris the Elwha is muscling out of the former lake beds of the reservoirs.

All that wood is interacting with the sediment in the river with unpredictable results, said Andy Ritchie, restoration hydrologist for the National Park Service, which is running the Elwha recovery project. He was surprised this winter to see the river building fences and jams of wood that trapped sediment in places where it wasn’t expected, such as at Elwha Campground, or causing erosion in others, such as at the historic Elwha ranger district.

There have been other surprises.

Dam removal was put on hold last October until contractors make more than $1.4 million in emergency retrofits to the new $71.5 million Elwha Water Facilities plant.

It was built as part of the dam-removal project, to clean sediment from the water supply to an industrial pulp and paper plant, a fish-rearing channel and a hatchery. But the plant failed during the first fall rains last October, when fish screens and pumps became clogged with leaves, twigs, branches and sediment.

What the total cost to the project of the breakdown will be — on a plant that was already the single most expensive piece of the $325 million Elwha restoration — and what caused it to fail are still being sorted out, said Barb Maynes, spokeswoman for the park service.

The agency hopes to get contractors back at work taking down Glines Canyon Dam by mid-April. Meanwhile, taxpayers are paying $245,000 to contractor Barnard Construction for the project delay (on top of the repair costs, paid to contractor Macnac Construction of Lakewood) while the water plant is fixed.

Contractors are taking the rest of Glines Canyon Dam down ten feet at a time, and only three whacks remain. The park service still expects to complete dam removal by September 2014, as originally planned.

But even with dam removal on hold, restoration is not standing still.

After a 100-year hiatus, the Elwha is back at work moving sediment, carrying some of it all the way to the river mouth, where a whole new world is emerging.

Surveys both by airplane and by an underwater video camera show a kelp armageddon is under way. The amount of floating kelp at the river mouth and east to the Ediz Hook has already been reduced by 44 percent in the year since dam removal began, said Helen Berry, marine ecologist at the state Department of Natural Resources.

Underwater video also shows a dramatic shift on the sea floor, with a transition in one year from lush pastures of seafloor plants to a war zone of tattered vegetation and large areas nearly denuded.

The reason is sediment. It is blocking light in the water column, and smothering the rocky seafloor with soft mounds of fine material transported by the Elwha, making it unsuitable for the holdfasts which kelp species need to affix themselves to the seafloor.

But scientists think the kelp’s demise is a gain for other species, in a reset of the nearshore ecology to a more normal state. Old maps show no kelp at the river mouth and east to the Ediz Hook.

The accretion of soft sediment is expected to provide habitat for sea grasses that nurture salmon, said Anne Shaffer of the Coastal Watershed Institute in Port Angeles. Soft, sandy beaches also could provide spawning grounds for a chrome tide of sea smelt and sand lance.

“I see it as a return to how things are supposed to be,” Shaffer said. “And we are only at the beginning of these ecological effects.”

Closest to the river mouth, the resumption of the river’s delivery of sediment is also hoped to slow erosion that has claimed up to 100 feet a year in some parts of the tribe’s reservation, east of the river.

Just how much of a difference will be made long term isn’t known, especially when, in about 10 years, the amount of sediment the Elwha delivers annually resumes to its new normal.

But for now, at the river mouth the results are dramatic as the river plays catch-up, gnawing at 100 years of entrapped sediment, and moving it out to sea.

Jonathan Warrick, a scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center at Santa Cruz, Calif., is helping to map a new sand spit that has formed at the west side of the river mouth. It’s already about one-third of a mile long, and growing.

“I thought it would happen this year,” Warrick said. “But I am a little blown away at how big the bar is.”

Climate change a top concern for Gov. Inslee

Washington governor’s focus on the issue goes beyond ordinary politics. He says finding solutions is both a moral obligation and an economic opportunity.

By Andrew Garber, Seattle Times Olympia Bureau

OLYMPIA — There was a telling moment just before Gov. Jay Inslee raised his right hand and took the oath of office.

He was introduced as a politician who sees climate change as “an existential threat that transcends politics.”

“More than any other president or governor before him, Jay has an electoral mandate on this issue,” Denis Hayes, organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970, told a packed audience in the rotunda two months ago.

If lawmakers did not grasp the significance of those remarks then, they do now.

Inslee talks about climate change all the time. He discussed it in his inaugural address, during most of his news conferences, when introducing a bill on the issue in the state House and Senate, even in announcing his choice for transportation secretary.

“This is about pollution with a capital P,” he said, testifying before the House Environment Committee this month on climate-change legislation. “It’s about reducing a pollutant, namely carbon dioxide, which has very, very significant impacts on Washington state, on our health, on our well-being and on our economy.”

Hayes, who is president of the Bullitt Foundation, said no one should be surprised by all this.

Inslee established himself as an authority on climate change and renewable energy in Congress. He co-authored a book, “Apollo’s Fire,” touting the potential benefits of a clean-energy economy. And when running for office, “it was the core of his campaign,” Hayes said. “He constantly referenced his … book. People knew what they were getting.”

Still, not everyone was expecting so much, so soon.

“I think there are greater, more pressing priorities at the moment,” said Senate Deputy Republican Leader Don Benton, R-Vancouver. “I think we need to look long term, and do little things that add up over time that will benefit and help the climate-change situation and the environment. But they are long-term strategies.”

Inslee, in an interview, said there’s no time to waste.

“If you have a huge problem that becomes worse over time, it doesn’t mean you should start later, it means you should start earlier,” he said. “This is not something that we just have to worry with our grandchildren. It’s happening today.”

No shortage of issues

To be sure, climate change isn’t the only thing on Inslee’s plate.

The governor is working on a budget. He’s pressuring the federal government to clean up radioactive waste at Hanford. He’s lobbied lawmakers to approve universal background checks for gun purchases. He’s looking for ways to implement the voter-approved legalization of recreational marijuana use.

Inslee is also pushing the Legislature to come up with more money for the state’s transportation system and K-12 education.

Yet there’s little doubt Inslee spends far more time talking about climate change than his predecessors, former Govs. Gary Locke and Chris Gregoire.

“I’ve had more time with him in the last three months on these issues than I had with Locke and Gregoire combined over the past 16 years,” said Rep. Jeff Morris, D-Mount Vernon, chairman of the House Technology & Economic Development Committee.

Inslee introduced a climate-change bill in the House and Senate aimed at developing ways to reduce state greenhouse-gas emissions and meet targets set by the Legislature in 2008. The measure creates a work group that’s supposed to come up with recommendations by the end of the year.

He also brought up the issue in relation to another bill he introduced dealing with long-term plans to improve water supplies in Central Washington, saying warming will reduce snowpacks, making it “absolutely necessary that we increase the water storage and water efficiency … in the Yakima River Basin because of climate change.”

(Watch Inslee speak about improving water supplies in Central Washington.)

And when he hired a new secretary of transportation, Lynn Peterson, he noted that motor vehicles are the state’s largest producer of greenhouse gases. “Lynn is very committed as I am in finding better options for people to get to and from work and reduce carbon pollution,” he said.

The governor’s staff says this is just the start of a deeper conversation on climate change.

Cliff Traisman, state lobbyist for Washington Conservation Voters and the Washington Environmental Council, said Inslee “is clearly not taking a play out of any political consultant’s playbook. That is for sure. And yes, people are surprised because he’s running against the grain. He is tackling the issue because he feels it’s a moral obligation to do so and an opportunity.”

It’s worth paying attention to that phrasing — a “moral obligation” and an “opportunity.”

That is the core of Inslee’s argument around climate change.

Moral principle

The governor uses homilies to get his points across. During testimony on his climate-change bill, House Bill 1915, he talked about watching his 4-year-old grandson play on the beach and “just seeing his face light up when he sees a crab or critter” coming up from underneath a rock.

“I can tell you with a high degree of assurance that unless you and I and other people in our state embrace a commitment that we’re going to see to it that our grandkids have that experience, they’re not going to have it. And the simple reason is the water will be too acidic to support those life-forms,” he said.

(Watch part of Inslee’s testimony on his climate-change bill.)

Richard Feely, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle and an acidification expert, said the governor was probably accurate when it comes to the Pacific oyster, but the science isn’t clear yet on other species such as crabs.

When GOP Rep. Shelly Short, of Addy, Stevens County, noted any reduction in Washington state carbon emissions would be minuscule compared to what China pumps out, Inslee responded it doesn’t change the state’s moral obligation.

“I know you’re not going to roll down the window and throw anything out the window tonight worried that somebody in another district won’t follow your ethical behavior,” Inslee said. “I think that is the best answer to this issue.”

(Watch Inslee’s exchange with Rep. Shelly Short.)

Climate-change jobs

The carrot the governor uses when discussing climate change is the prospect of jobs.

When he rolled out a jobs package last month, Inslee talked about how the state can be “an example to the world of how a clean-energy, climate-change-reduction strategy is a winning proposition economically. The reason we believe this, is this is something perfectly built for the skill set of the state of Washington.”

“We will not be passive while our state is ravaged by forest fires, by the loss of our shellfish industry due to ocean acidification, by the loss of irrigation water due to the loss of snowpack,” he said. “We are better than that, and we will not accept defeat.”

Inslee has talked about spurring the development of biofuels at a commercial scale, using biofuel blends at major state ferry and vehicle-fueling centers, helping business develop technologies to produce and consume “clean energy,” and creating a Clean Energy Fund to leverage investments in clean-energy technologies, among other things.

There are few specific proposals at this point. One example he’s discussed is using the Clean Energy Fund to provide funds to utilities to develop ways to store electricity from wind farms when the power is not needed.

Inslee’s office said more ideas will be fleshed out when the governor presents a budget proposal later this month.

One purpose of Inslee’s climate-change bill is to identify job opportunities that go along with helping the state reduce carbon emissions.

“This is an economic race and an economic imperative as much as it is an environmental one,” Inslee said in an interview. “We are competing with other countries for the first launch of these new technologies. … We don’t want to finish second or third.”

Skeptics in Legislature

It’s not clear how the governor’s proposals will fare this session.

Republicans, who control the Senate, say the state’s focus should be on jobs, education and the economy. Some even question that carbon emissions are causing climate change.

“Whenever you speak in absolutes about the science being concluded, history is replete with people being proven wrong,” said Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, chairman of the Senate Energy, Environment & Telecommunications Committee.

The Senate last week did pass Inslee’s climate-change bill, but Ericksen’s committee removed language talking about problems associated with global warming.

That was a major bone of contention in the Senate — how definitive the state should be in saying there is a climate-change problem, said Ted Sturdevant, the governor’s legislative-affairs director.

Specifically at issue is whether the Legislature should say that “Washington state is facing negative impacts from climate change,” Sturdevant said. “That’s where there is a divide here in terms of their comfort level in saying that, and the governor’s desire to say that.”

The distinction is important, he said, because Inslee feels “that responding to climate change here is both seizing an opportunity and responding to a problem. The governor wants to make sure this conversation acknowledges both of those things.”

In the end, the governor’s office agreed to take the language out. It has not yet decided whether to ask House Democrats to put it back in.

The American Indian Warrior Way in Words: Code Talker Chester Nez’s New Memoir, Plus: ‘Warriors in Uniform’ and ‘America’s First Warriors’

www.facebook.com/pages/Code-Talker-Memoir-of-WWII-Navajo-Marine-Chester-Nez/130983513645672Chester Nez, the last surviving Original 29 Navajo Code Talker — www.facebook.com/pages/Code-Talker-Memoir-of-WWII-Navajo-Marine-Chester-Nez/130983513645672
Chester Nez, the last surviving Original 29 Navajo Code Talker

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

One way to honor the service and sacrifice of our American Indian Warriors is to carry forth their stories. Introduced here are three tremendous recent books presenting these stories, including those of Original 29 Navajo Code Talker Chester Nez.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE CODE TALKER

By Chester Nez, with Judith Schiess Avila

Penguin, 2012

After the publication of his acclaimed book, Code Talker, Navajo Code Talker Chester Nez reflects on the path that took him to where he is today—from growing up on the New Mexico reservation steeped in the traditions of his Native American ancestors, to his days fighting alongside other Code Talkers, to his hardships and triumphs after the war. Here are stories of his family, then and now, tales of his close relationship to nature and her creatures, accounts of how his life and legacy have changed since publishing his memoir, and a tribute to his fallen friends.

For further information, clickhere.

To purchase, clickhere.

AMERICA’S FIRST WARRIORS: NATIVE AMERICANS AND IRAQ

By Steven Clevenger

Museum of New Mexico Press, 2010

A timely and moving book that beautifully documents the service of Native Americans in the armed forces. Interviews with Pueblo, Apache, Navajo, Osage, and other Native American service men and women give insight into the warrior spirit. Striking images capture stirring moments of war, grief, community, family bonds, and homecoming.

For an NPR interview with the author, clickhere. For a slide show of photos by the author from the book, clickhere.

To purchase, clickhere.

WARRIORS IN UNIFORM

By Herman J. Viola

National Geographic, 2008

Native Americans have served in the U.S. military during each of this country’s wars, and their stories encompass heroism, tragedy, humor, stoicism, loyalty and conflict. This illustrated history tells the exploits of the last Confederate general—a Cherokee—to lay down his arms, the code talkers who used tribal languages to thwart the enemy in World War II, the first Native American woman to give her life as a soldier, and those serving in Iraq today. Spiritual, poignant, gripping, even shocking (warriors still took scalps in Vietnam), it reveals how ancient traditions of war persevere and how the warrior designation is a great honor to the Native American community. Packed with first person accounts and sharing little-known insights into a culture that is still misunderstood, this page-turning epic includes a stunning gallery of never-before-seen artifacts from personal collections.

For more info, clickhere.

To purchase, clickhere.

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, New Ranking Member of Indian Subcommittee, Talks Indian Idealism, Gaming Threats, and Cranky Congressmen

By Rob Capriccioso, Indian Country Today Media Network

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii), elected to the House in 2010, has quickly found herself appointed the new ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs, and she’s set to become a strong force on American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian issues in the months to come. In an interview with Indian Country Today Media Network, she shared her thoughts on being idealistic on a clean Carcieri fix, dealing with the tough Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), and overseeing the Department of the Interior, which she says has “blown it” on some tribal issues.

What excites you about your new leadership position on the House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs?

As you know, we’ve recently lost our two senators from Hawaii [Sen. Daniel Akaka retired in January and Sen. Daniel Inouye passed away in December], and they were big advocates for Indian country and Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. It is so thrilling to continue in their footsteps. There is also a very humbling part to all this. How it works in the House, for someone like myself, basically just in my second term—there are many others with seniority. I came in during the 112^thCongress, so I was 13^thin terms of seniority on the committees. Some of my colleagues stepped aside so that I could be ranking member of this subcommittee. They felt that these issues were so important to me that they stepped aside. That is an amazing and humbling experience.

Was this a role you planned on having so soon?

The only way I got an idea that this could happen was when Congressmen Lujan and Boren came up to me one day and said to me that they felt I should go for this position. I was stunned, because I don’t really have the seniority in the committee to be able to say it’s mine. They said they would help in any way, and they did. In addition, I had the support of Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska), who has also been very supportive of me during my time in Congress.

Rep. Young has a reputation of sometimes being quite tough, especially toward Democrats—it sounds like you have a strong relationship?

You know, I believe it is [a strong relationship]. I believe that when you look at not only Congressman Young, but at the history of Alaska and Hawaii, there’s always been a special bond there. I don’t know whether it’s because we’re the two non-contiguous states, or whether it’s the timing of when we both became states, or if there is some unwritten rule that we would work together, but it has not been a challenge, as others have had, to work with Congressman Young. Even as a new kid on the block, he always welcomed me. He’s been supportive.

Do you see Indian issues as being able to continue to be bipartisan in this politicized Congress?

I would like to think that, but the issue gets a bit cloudy when there’s the interjection of gaming into the equation. Whenever a tribe has issues with land exchanges and issues of tribal recognition – and of course we still haven’t cured theCarcieriissue – I always see somewhere lurking, a township, a county, or someone else objecting. The reason for their objection has tended to be on the gaming rights issue. When you see theCarcieri[2009 U.S. Supreme Court] decision, and the lacking ability the Department of the Interior now has to take land into trust for tribes, I feel like gaming is one of the issues that breaks it away from bipartisan consideration.

Since the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, tribal gaming has been the law of the land, but some politicians on both sides of the aisle want to tinker with that law. How do you personally feel about Indian gaming?

I feel that Indian gaming is part of the rights, which are inherent to the tribes and the recognition of them. I do not feel that we, Congress, should in any way step in or limit or redefine those rights.

You mentionedCarcieriand the gaming-related component there, but the case actually involves the Narragansett Tribe’s ability to get lands placed into trust for non-gaming related housing development. You recently sponsored a bill for aCarcierifix—what makes you confident that your legislation will overcome the gaming-related hurdles?

I don’t know if confident is the exact word. It’s the same basic bill that Sen. Akaka offered when he chaired the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and I am hoping it will carry. The concern I have is that we have seen otherCarcieribills offered from the other side of the aisle, and they also haven’t been able to be successful. I am confident that my bill is the right version of the bill. Other versions have had elements of Native Alaskans also in there, and I think that that muddies the situation. There is still discussion on whether that would be the appropriate way to assist the Native Alaskans. I think what we need to do is join hands both on the Democratic and Republican sides, and move it out of committee—that will rely on Congressmen Markey, Young, and Doc Hastings. I think a cleanCarcierifix is the version that everyone can get behind and move forward.

Clarify for me, if you will, the Alaska Native provisions of your bill—what does it do there?

It doesn’t mention them. You have seen versions in the 112^ththat said aCarcierifix would not apply to Alaska Natives. When I say my bill is a cleanCarcierifix, it just addresses the 1934 [Indian Reorganization Act] issue and what the Secretary of Interior has done subsequent to that.

There have been some folks who say if this is going to move, it might have to be compromised—maybe gaming will need to be limited for tribes in a particular region to appease certain politicians or other big-gaming tribes, or maybe off-reservation gaming will need to be limited. How do you feel about going down the compromise route?

I’m of the opinion that it should be clean and not compromised. I don’t believe it’s Congress’ place to impose that on any Indian tribe. The [Indian Reorganization Act] was never intended to be limited to applying to tribes only recognized after 1934. I don’t believe Congress should be able to dictate how tribes are going to be able to have their lands.

So if someone said Rep. Hanabusa is being too idealistic, that the perfect might be the enemy of the good here for many tribes, what would you respond?

I would say that if the tribes come forward and say they want their rights limited, then Congress would have the obligation to look at that. But that’s different than if we in Congress oppose it, trying to impose our will on the tribes.

In your role, you will be overseeing the Department of the Interior and what they do on Indian affairs—are there concerns on your radar that you want the Department to address?

I’ve always been someone who believes that Departments require strong oversight. This Department has a trust relationship with tribes, so Congress must work to ensure that it is carrying out its fiduciary duties properly. I have been concerned – even on the issues involving theCobellsettlement – you wonder, how did this come to be? And is this being executed properly? Because of the unique obligation the government has to Indian country, we have the obligation to ensure that the Department is acting in the right manner. If they hadn’t blown it in the past, we wouldn’t be in this position. They have brought the scrutiny upon themselves.

Do you think Democrats should be critical of the Obama administration, pushing for improvements for Indian country, such as increased economic development tribal initiatives?

I believe Democrats should be. I don’t think this needs to be a partisan issue. I’d like to think if the administration is incorrect on an issue, we should be there asking for accountability and transparency.

Sens. Akaka and Inouye spent much of their time in Congress working to achieve Native Hawaiian recognition, but they did not succeed. Are you going to be successful in that area?

We are going to have to hope that they have laid a sufficient groundwork to build on. A political relationship between Native Hawaiians and the United States is necessary in order for various entitlements and trusts, such as in education, at home to survive. I hope that the other Native peoples in the United States will assist us in moving it forward. I think we should ask for the recognition, and ask for the right of self-determination. We’ve had insertions in the legislation to prohibit gaming because that was necessary to get some support. We are different than Native Americans because we do not have the same historical treaty relationships with the federal government. So we do not have the same gaming rights, like those we discussed earlier. But we are a Native people, and we are entitled to the recognition.