Panel to decide if St. Marks can be sworn in

The Chippewa Cree Tribal Election Board will decide sometime this week whether to appeal Tribal Judge Donna Running Wolf’s decision that would enable Ken Blatt St. Marks to be sworn in as tribal chair at Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation.

Running Wolf ruled last week that the board overstepped its bounds when it invalidated the results of the July 30 election in which St. Marks defeated interim chair Rick Morsette and three other candidates.

Lynn Fagan, the Missoula attorney who represents the Election Board, said the panel met Monday, and she participated by telephone. Board members decided to delay a decision until later this week.

“I don’t want to speculate what they might do,” she said.

But, she said, members were concerned about what effect the judge's ruling might have on future elections.

The panel overturned the election results because they had inadvertently allowed some people to vote without properly identifying them as tribe members. Laminated identification was required, but because the lamination machine at the tribal office was broken, some people were allowed to vote with paper certificates.

Running Wolf ruled that, even if all of those people voted for St. Marks, the result would not have changed.

Election board members have 30 days to decide if they want to appeal, Fagan said, but they don’t want to drag out the controversy any longer than necessary.

St. Marks was out of town on personal business, but he and his supporters have contended that the Election Board decision is the latest phase in an effort by tribal establishment to deny him the chairmanship because he is cooperating with federal officials investigating corruption on Rocky Boy.

He was elected once, then removed by tribal council. When he ran to replace himself, the Election Board removed him from the ballot. Running Wolf reinstated him to the ballot.

Fagan denied those allegations, saying board members simply wanted to maintain the integrity of the election.