Senate candidate Meyers talks at Pachyderm meeting

Republican state Rep. Bruce Meyers, R-Box Elder, pushed back Friday against claims he is against tribal sovereignty, and emphasized the need for better relations between reservations and outlying communities, when he spoke to the Pachyderm Club in the Duck Inn Vineyard Room.

Meyers, an enrolled member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe, is his party's candidate in the race for Senate District 16 this year. He is going up against former State Sen. Frank Smith, D-Poplar, for the seat. The district includes the Rocky Boy, Fort Belknap and Fort Peck Indian Reservations.

In his 30-minute presentation, Meyers said some have made allegations that he is against tribal sovereignty, or the right of tribes to govern themselves.

"I support tribal sovereignty because it is based on the treaties," Meyers said.

His vote for the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes water compact last legislative session, and his unsuccessful bid for tribal chair in Rocky Boy's Oct. 11 primary elections, are proof that he supports sovereignty, Meyers said.

But Meyers said the sovereignty that exists now on reservations is a dependent sovereignty, rather than a true independent sovereignty that he said comes from having a self-sustaining business community.   

"In my mind, that is true sovereignty: Developing an economic base and turning that dollar over three or four or five or 10 times among local businesses," he said. "In my mind, that is the basis for true economic development and true sovereignty."  

But economic development has been hindered on the reservation, in part to the lack of the separation of powers on reservations, Meyers said.

When he was growing up on Rocky Boy, his father owned and operated the reservation's first gas station, Meyers said.  

They were doing fairly well, but his father too often allowed people, including  members of the Chippewa Cree Business Committee, to make purchases on credit that were not paid back.  

His father had no legal recourse through the tribal courts to recoup his loses, Meyers added.

"And that pretty much stays the same today, it's pretty much the same situation," he said.

Reservations and nearby city and county governments should enter into more collaborative agreements to increase economic development and stem the tide of illegal drugs, Meyers said.

He said reservations, farmers, ranchers and businesses all need one another.

Meyers said he would like to work with other stakeholders in the county to develop a sports complex on the Great Northern Fairgrounds that would employ and be used by both Natives and non-natives.

He said the complex could be a place for basketball tournaments, rodeos, powwows and a place where the Montana State University-Northern Lights could play football.

It's something Meyers said he has discussed with fairgrounds manager Bob Horne.

"There is so much potential here for things like that," Meyers said.

Meyers said he is seeking to create what he calls win-win scenarios in jurisdictional issues such as with the often-contentious issue of free-roaming bison, also called buffalo.

It is an issue Meyers said is just as concerning to Native ranchers he has talked to as it is to non-Natives.

Meyers said that in today's often litigious society too often people seek to win at the expense of another person or constituency. It's something he is trying to change so all can benefit, he said.

"If we are all on the same page page, I believe our state can be better, our state can have true economic development," Meyers said. "I believe the answer is how well we are willing to cooperate."