Reznet

Osage Principal Chief Jim Gray Courtesy photo

The First 100 Days

By Geneva Horse Chief

PAWHUSKA, Okla.-In office barely more than 100 days, newly elected Principal Chief Jim Gray is facing two issues that will shape the future welfare of the Osage Nation for decades: the Indian trust fund case and a tribal membership problem.

In June, Gray beat the incumbent tribal leader, Charles O. Tillman, in a close race for principal chief. The Osage elections also replaced seven of the eight council seats with new members.

The only Osages who can vote in tribal elections are those who inherited a "headright," a share in the mineral estate established by the 1906 Osage Allotment Act. So the Osage tribal government has a unique role in the Indian trust fund case: The officeholders consist of-and are elected solely by-Individual Indian Money (IIM) account holders.

The Osages may have the most to lose and gain because mismanaged Osage funds are estimated in the billions of dollars, Gray said in an interview. There are about 3,300 Osage IIM account holders.

Gray said he decided to run for principal chief because the trust fund case-a class action lawsuit charging U.S. government mismanagement of billions of dollars held in trust for Native Americans-was at a crucial stage of litigation in Washington, D.C., and the tribe would suffer by not actively seeking retribution.

In addition, he said, the tribe was at risk of dissolving altogether because of the membership problem.

'Original Allottees'

The 1906 allotment act defined the tribal membership as the 2,229 Osages, called the "original allottees," who were listed on the tribal roll at the time. Only seven original allottees are alive today, and in theory the death of the last allottee could signify the end of the tribe.

"When I took the oath of office," Gray said, "I was not only the elected leader of the Osage shareholders (headright holders), but on the membership issue I now became the elected official of all the tribe, all the tribal members.

"And so that does create a bit of a process for us to correct because the entire tribal population did not elect me, only the shareholders did," he said. "But I'm bound to represent their (shareholders and non-shareholders) interests on scholarships, healthcare, education, jobs, economic development, gaming, everything."

The Osage tribal council passed a draft resolution asking Congress to correct the language of the 1906 act to include as tribal members the lineal descendents of the original allottees.

The council has held public forums in the three districts of the reservation to address the membership issue.

Public Comment

"Membership without representation is not a government," Gray said. "So we're taking a very serious approach to this, by having a public comment period on the resolution that would restore federal recognition to all the tribal members."

Most of the tribe's money comes from oil production and land leases and sales. The tribal council also is working to change its relationship with oil producers by establishing more control over drilling techniques, cleanup and accounting. In September, the tribe held a first-ever oil and gas summit with producers to establish a lead role for future production. According to Gray, it was a success.

The new chief and council also are dealing with details that plague new governments.

"When we (the chief and new tribal council members) came in, we inherited a system that had a lot of structural flaws," Gray said. "The tribal council, as it existed back then, didn't have near as much (of) an active relationship with the chief on decision making.

"And unfortunately, that created a lot of problems, whether that was oil and gas leases or that was contracts that needed to be executed."

Geneva Horse Chief, Osage, attends the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. She is a 2002 graduate of The Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute.