Chief candidates trade barbs, field queries at debate

Apr. 26—Principal chief candidates for the 2023 Cherokee Election discussed their backgrounds and health care plans during an April 25 debate.

The event was hosted by the Cherokee Phoenix Tuesday evening at Sequoyah High School's Place Where They Place. It was also live streamed online.

Candidates for principal chief include David Cornsilk, Chuck Hoskin Jr., Wes Nofire, and Cara Cowan Watts. Tim Landes, Cherokee Phoenix Editorial Board member, moderated the debate.

Candidates were allotted two minutes for opening remarks, after which each was given 90 seconds to answer each question. Sixty seconds were allowed for rebuttals, and Landes asked candidates to refrain from challenging one another. In addition to questions from Cherokee Phoenix staff, five questions were submitted by Cherokee Nation citizens.

Cowan opened by discussing her background as a former tribal councilor of 12 years, small business owner, holder of three engineering degrees, and marriage of almost 18 years to her husband, Doug Watts.

"[I'm running for prinicipal chief] because we must restore a priority focus on our Cherokees, on our Cherokee families. They must be first," said Watts. "We can see by the actions of the current administration and the past 12 years of those in leadership that our Cherokees have not been put as a priority in our own nation, but money has been spent outside the Cherokee Nation. We have to look at sovereignty. We have to look at how we defend our people, communities, land, waters, and we have to respect our elders by meeting their many needs."

Hoskin said family is the most important thing to him.

"Apart from my role in life as a father, a husband, and a grandfather, serving as chief of the Cherokee Nation is the most important thing I do. ... But I could not do it without of the support of my family, particularly my wife, January," he said. "I want to thank the citizens of the Cherokee Nation. It's been an honor of my life to represent you as chief. I give you my best effort each day."

Hoskin said he is running for re-election to serve the Cherokee people.

"Voters did not know when they elected Deputy Chief Warner and I that we would face together as a tribe unprecedented challenges, from a deadly pandemic to assaults on our sovereignty the likes of which we not seen in over a century," said Hoskin. "Four years ago, you placed your trust in me and Bryan Warner. I like to think it was because you saw something ... in terms of our intelligence, our dedication, and our experience that would put us in a position to respond to any circumstances. So despite so many unforeseen challenges, the Cherokee Nation is today in a stronger position than it was when we took office. Under our leadership, every Cherokee citizen that asked for assistance got a $2,000 payment during COVID. No Cherokee Nation Business employee missed a paycheck while the rest of the world was shutting down around them. Our health care system has expanded. We've got more doctors and nurses working today than any other time in Cherokee history. We have more contract health dollars than any other time in history. Ladies and gentlemen, we are prepared to lead, we have faced the test, we have a vision that will work, we need to keep moving in the direction the deputy chief and I have us moving in."

Cornsilk said he believes the Cherokee Nation has been derailed.

"I do think there are many good things that have happened at the Cherokee Nation. I'm not saying there are terrible things that have gone on, but there are things that have happened that I believe the Cherokee people need to know about and those things are violations of this document [the Cherokee Nation constitution]," he said.

Cornsilk held up a copy of the CN Constitution and pointed to marks that indicate where he believes the tribe has "gone off the rails."

"My background is that I helped to write this document," said Cornsilk. "I served on the Cherokee Nation constitutions convention. I served with this gentlemen right here [Hoskin]. And so these words are the words of the Cherokee people, and they are the words that we as leaders should go by, and I believe that those words are being ignored. Those words are being destroyed. And so what I want to do as your leader is get back to the basics, back to the blueprint that the Cherokee people have given us as leadership to follow. If we don't do that, then our sovereignty means nothing."

Nofire told the audience that he is a husband, a father, and a proud conservative Christian Cherokee.

"I was born and raised proud to be a Cherokee by my mother and father, who taught me the rights and wrongs to live by, from running the creeks of Kenny Creek to Sequoyah High School, to being a professional boxer, and most recently serving as your tribal councilor for District 3. And though I left my home to pursue my profession, I never forgot where I came from. It's who I fought for when I left and it's who I came back to fight and represent while serving on the council, "said Nofire. "We know the Cherokee people need a leader right now, more than ever, that leads with love. You've witnessed and I've heard firsthand of the empty promises and unmet needs to our elders and an unsustainable future for our children. But through determination, hard work, and sacrifice, we will bring unity and balanced government to save a beautiful people and a tribal nation, one that serves God first and our brothers and sisters."

For their first question, the candidates were asked what changes or improvements they envision in health care delivery and infrastructure for Cherokee Nation citizens and their plans to help at-large citizens with health care needs.

Watts said that while it looks like the tribe has a "glorious" health care system on the outside, on the inside, its facilities are without the providers necessary to serve the Cherokee people.

"So must we must first identify the people we need to put into place that if our HR department is unable to expedite the hiring of the physicians, the nurses, and the other people we need at every level in our health care facilities, we must address that first. Then, at the same time, we know that talking to our employees and the people that have left in droves from our health care system, that we must look closely at compensation and remedy it immediately. We have not kept pace with the current economy and we are not adequately paying the very health care providers that sustain our community and our language," said Watts.

Watts said pay raises for elected officials need to end.

"And we must put providers in those big, brand-new buildings that someone decided to build with our COVID money and others dollars instead of putting it into the staff needed to serve us," said Watts.

For at-large citizens, Watts said the tribe can look into the Affordable Care Act to provide insurance.

Hoskin said the tribe needs to keep on making investments.

"Think about how far we've come. We're not a tribe that any longer has health care handed from the top down," said Hoksin. "Wilma Mankiller thought that was a priority. Let's deliver it from the grassroots up. Let's make sure Cherokee people are taking care of Cherokee people. That's why today we've got more doctors and nurses working in our system than anytime in history. We've got more access to health care than anytime in history. You have to have state-of-the-art infrastructure, clinics, to make sure it's worthy of the patients that get served first and foremost and the men and women who work and deliver that healthcare."

Hoskin said he's proud of future plans for new facilities and that the tribe is continually looking at competitive compensation.

"For at-large citizens, one of the things we need to work on is what I'm working on right now in Washington, D.C. — lowering the barriers to telemedicine. Let's get telemedicine to the at-large community," said Hoskin.

Cornsilk said the Cherokee Constitution states that the Cherokee people shall have equal protection under the law.

"That means as a citizen living in Tahlequah or a citizen living in Tahlequah, Washington, you should have access to the services that are offered by this tribe," said Cornsilk.

He said this doesn't mean identical services, but if a program is offered locally, there should also be a program offered there. Cornsilk intends to do this by stopping "all the wasteful spending" and instead spend those funds on health care.

Nofire said health care is a pinnacle to servicing all Cherokees.

"That's in-district and at-large and trying to make that accessible to them is priority of mine," said Nofire.

Nofire said the federal government is insoluble on Medicare in the next five years. Nofire said his adminstration has a plan to make sure the tribe continues to have health care for all Cherokee over the next 100 years.

"We have businesses and funding sources to make that accessible to all," said Nofire.

What's next

The next in a series of reports on the 2023 Principal Chief Debate will be addressed in the weekend edition of the Daily Press.