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BY MATT KELLEY — ASSOCIATED 90 ° WEAR aI SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) Despite Democratic efforts to register reservation voters, the 1995 South Dakota Legislature will have no new American In dian members. About a dozen Indian candi dates sought seats in the state House and Senate this year, but the only ones elected were in cumbents: Sen. Paul Valandra, D-Rosebud; Sen. James Emery, R-Custer; and Rep. Dick Hagen, D-Pine Ridge While some Indian leaders blamed the results on tradition ally low Indian voter turnout and the quirks of individual races, others suggested lingering prejudice among white voters could have affected the outcome. “Sometimes when there’s an Indian on the ballot people turn out to keep them out, but I don’t know if that’s what happened here,” said Gregg Bourland, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe “I would call it a lack of aware ness of the Indian population and their issues in this state that causes some discomfort among the white voters,” said Democrat Rosalie Little Thun der, who lost a race for state House in Rapid City. “That’s a nice gentle way of saying racism. It’s there.” Low voter turnout has been a continuing problem in many res ervation areas, Valandra said. The lowest voter turnouts in South Dakota Tuesday were 33 percent in Shannon County, on the Pine Ridge reservation, and 46 percent in Todd County, the Rosebud reservation. Many Indian people don’t vote because they feel state govern ment does not represent them, Valandra said. “They don’t put much credence in the state and federal sys tems,” Valandra said. “It’s al most like a boycott.” About half of all American In dians in South Dakota are under 18, further diluting Indians’ strength at the polls. Valandra said Nevertheless, Valandra said he was surprised at the defeat of Cheyenne River Sioux tribal at torney Mark Van Norman in state House District 28a, which includes the Cheyenne River and Standing Rock reservations. The district was created after the 1990 census to help concen trate the Indian vote in north central South Dakota. Van Norman lost by 411 votes to Republican Eric Bogue, a non-Indian, despite an unusu ally large turnout. Bourland said he thought Van Norman’s defeat could be tied to his sup port for Bourland’s losing oppo nent in the tribal chairman's race, Wayne Ducheneaux But Bourland said he was also surprised by the loss of Chey enne River tribal council mem ber Rocky LeCompte in the Dis trict 28 Senate race. Republican William Johnson won by 69 per cent to 31 percent of the vote. The re-election of former Re publican Gov. Bill Janklow may have reflected an anti-Indian mood among South Dakota vot ers. Little Thunder said “There’s a lot of concern in In dian Country about Janklow,” Little Thunder said. “He has a track record of not having very good relationships with the In dian population.” Bourland disagreed, and said he was looking forward to work ing with Janklow. “I think that Bill Janklow rep resents a possible new start be tween tribes and the state,” Bourland said. “I realize that he wasn't very popular with tribes in his first terms, but I’m sure he’s going to do everything he can to rectify that in his second term.” Although the Cheyenne River Sioux have clashed with state of ficials several times during Bourland’s first four-year term, he said he hoped to get off on the right foot with Janklow “To think Gov. Janklow will find that I’m a very straightforward, look’em-in-the-eye type of fel low. And Janklow’s like that too,” Bourland said. Valandra said the election losses by Indian candidates and gains by Republicans in both houses of the Legislature were not necessarily bad news for state-tribal relations. “We have some good support ers on the other side of the aisle in state-tribal relations,” Valan dra said. “Of course it’ll be more difficult than having a Demo cratic majority, there are still some good people coming back on both sides of the aisle.”
Newspaper Details
Huron Plainsman
Huron, South Dakota, US
Mon, Nov 14, 1994
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Richmond C.
