MARTY, SOUTH DAKOTA -- Job one for Thurmond Cournoyer, who just won the chairmanship of the Yankton Sioux Tribe in a landslide, is making sure no one has to go through what he and fellow candidates endured this past election season — two primaries, a recount, and several days of fraught emergency meetings of the tribe’s General Council before the election could get underway Sept. 1.
“That confusion is really on people’s minds,” he said. “We’re going to clarify the election ordinance and make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Once that’s accomplished, Cournoyer has plenty of serious issues on his list, including economic development. He’ll soon meet with representatives of a Chinese concern about a possible green-energy plant that may provide the reservation with as many as 200 jobs.
He also intends to professionalize the management of the tribe’s Fort Randall Casino. “In the past, tribal officials have been too much involved, bringing political influence to bear on the casino,” he said. “We need Las Vegas-style management that can develop it as a business and expand our opportunities there.”
Legal issues are also on Cournoyer’s mind. He has already gotten together with the other newly elected officials – including the new vice-chairman Ida Ashes, who like Cournoyer, won her post with a large margin – to discuss resolving recent constitutional controversies. Specifically, Cournoyer wants to make clear the supremacy of the tribe’s General Council (all voting-age members).
In recent years, Cournoyer explained, members of the Business and Claims Committee (the chairman, vice-chair, secretary, treasurer, and five at-large members, to which the General Council delegates day-to-day activities) had incorrectly come to believe that the B&CC has as much power, or even greater influence, than the General Council.
“Somehow, they got this idea in their heads,” said Cournoyer. “But the new officials agree that the General Council is in charge.”
Cournoyer also expressed dissatisfaction with BIA law enforcement on the reservation and said he intends to bring this function under the aegis of the tribe once more. “We’re getting the tribal cops back in here,” he said. Following a recent Supreme Court action, the tribe’s boundaries also need to be clarified.
“I think I’ve got my plate full,” he said with a smile, adding that he’s received many calls since the election results were announced, including one from the governor of South Dakota, requesting a meeting. “Once I’m inaugurated at the end of this month, though, things will go smoothly. I have a good rapport with the General Council, and I have a good feeling about all of this.”
His main campaign promise was that, above all, he’d be honest. “That’s what I promised, and that’s what I’ll deliver,” he said.
(Contact Stephanie Woodard at swoodard2@gmail.com. Or visit www.huffingtonpost.com/stephanie-woodard)
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