Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Tahlequah, OK — The headquarters of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CNO) has under gone a change. A 25 foot glass wall has been removed from the office of the Principal Chief of the CNO. Chief Chad Smith said, "People need to feel they can reach me." At first Smith thought about simply removing the door to his office, but felt that was just not enough.

"We want an administration that encourages criticism and constructive thought. Our credibility and image are on the line. We have lost a lot of prestige in the last four years", said the recently elected, 48 year old Principal Chief of the second largest American Indian Tribe.

The CNO has been in chaos for the last four years. The previous administration has been under scrutiny by members of the tribal council, as well as, the U.S. Government. The problems were brought to light when the previous chief was served with a legal search warrant, relating to financial papers concerning tribal funds.

This led to the firing of the entire CNO Marshal Service, and a private security service to be set up by the former chief. Byrd also fired judges, closed down the court house and set up his own court at the tribal headquarters. The former chiefs actions caused a split in the tribal council, which all but halted normal CNO Government business but also caused a split in the tribe.

Audits by well known firms showed the CNO's books to be unauditable. An audit done by the Federal Government showed that Federal Funding had been misappropriated. The tribe was placed on an allowance, until missing records were produced and the tribe could prove it could properly handle the funds. Officials of the U.S. Government, however, continued to support the Byrd administration.

"It was extremely frustrating knowing what tremendous resources the tribe had", said Smith adding that they, "were being destroyed daily".

Chief Smith recently made a trip to Washington D.C., to meet with Bruce Babbitt and the state congressional delegation. The trip was made to help in rebuilding the CNO's credibility and to find out about the feasibility of the tribe being allowed to send a delegate to Congress.

An early treaty made with the U.S. Government suggests that the tribe may be entitled to do so. "I want to exercise every government right we have", said Smith.