| Date: Friday March 17, 2000
Location: Swinomish Tribal Court Room
Election Board:
Leon John, Chairman
Marvin (Dubber) Cladoosby
Nancy Wilbur
Bernitta John (Senate designated alternate, present at hearing)
Subject-Protest Hearing
Lorraine (Wilbur) Loomis presented to the Tribal Election Board a protest
of the 2000 election held on March 4, 2000.
Legal basis for filing a protest: Election Ordinance No. 138
(approved by the Swinomish Tribal Senate February 22, 2000) provides the
following provisions regarding the filing of protests:
Section 19. Protests
a. Appeal to Election Board. Any person, within a period
of five (5) days following Election Day, may protest the election, in writing,
for any reason to the Election Board. The Election Board shall meet within
(5) days to consider such protest, grant the protesting party a hearing
at that meeting, if requested, and decide by formal resolution whether
a new election or other action is necessary. Errors of a purely technical
nature, which in the opinion of the Election Board do not call the validity
of the Election into question, may be waived by a majority vote of the
Election Board.
b. No Outside Board Communication. (omitted, see full version
of Ordinance 138, available on freeSwinomish soon.)
c. Appeal to Tribal Senate. The decision of the Election
Board shall be final unless appealed to the Tribal Senate within thirty
(30) days following the final decision of the Tribal Senate.
d. Appeal To Tribal Court. The decision of the Tribal Senate
shall be final unless appealed to Tribal Court within (30) days following
the final decision of the Tribal Senate.
Background: The election held on March 4, 2000 drew 289 total
eligible Swinomish voters. Two senate seats were up. Lorraine (Wilbur)
Loomis was running for Position 2 against Brian Cladoosby. The final vote
tally for that seat were 182 (or over 62%) voted for Brian Cladoosby, 106
votes (or under 37%) for Ms. Loomis.
Since Ms. Loomis also protested the eligibility of the winner of position
1, we will include the vote totals for that seat as well. The candidates
for Position 1 were Jim Wilbur and Jimi Sam Williams. The final vote tally
for that seat were 170 (or over 58%) for Jimi Sam, 112 votes (or under
39%) for Jim Wilbur.
(Note: although there are no provisions to make protest hearings closed,
Ms. Loomis demanded and received the removal of a reporter from the local
LaConner paper, The Channel Town Press, prior to the commencement of the
hearing.)
Complaints of Lorraine (Wilbur) Loomis:
1) That the inclusion of Marvin (Dubber) Cladoosby
on the election board represented a violation of tribal nepotism laws in
the Tribal Constitution. Marvin Cladoosby being the brother of Brian Cladoosby,
the winner of position 2. Before proceeding with the remainder of her protest,
Ms. Loomis asked that Mr. Cladoosby recuse himself from the Election Board.
Further, Ms. Loomis sought to replace Mr. Cladoosby with the alternate Board Member, one Ms. Bernita John.
2) Ms. Loomis felt that Election Board Chairman Leon Johns
could hardly be considered impartial. She stated that when she brought
up the issue of protesting the election, Mr. John asked her what she could
possibly have to protest, given the landslide nature of her loss.
3) Ms. Loomis complained that the matter of Brian Cladoosby
switching seats in order to run against Ms. Loomis was unfair. She characterized
this action as a conspiracy to commit election fraud.
4) Ms. Loomis stated that Jimi Sam, winner of position 1,
should not have remained on the ballot owing to his deceased status.
5) Finally, Ms. Loomis complained that the Tribal Senate
was wrong as well as premature when it acted on March 7, 2000 swearing
in Brian Cladoosby. Selecting and swearing in Sophie Bailey to fill the
seat won by Jimi Sam. Holding a ceremonial swearing in ceremony for Jimi
Sam with Jimi Sam’s daughters standing in. And finally, certifying the
2000 election. She felt this action was premature given that she had filed
2 separate protests concerning the 2000 election.
Relief sought by Ms. Loomis:
Ultimately Ms. Loomis sought the disqualification of both Brian Cladoosby,
and Jimi Sam Williams based on her above complaints.
Election Board ruling on this protest:
2 votes to reject the protest
0 votes to accept the protest
1 vote to abstain
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