Chairman candidates

John “Rocky” Barrett – Keweoge (He Leads Them Home)

I hope you will consider everything candidates said in their campaigns while giving thought to the Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s performance over 40 years.

With average annual asset growth exceeding 20 percent for the last 30 years, our Tribe accomplished more than any tribe with such a small territory and local member population. We started with nearly nothing. Our assets now exceed $900 million dollars with a net worth of more than $400 million. This was accomplished through sound management and by choosing experienced leadership. The cooperative management efforts of Vice Chairman Capps, Secretary/Treasurer Trousdale and myself has yielded great returns and progress for our people. We have a great team. Our Tribal Legislature has been forward thinking and diligent in its stewardship of our funds and the shaping of our laws. They have also been masterful in representing their constituents and the Tribe, especially Jon Boursaw.

We have overcome many huge hurdles in our past: vicious opposition from state/local government costing years of expensive litigation, COVID19, a national financial crisis, internal dishonesty and people acting only in their self-interest. The most difficult has been internal political squabbling born of jealousy and envy.

Right now we have the great blessing of a large group of dedicated and capable managers who’ve devoted the best years of their working lives to our Nation. We also have a Tribal government that has achieved national acclaim for innovation and success.

That is what we have now.

One of my opponents would change all that and add an entire layer of new management, with no current experience at our Tribe. Even riskier is her idea of bringing back people who have been fired, quit, or have a grudge. Please don’t let that happen.

For the sake of our Tribe, demand my opponent reveal the names of these secret “Cabinet Secretaries” she plans to put in charge. Who are they? Where have they been? What have they done for the Citizen Potawatomi people? Her Facebook ads say, “It is time for a change.” I guess that means she thinks I am too old, since it cannot mean our Tribe is not doing well. It is true that I am not as young as she is, but I am nearly two years younger than the President of the United States and nearly ten years younger than our current U.S. Senator James Inhofe.

Our Tribe has over 2,000 employees and 14 separate businesses or governmental departments with a $550 million budget. Her claim of “26 years of experience” is misleading. In none of those years did she manage people and capital. She is self-employed!

There is an old cowboy saying – “Just because you put your boots in the oven don’t make them biscuits!”

We are now achieving the size and financial power to provide new opportunities for our people in jobs, income, medical and elderly care, housing finance, and most important – higher education for our young. We should manage our money well and avoid losing our most experienced people. We will lose them if they have to answer to “Cabinet Secretaries” who know nothing about the Tribe’s history of business or government.

We have great opportunities ahead of us. I would be grateful for the privilege of continuing as your Tribal Chairman.

Lisa Kraft

Lisa Kraft for CPN Chairman 2021 – Citizen Potawatomi Nation is We the People!

My run for CPN Chairman 2021 is made possible: by a young campaign team of go-getters, my son who is helping me more around the house, the encouragement of our tribal citizens living in several states and even overseas, support from donors, local and state non-Indian members, and even non-CPN tribal citizens.

I am blessed and humbled by the generosity others have shown me. Our Facebook posts and videos are reaching 1000s of our members. I am confident that a lot of you are seeing my campaign efforts on social media, but I need your help sharing them and continuing to like them. Please talk with your families and ask them to reach out to me with comments and questions. I also need your mailing addresses to receive my direct mailings.

This is truly a team effort!

We are planning a worldwide event over the weekend of June 11-13 to ask our members everywhere to take time to raise money for a charity of their own choosing and in their own communities. We will be walking dogs at Lake Arcadia in Edmond, Oklahoma to raise money for Saving Pets At Risk (SPAR) in Shawnee. SPAR takes unwanted dogs and cats and provides foster homes until they can be adopted.

Please visit CPNchairman.com website and Instagram @LisaKraftCPN and Facebook at @LisaKraft2021 to learn more as this event begins to take shape.

On April 12, we had a wonderful time in Shawnee talking with tribal members and again on April 30 in Norman. Many members are volunteering their time to help distribute car magnets and soon to be yard signs and banners. Through generous donations, I now have billboards throughout Oklahoma and running radio ads.

I am working with wise elders to shape my platform, namely, Esther Lowden. Mrs. Lowden is loved and highly respected in our Tribe and in our local community. You may have seen her giving prayer at both of our events. Esther and her family, as well as several large Potawatomi families here in Oklahoma, still practice our traditions and four-day seasonal ceremonies on their allotment lands near Sacred Heart or in the southern portion of our former reservation.

Here, you can hear singing in Potawatomi, attend sweats, feast together, and pray together in a traditional way that fosters fellowship and community. These are traditions that Mrs. Lowden has practiced her whole life. She welcomes all to her Hill where you can learn our ways and meet others who are on their own cultural journey of self discovery.

Please follow our Kraft 2021 campaign efforts on social media, sign up on CPNchairman.com to receive my emails, and please include your mailing address to receive our direct mailings.

A vote for Lisa Kraft on June 26 is a vote for “We the People of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.”

Thank you all so much. Change is on the way!

Steve Castaneda – EConOush (Little Leader)

I majored in law and minored in history when I went to college. I want to make things right for our people. All I am asking for is the opportunity to do for our people and the people of our area. I would like to unite our tribal members with other tribes of Oklahoma in joint projects if possible. Get our members thoughts and opinion in these matters. I have my thought but would like to hear everyone else’s as well.

I am not a man that likes to just talk about things but actual do for others. This is why I am running, not only for myself. I am running for all the tribal members.

Thank you
Steve Castaneda (Econ-Oush)