Editor’s Note – Responses from legislative candidates appear exactly as they were submitted without editing for content or style.
Paul Wesselhöft
Incumbent
How do you plan to engage Tribal citizens?
My personal email is: reppaul@gmail.com and my phone number is: 405-517-7148.
I have always made my personal contact information public and available to our members. I like visiting with fellow members. I dialogue publicly and privately with many members on the three unofficial Potawatomi Facebook groups with a combined membership of 11,437. I founded and administer, “Potawatomi Artists,” a 4,803 member Facebook group. I want to get to know as many members as possible. As a professional, I always return calls and emails. I’m available and always willing to engage with members.
What do you feel is the Tribe’s most pressing issue it currently faces?
Like myself, most of our members are not of dark skin. Some of our members may feel like they are less Indian. This is false. We are all fully, 100% Native Americans. We do not govern by blood quantum. From centuries of intermarriage, our skin will continue to be whiter. All of us, starting with our leaders, must educate our members on the importance of our heritage, culture, and the reality that we are all proud Native Americans of various skin colors.
How can CPN better serve and engage its Tribal members?
We are trying to better serve and engage our members. This is our mission and desire every time we conduct our legislature. We consistently ask how we can connect with our members and deliver better and more effective services to the nation. Our legislature is public and recorded for online hearing. Meeting annually at our Family Festival is probably not enough. We added our hot air balloon festival. Perhaps if we gathered biannually, it would enhance our community and strengthen our bonds even more.
Describe what in your life has made you appreciate your CPN heritage.
I was aware of my Native American heritage as a child. I knew I was a blue-eyed Indian. In my teens I read our tribal heritage, and such a great history it is. When I discovered that my Great-Great-Great-Grandfather was Chief Abraham Burnett, I was hooked. Knowing that he was involved in leadership of the tribe and negotiated treaties and other business, made me proud. We are of the same blood. He is my model, mentor, and inspiration. His photo is posted on my wall. I like to think that I am a type of modern-day Abraham Burnett. I hope one of my future descendants will consider me as their model as well.
What kind of future do you envision for the Nation?
Currently, as well as when I first ran for the legislature, my primary goals and vision of our future has not changed. They are twofold: I want the financial income from our enterprises and businesses to exceed our financial income from gaming and federal grants; and I want our college and technical school scholarships to increase in number and amount every year. I want our nation known nationally as the tribe financed primary by their business enterprises, and the tribe who educates their youth for success today and into the future.
What do you think is the most difficult thing for CPN members who may live in Oklahoma but may feel disconnected from the Tribe? How can you, as legislators, help with that?
In my personal and public communication with members as well as in my published articles in the HowNikan and in various social media, I hope to generate interest in our heritage and culture. Not every member of our nation feels connected to their tribe. That’s unfortunate. There is only so much a legislator, or any fellow member can do to engender interest in our tribe to those who don’t care about their heritage. No one reached out to me. If they had I would have probably become involved in the tribe at an earlier age. It is my mission and goal to engender pride and ownership to all our members in our shared history, heritage, customs and culture. We are one.important committees as well as Chairman of the Joint House and Senate committee for Native America Affairs. I founded the 21-member Native American Caucus in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
Matt Higdon
Challenger
How do you plan to engage Tribal citizens?
Well, I know sometimes people do not know everything that our tribe has to offer so as someone who has used a lot of the resources provided and grown up around the tribe, I would open my email to the public and let all tribal members, whether they are in my district or not, send me questions. If I do not know how to help them I will find out who to put them in contact with so they can find the resources they are looking for.
While I also do not want to make false promises I will do my best to attend every Tribal event that I can. I do love attending our festival, and growing up I have always been excited to participate in the games and competitions. That will not change, I love the competiveness and the relationships that can be built through it. I am also excited at the possibility of attending the Gathering.
What do you feel is the Tribe’s most pressing issue it currently faces?
In my opinion, I would not say that the tribe has a lot of “problems,” There are some steps that I would like for us to take though. One being, I would like for us to try to work towards reducing our single use plastics. I would also like to look into avenues to install solar panels on at least our senior housing.
On the business side, I would like to learn how the tribe can increase our marketing efforts. When I was bartending the ZZ Top concert at the Firelake Arena I spoke with a young lady who lived nearby who had no idea about the Firelake Arena and all of the events that are put on out there.
How can CPN better serve and engage its Tribal members?
First and foremost, we should continue to build on the outreach we currently have such as the Festival, Potawatomi Leadership Program, Mdamen, Talking Circle, Sports Camps, the Cultural Heritage Centers quarterly newsletters, the Hownikan, and the Education Departments Internships, as well as our virtual and in person Language Classes. As someone who has gone through the Potawatomi Leadership Program, Tribal Sports Camps, Internships, and subscribe to the Hownikan, I have always felt more connected with my tribe. And before I even understood what it meant to be proud of my heritage, I always felt an immense amount of pride anytime I attended a sports camp or Festival or even just driving by our Tribal Headquarters.
A few ways I think we can build on those, is by having more virtual events that all tribal members can attend, even if they are out of state or cannot make it to Tribal Headquarters. Also hosting meetings and events after most people get off work so they can attend easier. I would also want to make information and dates more readily available for people who want to engage in cultural activities such as sweat lodges, dancing, drumming and singing, and moon ceremonies.
Describe what in your life has made you appreciate your CPN heritage.
This may sound kitschy or cliché, but when I think back upon my time growing up around the tribe, and as I have gotten older learned more about the history of our tribe, I really find pride in three things: our resiliency, our capacity to build, and the sense of community and family that is shared throughout the tribe. Growing up in school I was always taught about the Trail of Tears and never about our tribes Trail of Death, but as I grew older I learned more and realized how much the tribe has evolved and grown despite clear efforts to diminish us. This leads into our capacity to build not only casinos, but grocery stores, restaurants, a golf course, ball fields, the Arena, a professional basketball team, and so much more. I mean it is truly awe inspiring and sets the bar for the next seven generations to build on ,but also really helps the next seven generations ingrain the CPNs legacy into the history books. And finally, my biggest source of pride is the family and community that has been built in our tribe. Growing up whenever I would find out that one of my classmates or friends was CPN, I was always so pleasantly surprised because we immediately had a deeper bond through the tribe. I also have very fond memories of spending the night with one of my best childhood friends so we could go to festival together. I mean for me it is really hard to put into words how much pride I carry in my heart for our tribe.
What kind of future do you envision for the Nation?
For me, when I picture our future as a tribe, I almost want to describe our Tribal Headquarters as a destination. A place where everyone, tribal or non-tribal, indigenous or not, can come and see and be inspired by our culture, our businesses, our people, and just be taken aback by how resilient we have become. I want our businesses to thrive because not only will that protect our tribe’s sovereignty but also help to ensure that our tribal citizens have access to as many resources as possible, while also providing as many jobs as possible for our tribal members. On top of that, I want tribal members to be able to come visit and always have a home here. Not just a place to stay, food to eat, but also something to do so they can connect with their tribe’s culture and their ancestors. But I do not want to limit it to just tribal members but I want everyone to be welcome, when appropriate, so they can learn about our culture and be inspired by our people. Then when I picture the future of our tribe, I picture us as an example of how to live with the earth, and not just living on the earth.
What do you think is the most difficult thing for CPN members who may live in Oklahoma but may feel disconnected from the Tribe? How can you, as legislators, help with that?
Even from personal experience as much as I have grown up around the tribe, I have had times where I have had trouble finding ways to build a connection. However, the one thing that has always helped me are the people that I have met along the way; friends and connections I have made over the years have made a huge difference in being able to connect with our culture. So for me, I want to be that person, I want to make sure that I am always there for anyone that be having a hard time connecting. I am a big believer in community and have always relied upon that as a way to connect. This is a very roundabout way to say that I want to be the guy everyone knows and everyone is comfortable enough to ask questions. But the biggest way I think I can achieve this is by being available physically, by that I mean going to every tribal event, being around the community, talking to as many people as possible, and just staying involved.