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[article provided by JH. Thanks...]
 

[KOLA Note: HUH?]
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Wednesday, 2 February 2000

In pivotal turnaround, Native Americans are rallying for John McCain
By Koren L. Capozza

  The word is spreading quickly through Indian country - this is the year to
come out for the primary vote.
In Internet chat rooms, through e-mail mass mailings, and in informal
conversations Native Americans are rallying their numbers for what is being
hailed as a pivotal moment. And the message reverberating among the nation's
2.4 million Native Americans is that Sen. John McCain is the candidate to
bolster.
``We are looking at an unprecedented turn-out from the native community for
the primaries,'' says JoAnn Chase, executive director of the National
Congress of American Indians (NCAI).
  Former Navajo President Peterson Zah drew national attention when he
publicly switched from Democrat to Republican last August so that he could
vote for McCain and against Gov. George W. Bush.
American Indians, who have historically voted Democratic, are rethinking
their loyalties this year. According to Zah, the drive to get Indians to the
polls is fueled by a growing feeling that the other candidates' political
agendas bode ill for Native American interests.
  In particular, American Indians do not want to see Bush win the primary -
he enraged Native American groups in October when a Syracuse, New York
newspaper quoted him saying state law should ``reign supreme when it comes
to Indians.''
  ``This is the person seeking the highest office in the country and yet he
has revealed through statements that he does not understand the relationship
between tribal governments and the federal government,'' says Chase.
  Some American Indians are ready to support McCain all the way to the
presidency. Tribal leaders took note when McCain was the only candidate to
attend the NCAI's national convention in Palm Springs, Ca., last October.
  He also earned points with tribes when he made deliberate stops throughout
Indian country during his campaign tour, including a detour to the Navajo
tribal council where he ensured leaders that American Indian issues would be
prominently featured on his presidential agenda.
Moreover, Native Americans consider McCain to be knowledgeable about Indian
affairs - he served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
and gained the approval of Arizona tribes during his tenure as senator.
  Even Democrats agree that McCain has an impeccable record when it comes to
Native American causes. Bob Neuman, former spokesman for the Democratic
National Committee, told the Boston Globe that, ``John McCain has been
absolutely spectacular on Indian issues.''
Recent polls indicate that over three quarters of native people identify
themselves as Democrats, according to the NCAI. ``McCain throws an
interesting twist in our political history,'' says Chase. ``He's more
conservative but extraordinarily progressive in his agenda for Indian
country.''
Chase says a growing frustration with Democrat Party indifference to Native
American allegiances is causing many Indian voters to defect. ``We don't
want to be taken for granted. We expect the candidates to engage with the
community.''
  But some Native American activists warn against switching camps too
hastily. Indigenous environmentalists, for example, worry that both
Republican candidates, once elected, would sell off the nation's natural
resources - a policy which will ultimately affect American Indians whose
cultures and religions are closely tied to their natural environment.
  McCain's sponsorship of the controversial 1996 Navajo-Hopi Relocation Act,
for example, will result in the forced removal of some 321 Navajo homes.
Critics say McCain and the bill's supporters are in cahoots with the Peabody
Coal Company, a mining giant with plans to exploit the mineral wealth in
Navajo and Hopi territories.
  Other American Indian activists see both parties as essentially the same.
``There is no real difference between the Democrats and the Republicans,''
says Floyd Red Crow Westerman, a member of the American Indian Movement's
Los Angeles chapter.
  Though American Indians make up only 1 percent of the American population,
their vote could prove crucial for McCain.
``We have only one candidate that's knowledgeable about Native American
issues,'' says Zah. ``And that is Sen. John McCain.''

Pacific New Service associate editor Koren L. Capozza writes on Native
American affairs for New California Media's Web site www.NCMonline.com
 

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