I am sad to say Celesta and I have made the decision to cancel the raffle due to a claim that we were doing the raffle to pay for votes. That was never the intention! The purpose of the raffle was to increase Tribal voter turnout. This is a common Tribal practice to get more involvement in various Tribal activities, events and projects. I am posting a video today that will give more information about why this decision was made by Celesta and I. Before the raffle was cancelled there were 14 participants with 50 tickets issued. The raffle had no negative impact on the Election. No raffle tickets were issued after our postcards were mailed at the beginning of December. The raffle webpage has been disabled and the blog post has been removed. Those that had entries and the two that submitted but entries were not completed have already been emailed this notice.

The bonus to the raffle was all 16 that entered submitted a concern, goal, ideas and/or a compliment for the Tribe. That is what I truly wanted to know – what does the membership want to see for the Tribe. I still have that log and will keep all of those things in mind.

I have read the comments to Celesta’s announcement of the letter we both received from the Election Board dated 12/28/2020. Please keep making your voices heard! The Candidates Fair is virtual this year (on the Zoom platform) for the first time and you can email your questions in.

For the Candidates Fair to be held on January 9, 2021, submit your questions via email to Elections@ctsi.nsn.us by 4:30 PM on January 6, 2021. Questions received after that date will not be considered. For access to the Zoom meeting link and access code, email Elections@ctsi.nsn.us with your name and roll number. The meeting link and access code will be distributed on January 8, 2021 by 5 PM. The recording of the Candidate’s Fair will be posted on the Member Area of the Tribal website on Monday, January 11th until the close of the in-person polls at 4 PM on Saturday, February 6, 2021.

I hope I will be able to post a positive determination made by Tribal Court next week and that you will see both Celesta and I in the Candidate’s Fair.

Whether or not we are able to participate in the Candidate’s Fair, we will push forward and continue to campaign for the 4000+ Tribal members eligible to vote to make their choice for their candidate heard and vote. For both of us, the position of Tribal Council is not for ourselves or our family – it is for the membership as a whole.

My wish for 2021 is that we will see each other at Tribal events and activities!

StaySafe #FindTheSilverLining