Post by Okwes on Dec 19, 2006 16:12:19 GMT -5
INDN's List celebrates success after first election cycle's results come
in Posted: November 17, 2006 by: Brian Daffron
<http://www.indiancountry.com/author.cfm?id=597> / Today correspondent
www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414032
<http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414032> Click to
Enlarge <http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096414032_large.jpg>
<http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096414032_large.jpg> Photos
courtesy Kayln Free -- (Top) INDN's List founder Kalyn Free, Choctaw;
Oklahoma District 6 Representative-elect Chuck Hoskin, Cherokee; and
Warrior Dana Jim held a ''watch party'' at Hoskin's home as election
results mostly favorable to candidates prefered by Indian country came
in Nov. 7. (Center) Oklahoma District 6 Representative-elect Chuck
Hoskin, Cherokee, and his wife, Stephanie, celebrated his victory at a
''watch party'' held at Hoskin's home Nov. 7. (Bottom) INDN's List
founder Kalyn Free ANDARKO, Okla. - INDN's List founder and Choctaw
Nation member Kalyn Free spent election night Nov. 7 in Vinita, at the
watch party of Oklahoma State House District 6 candidate and Cherokee
Nation member Chuck Hoskin. She observed Hoskin and his wife, Stephanie,
receive the results of their work throughout the evening in between her
receiving cell phone calls from throughout the country, where she
learned of election results for many of her other Democratic Indian
candidates.
By 3 a.m. Nov. 8, she learned that 16 of her 22 endorsed candidates won
their elections. Although feeling sad for her candidates who did not
win, she said she was pleased with the results of INDN's List's first
election cycle.
''I was thrilled beyond belief,'' Free said. ''We worked so hard at
INDN's List to support these candidates.''
Members of INDN's List, otherwise known as the Indigenous Democratic
Network, ''are dedicated to electing Native American men and women to
office across America,'' according to the list's Web site,
indnslist.org. ''We believe in the power of Indians as candidates, as
contributors, as campaign professionals, and as voters to bring about
great change in our country.''
''Our candidates have worked really hard,'' Free said about the success
of the INDN's List candidates. ''They've had to. We always say that
Indian people have to work double-hard than other folks about whatever
they set out to do. In campaigns, they have to work harder than the
average non-Indian candidate. Our candidates were the key to their own
successes.''
Since INDN's List sponsored its first campaign camp in October 2005, she
has seen these candidates who attended - such as Claudia Kauffman of
Washington, and Hoskin and Scott BigHorse of Oklahoma - run successful
campaigns.
''The skills they learned at campaign camp they employed immediately,
running professional, strategic campaigns,'' Free said. ''I'm not going
to take all the credit. They ran professional, well-targeted field
campaigns. That's the difference between success and failure.''
Now that INDN's List's first election cycle is completed, the
organization is setting new goals for 2008. The first, Free said, is to
gain more Indian candidates to run for public office.
''We want to build on our successes,'' she said. ''We want to have even
more candidates running across the country. Out of 22 candidates that we
endorsed this cycle, that represents 16 different tribes. We want to
have a broader representation. We want to be more active in more states,
have more tribes represented and have more candidates running.''
Its second goal is to sponsor a second campaign camp in August 2007,
with a location as yet to be determined, but Free said that it would
definitely be within Indian country and that different reservations are
interested in hosting the event. This campaign camp would feature both a
candidate and a staff training track, with candidates learning such
skills as on-the-spot stump speechmaking and simulated fund-raising. But
one of the features that INDN's List is planning includes ''Prez on the
Rez,'' which would bring in the 2008 candidates for president to meet
with elected tribal leaders and discuss issues affecting Indian country
such as education, health care, the environment and the methamphetamine
epidemic. The presidential candidates would then be part of a forum with
a selected moderator.
The third goal of INDN's List, according to Free, is to have paid
campaign workers who are Indian and working over a year ahead of time to
get out the Native vote for Native Democratic candidates.
''We want to hire Indian people in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington,
Arizona, New Mexico - in the battleground states,'' Free said. ''I want
to put Indians from those reservations - not on the ground 30 days
before the general election, but a year before. I would love to have
people on the ground next fall, a year before the 2008 elections,
working, registering voters and doing Native vote - paid staffers. ...
You cannot run an effective program, whether you're running for state
office, county office or for president, on a volunteer basis. We want to
hire Indians to do that.''
Ultimately, Free said the goal of INDN's List is one of inspiration to
Native people in that they can be represented within the greater
American political landscape, and that Native people run their own
campaigns.
''We want Indian country to be a real player in 2008 with candidates,
with field staff,'' she said. ''We don't want non-Indians coming in from
various campaigns and from the [Democratic] Party telling us how to run
field programs in Indian country. We know how to do it and we want our
own people doing it. We want to pay them to do it. We know people
obviously need the money and need the jobs, but they also need the
experience. That will inspire them, hopefully, to run for office in two
years or 10 years.''
Recently, Free said that a sixth-grade teacher from Isleta Pueblo, N.M.,
wrote to her, asking that her Native candidates write her students. Free
was excited about the ideas this would generate with these young Native
children.
''This may plant the seed in the heart of some Isleta kid,'' Free said.
''They're going to look at this and go, 'Oh my goodness. There's Indians
all over the country running and winning.' It's something they've never
considered before. That's the real goal of INDN's List - to inspire and
empower our own people. I think that's what this election cycle has
done, hopefully.''
in Posted: November 17, 2006 by: Brian Daffron
<http://www.indiancountry.com/author.cfm?id=597> / Today correspondent
www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414032
<http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414032> Click to
Enlarge <http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096414032_large.jpg>
<http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096414032_large.jpg> Photos
courtesy Kayln Free -- (Top) INDN's List founder Kalyn Free, Choctaw;
Oklahoma District 6 Representative-elect Chuck Hoskin, Cherokee; and
Warrior Dana Jim held a ''watch party'' at Hoskin's home as election
results mostly favorable to candidates prefered by Indian country came
in Nov. 7. (Center) Oklahoma District 6 Representative-elect Chuck
Hoskin, Cherokee, and his wife, Stephanie, celebrated his victory at a
''watch party'' held at Hoskin's home Nov. 7. (Bottom) INDN's List
founder Kalyn Free ANDARKO, Okla. - INDN's List founder and Choctaw
Nation member Kalyn Free spent election night Nov. 7 in Vinita, at the
watch party of Oklahoma State House District 6 candidate and Cherokee
Nation member Chuck Hoskin. She observed Hoskin and his wife, Stephanie,
receive the results of their work throughout the evening in between her
receiving cell phone calls from throughout the country, where she
learned of election results for many of her other Democratic Indian
candidates.
By 3 a.m. Nov. 8, she learned that 16 of her 22 endorsed candidates won
their elections. Although feeling sad for her candidates who did not
win, she said she was pleased with the results of INDN's List's first
election cycle.
''I was thrilled beyond belief,'' Free said. ''We worked so hard at
INDN's List to support these candidates.''
Members of INDN's List, otherwise known as the Indigenous Democratic
Network, ''are dedicated to electing Native American men and women to
office across America,'' according to the list's Web site,
indnslist.org. ''We believe in the power of Indians as candidates, as
contributors, as campaign professionals, and as voters to bring about
great change in our country.''
''Our candidates have worked really hard,'' Free said about the success
of the INDN's List candidates. ''They've had to. We always say that
Indian people have to work double-hard than other folks about whatever
they set out to do. In campaigns, they have to work harder than the
average non-Indian candidate. Our candidates were the key to their own
successes.''
Since INDN's List sponsored its first campaign camp in October 2005, she
has seen these candidates who attended - such as Claudia Kauffman of
Washington, and Hoskin and Scott BigHorse of Oklahoma - run successful
campaigns.
''The skills they learned at campaign camp they employed immediately,
running professional, strategic campaigns,'' Free said. ''I'm not going
to take all the credit. They ran professional, well-targeted field
campaigns. That's the difference between success and failure.''
Now that INDN's List's first election cycle is completed, the
organization is setting new goals for 2008. The first, Free said, is to
gain more Indian candidates to run for public office.
''We want to build on our successes,'' she said. ''We want to have even
more candidates running across the country. Out of 22 candidates that we
endorsed this cycle, that represents 16 different tribes. We want to
have a broader representation. We want to be more active in more states,
have more tribes represented and have more candidates running.''
Its second goal is to sponsor a second campaign camp in August 2007,
with a location as yet to be determined, but Free said that it would
definitely be within Indian country and that different reservations are
interested in hosting the event. This campaign camp would feature both a
candidate and a staff training track, with candidates learning such
skills as on-the-spot stump speechmaking and simulated fund-raising. But
one of the features that INDN's List is planning includes ''Prez on the
Rez,'' which would bring in the 2008 candidates for president to meet
with elected tribal leaders and discuss issues affecting Indian country
such as education, health care, the environment and the methamphetamine
epidemic. The presidential candidates would then be part of a forum with
a selected moderator.
The third goal of INDN's List, according to Free, is to have paid
campaign workers who are Indian and working over a year ahead of time to
get out the Native vote for Native Democratic candidates.
''We want to hire Indian people in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington,
Arizona, New Mexico - in the battleground states,'' Free said. ''I want
to put Indians from those reservations - not on the ground 30 days
before the general election, but a year before. I would love to have
people on the ground next fall, a year before the 2008 elections,
working, registering voters and doing Native vote - paid staffers. ...
You cannot run an effective program, whether you're running for state
office, county office or for president, on a volunteer basis. We want to
hire Indians to do that.''
Ultimately, Free said the goal of INDN's List is one of inspiration to
Native people in that they can be represented within the greater
American political landscape, and that Native people run their own
campaigns.
''We want Indian country to be a real player in 2008 with candidates,
with field staff,'' she said. ''We don't want non-Indians coming in from
various campaigns and from the [Democratic] Party telling us how to run
field programs in Indian country. We know how to do it and we want our
own people doing it. We want to pay them to do it. We know people
obviously need the money and need the jobs, but they also need the
experience. That will inspire them, hopefully, to run for office in two
years or 10 years.''
Recently, Free said that a sixth-grade teacher from Isleta Pueblo, N.M.,
wrote to her, asking that her Native candidates write her students. Free
was excited about the ideas this would generate with these young Native
children.
''This may plant the seed in the heart of some Isleta kid,'' Free said.
''They're going to look at this and go, 'Oh my goodness. There's Indians
all over the country running and winning.' It's something they've never
considered before. That's the real goal of INDN's List - to inspire and
empower our own people. I think that's what this election cycle has
done, hopefully.''