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Nashville Caucus Held In Preparation For Native American Convention
By Toye Heape
Nashville, Aug. 26 (Native Nashville) -- A group of twenty-two Nashville-area adults, and one 16 year-old, held a caucus yesterday to select nominees to the Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs and delegates to a Native American Convention to be held in September.
This caucus, and six others scheduled simultaneously around the state, was a response to legislation introduced in the last session of the Tennessee General Assembly proposing a public election process for selecting a list of nominees to the Commission of Indian Affairs. The Speaker of the Senate and the Speaker of the House would then jointly appoint members to the Commission from the list. The bill passed the Senate but its companion bill in the House was never brought to a vote on the House floor.
Although legislation creating the procedure has not been enacted, those attending yesterday's meeting hoped to get a head start on the nomination process and increase chances that the legislation will pass in the next session of the legislature by going ahead with the elections. According to Pat Cummins, president of the Alliance for Native American Indian Rights and a caucus organizer, Representative Mike Kernell, sponsor of the House version of the Indian Affairs legislation, advised a group of the bill's supporters to go ahead with the process so that a list of nominees would be ready if the legislation passes in 2002. Dale Mitchell, a Franklin resident who participated in meetings to draft the legislation and organize the caucus and convention procedures, said "By doing this now, it gives momentum to getting the law passed."
Caucus members also hope to overcome opposition in high places. On June 30 of this year, after refusing to make appointments to the Commission of Indian Affairs for almost two years and letting all serving member's terms expire, Governor Don Sundquist vetoed funding for the Commission, closing the agency's office and eliminating it's lone staff person. A Senate committee later refused to override the funding veto.
Yesterday's caucus chose four nominees to the Commission of Indian Affairs - Pat Cummins, Edna Fay, Sandi Perry, and Mike Mangrum.11 delegates were also elected to attend the Native American Convention that will be held on September 22 at Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Area. According to information on the Tennessee Native American Convention web site (http://www.tnnac.org), delegates are expected to support the commissioner nominees at the state convention. Apparently the four nominees to the Commission selected yesterday will be the Nashville region nominees included in the list that convention organizers expect to submit to the Speakers of the Senate and House if the legislation passes next year. One of the four would then be selected as the Commission member representing the Nashville region.
Other caucuses were scheduled yesterday in three other metropolitan regions - Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Memphis - and in the three Grand Divisions of the state - East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tenneessee. Each of these meetings were also expected to select four Commissioner nominees and between ten and fifteen Native American Convention delegates.
According to the proposed legislation, one person from each of the four regions and three Grand Divisions would be appointed from each area's Commissioner nominee list, as submitted by the Native American convention to the Senate and House Speakers, for a total of seven Commission members.
