A message from June 2010 Candidate Jeff Irons-May

A major concern of the voters this election is protecting the minerals council and removing it from the authority of the Osage Congress and office of Principal Chief. Throughout this campaign I have only heard two candidates offer a suggestion on how this can be done. I am one of those candidates. I for one realize the U.S. Government is not going to recognize another Osage entity. The Feds want to decrease the number of Indian tribes in the United States not recognize more. The Federal government recognizes the Osage Nation as the only tribe of Osages. The idea that the Federal government will give the shareholders their own council is very wishful thinking. Especially, with the U.S. Senators we have as they would have to make the recommendation. Nope, it isn’t going to happen. While speaking at the Osage Shareholders meeting in April I suggested we create an authority that would be responsible for all minerals issues. For this article I will call it the Osage Minerals Authority (OMA). We could amend to Osage constitution to create the OMA and give all authority including spending to the OMA. It could be created in a manner that only shareholders elect the board and the board members must be shareholders. They would have their own income such as they do now, and they would use their funds for whatever is approved by majority vote of the board. The Osage Nation congress and office of Principal Chief would have no authority over the OMA. The only dealings the Authority would have with the Osage Nation government would be to send a copy of their annual audit so it could be included in the Nation financial statement. The OMA would be totally separate from the Osage Nation. I think the OMA could be created very similar to the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA). I am not sure how familiar everyone is with the OTA but they report to themselves. The elected officials for the State of Oklahoma have very little if any authority over the OTA. If you recall they are so independent a candidate for Governor built his platform on eliminating the OTA. We stand a better chance of creating the OMA than we do having the Federal government recognize another group of Osages. This might not be the best idea but you know where I stand when it comes to protecting the minerals council and removing it from those not elected by shareholders. As you can see I am not afraid to tackle controversial issues. I feel if we don’t discuss them they will never be solved. Elect someone that is willing to protect the minerals vote Jeffery Irons for Assistant Principal Chief.