SJMN: FORMER CHEROKEE EXECUTIVE TAKES LEAD IN ELECTION FOR CHIEF
Former Cherokee Executive Takes Lead in Election For Chief
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) -- A former Cherokee Nation executive took the early lead 
Saturday night in the election for chief of the nation's second largest tribe.

George Watie Bearpaw, former tribal operations director, had 4,032 votes with 
all absentee ballots and 23 of the 35 precincts reporting, election officials 
said.

Tribal Councilman Joe Byrd was second with 3,094 votes, followed by former 
Cherokee prosecutor Chad Smith with 1,843 votes.

The three had been considered front-runners. Another 800 votes were scattered 
among the six other candidates seeking to succeed the popular Wilma Mankiller.

Mankiller, who led the tribe through unprecedented growth, announced last year 
she would not seek re-election. Deputy Chief John Ketcher also declined to run. 
Mankiller had endorsed Bearpaw.

Among the other candidates were a trucking company owner, a retired school 
administrator and a TV satellite engineer from Las Vegas, Harry ``Use Your 
Noodle'' Tootle.

Also on the ballot were candidates for deputy chief and the 15-member tribal 
council.

Polls closed at 7 p.m., although final returns were not expected until late at 
night because ballots had to be driven to election headquarters in Tahlequah, 
more than two hours away from some of the 35 precincts in the 14-county area 
that makes up the Cherokee Nation.

Of the tribe's nearly 170,000 members, a little more than 30,000 registered to 
vote. The tribe mailed out about 6,500 absentee ballots across the country.

If no one gets more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff would be scheduled for
 July 29. The new chief will be inaugurated Aug. 14.

The Navajo tribe, the nation's largest, has 230,000 members.

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The new chief will take over the Cherokee Nation at a time when the tribe is 
facing severe Congressional budget cuts. Mankiller has warned the cuts will 
affect education, job training and health services.

Mankiller was elected deputy chief in 1983. She became the tribe's first female 
chief two years later and became one of the nation's leading speakers on Indian 
sovereignty and health care, meeting presidents and testifying before Congress.

Mankiller, 49, plans to teach at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., in the 
fall.

``I just recognized it was time to move on,'' she said. ``It was time for the 
Cherokee Nation to have a change.''

AP-WS-06-18-95 0140EDT


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