Native Alaskans will elect four of seven candidates to the Wrangell Cooperative Association’s leadership council today.
The WCA is an umbrella organization for the local Alaskan Native community and maintains, among other things, the Chief Shakes House and the carving shed cultural center. The group has played an increasingly important role in civic affairs, primarily as a go-to organization to obtain funding for infrastructure projects when state or federal authorities are sometimes unwilling to foot the bill. The association appears in discussion of projects as diverse as the Forest Service’s Wrangell Roads project and Evergreen Elementary School's parking lot paving plans, and recently received approval to repave Weber Street.
The elections and the council itself are part of a private organization and only members of the WCA are allowed to vote. However, given the associations increasing role in local public affairs, the Sentinel has decided interview the candidates as a public service. Each candidate was given the opportunity to answer the same three questions. In some cases, answers to those questions have been edited for clarity.
Each elected council member will serve a four-year term.
Lynn Allen
1.Why did you run for the WCA council?
I’ve been on the board I don’t even know how long. I’ve been on there over twelve years. It’s been a long time I’ve been sitting on the board. I was actually thinking about not running, but I want to be on there through the finishing of the carving shed facility. I wanna see that done. It seems like every year I think about not running, there’s things that I wanna see go through before I get off the board, so that’s one of the main reasons. I’ve just been on there for so long, I don’t think I would know what to do not being on the board. I enjoy it. I like doing stuff for our tribe. We’ve come a long way. There’s things we’ve always done in the community, but we’re starting to grow and I wanna see it continue to grow.
2. What are the big issues facing the WCA going forward?
Allen declined to answer this question.
3. How do you distinguish yourself from the other candidates?
Honestly, I don’t. I think we all work in the best interests of the tribe, and everybody that’s been on the board has done a really good job trying to build our capacity. We’ve got good employees. I really don’t distinguish myself from anyone else, despite the fact that I’ve been on there longer. The people that get on the board, they learn fast. We all work just as hard as the next person, some of us harder than others. I can’t even say that because we all work in different ways. We’ve got one board member, he’s a good board member, and he does a lot of stuff as far as going down and opening up the house during tourist season because some of us can’t do it because we have jobs. I get excited any time we get younger, newer members on the board, people that want to learn and be involved.
Allen is an incumbent.
Frank Churchill, Jr. is also seeking a position on the council, but declined to participate in an interview.
Linda Churchill
1.Why are you running for the WCA council?
I’ve always loved Shakes Island. I didn’t realize they were branching out to more stuff here in Wrangell, but I’ve always loved Shakes Island. I’m an old Johnson O’Malley Dancer and I used to be a director at JOM for beading instructing and dancing. I also worked on the building for three years as an adzer, and I just love the place. I want to make sure that it’s being taken care of, just mostly the maintenance of the building, making sure that people are going in and out of there often enough, that the grounds are kept up, that there’s no bugs, because we’ve had problems with the carpenter ants in there. I was mostly concerned about the building and the new totem poles because I worked on it for so many years that I’m hoping it stays good.
2. What are the big issues facing the WCA going forward?
I’d have to say as long as they keep up their grant writing, which they do, that things should keep moving forward. They’re talking about (carving) classes in May. I think they’re in the middle of doing grant writing for the restoration of our totem poles through the Ramsey & Murdock Foundation.
3.What distinguishes you from the other candidates?
I just put my hard blood into that old building. I got to work on the bear screen. There’s only four in the world, I hear. Just being able to work on the island I love and the building’s always taken care of and the upkeep. The other politics I’m not too certain of. I know they do some other stuff extra, which is wonderful, really. I’m Tlingit-Haida born and raised here. My father was mayor here 12 years running. I went there once for CloseUp to talk about pollution and gun rights. I’ve always been interested in politics because of my father, and I think that people need to realize that we’re all on the same side.
Ernie Christian
1. Why are you running for the WCA council?
Actually, I think the WCA has made a lot of great strides in the last couple years. I think there’s a lot of projects that the current council has completed and I believe serving on the council for another term would help us move forward and create a real strong program for WCA members and also the community of Wrangell.
2. What do you see as the big issues facing the WCA going forward?
Actually, I believe one of the projects we started and needs to be finished is securing funding for the carving shed, which is about 80 percent completed. I think that’s a great program. We also have a strong roads program. I think overall, a person on the council of the WCA, we started working with the school and putting that language class in and enhancing the local Tlingit language and enhancing the culture of the local Tlingit-Haida people in Wrangell would be great, as a WCA council member.
3. What distinguishes you from the other candidates?
I have a strong background in business. I understand budgeting. I think any organization that has a budget, you need to keep to it and fulfill the objectives and the goals, and something we’ve been working on is a both long-term and short-term business plan for WCA so we can actually create some long-term jobs in the Wrangell community for our members and the community at large. I bring that to the table.
Christian is an incumbent.
Apryl D. Hutchinson
1. Why did you run for the WCA council?
To unite the community and get involved with our culture. I feel like I want to be more involved with the tribe, and I feel this is a good opportunity for me to do so.
2. What are the big issues facing the WCA going forward?
Follow through. Finishing and completing things that they start. I really think that updating our constitution and getting it up to speed and making sure that all of our documents are intertwined. Right now there’s a lot of puffiness and not any consistency, and lots of information falling through the cracks, be it with resolutions or whatever. It doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of structure. It really needs to be refined.
3. What distinguishes you from the other candidates?
I’m hands-on. I definitely feel involved. I want to reach out to all the community and not just hold the information for my own. It doesn’t seem like anybody shares or gets other people involved or motivated, and I really want it to turn over a new leaf and be more of a group of people.
Christie Jamieson
1. Why did you run for the WCA council?
I sense a call to make a difference in bringing forth a positive change in policy and procedures and to help form a fresh new outlook for our tribal members' future.
2. What are the big issues facing the WCA going forward?
To make sure that tribal members are enrolled as a WCA member and once they meet the proper requirements, membership cards will be issued. This is quite a task in undertaking because of past inadequate record keeping.
Jamieson also mentioned building trust and loyalty back into the organization.
3. How do you distinguish yourself from the other candidates?
I have strong communication skills. I believe in thinking outside the box. I welcome challenges. I’m known for following through and completing tasks.
Brooke Leslie
1. Why are you running for the WCA council?
I’m running for WCA council because I think there’s a large generation gap between the age of people that are actively involved in the WCA and the upcoming generation.
2. What are the big issues facing the WCA going forward?
Increasing member awareness of upcoming plans of the WCA and the role it plays in the community. I think getting more of the members to show up to membership meetings is a big thing. I think there’s a lot of people that are aware of the WCA and that they get grant monies and they have something to do with our native community, but the number of people that are involved could increase, and I’d like to see that increase.
3. How do you distinguish yourself from the other candidates?
I think I’m the youngest candidate running. I would like to run as a younger member of the WCA to help bridge the gap and increase the membership of people in more of my generation, maybe in their twenties and thirties to become more involved and more aware. I’ve also served as a delegate in Tlingit-Haida and I was one of the two youngest delegates there, so we’re facing this issue not only with the WCA, but on pretty much all political Alaska native fronts: membership with the Alaska Native Sisterhood, membership with the Alaska Native Brotherhood, and the WCA. If you have people that represent different demographics (in this case age demographics), I think you’re able to address issues that pertain to all those demographics and you’re able to represent them in a fair manner. It also gives you an opportunity for increasing membership awareness and involvement.
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