Comanche Tribal Members Meet to Discuss Constitution
On Tuesday, July 23, Comanche Nation Chairman Forrest Tahdooahnippah held a town hall at Watchetaker Hall for community input on changes to the Comanche Nation Constitution.
“The purpose of the meeting today was to solicit feedback and commentary from the community, from the tribal members on potential amendments to the Constitution…I think there's a general consensus that there's a lot of constitutional changes that need to be made, and I hope that we can make them all,” he said. “In the short term, I think there's certain gaps, like there's certain things that the Constitution just doesn't mention, or there's areas where the Constitution has some either implicit or explicit inconsistencies. So, I really wanted to focus on some of those areas that I think need immediate attention so that we can propose some amendments to fix those issues.”
Tahdooahnippah said recall procedures and tribal attorney were the two highest priority issues at the meeting.
“Recalls and vacancies, the nature of the tribal attorney position, and by that, I mean should it be an outside law firm that does all of the legal work versus should it be a natural person that occupies like an attorney general type of spot that's like an employee of the tribe,” he said. “Some smaller issues we talked about were kind of like notification of CBC meetings, CBC salaries was an issue that came up, and there was a lot of discussion on kind of voting in general, and that's an issue that is related to these amendments, but I think it's really more about the election ordinance, which I hope to host a town hall meeting on that in August.”
Tahdooahnippah said the reform is important for tribal members to participate in.
“I think this constitutional reform touches on so many of the most controversial issues that have faced our tribe that it's so important that we have the discussions, and I don't want anyone to be dissuaded. I know that people have intense feelings about it, but I don't want that to dissuade anyone from participating,” he said. “…We can all participate in a real good way and provide our opinions…and none of it is personal even if there's personal histories that are involved because people held office and they were recalled or there was they got in with a vacancy…There's definitely people that have been on the front lines of these things, and we welcome their participation because that experience is how we're going to learn how to do it better in the future.”
Tahdooahnippah said there’s not a deadline for the changes.
He said he’s trying to make it easier for tribal members to stay informed and participate in the discussions. Tahdooahnippah said those interested can read the Constitution and its amendments and listen to or join the meetings.
