The Daily Oklahoman (November 16, 2006)

Indians Gain Percentage in Next Legislature
Black Caucus will welcome 6th member

Minorities in the Legislature
After last week's election, the Oklahoma Legislature will have 25 minority members. Here is the breakdown:
• American Indians: 8 Democrats, 11 Republicans. Total: 19

• Blacks: 5 Democrats, 1 Republican. Total: 6

By Judy Gibbs Robinson
Staff Writer

With the election of seven more American Indians last week, the next state Legislature will have more Indians proportionally than the general population.

Blacks also gained ground, adding a sixth member to the Legislative Black Caucus. But the only two candidates on the ballot with Hispanic surnames lost and no Asians ran, leaving the Legislature with a net gain of seven minority members.

Five new Indian legislators are Democrats, elected with help from INDN'S List, a Tulsa-based national political action committee that raises funds and trains Democratic Indian candidates to run for office.

INDN'S List supported 22 candidates in 10 states in the general election; 16 of them were elected.

Sean Burrage of Claremore will represent Senate District 2 and John Sparks of Norman will represent Senate District 16. In the House, Chuck Hoskin of Vinita will represent District 6; Scott BigHorse will represent District 36; and Al McAffrey of Oklahoma City will represent District 88.

Burrage, Hoskins and BigHorse are from traditional, tribal families, said Kalyn Free, a former Democratic candidate for Congress from Oklahoma and founder of INDN'S List.

"They're going to bring a real tribal perspective. They lived it and breathed it and were involved in tribal government. So when groups like One Nation and anti-Indian legislation come up, they can speak to this," Free said.

In addition, two new Republican House members, Skye McNeil of Bristow and T.W. Shannon of Lawton, are of Indian descent, said Ray Carter, director of the House media division.

The Native American Caucus, formed last year with 11 Republicans and two Democratic members, will welcome the new lawmakers, said Rep. Paul Wesselhoft, R-Moore, one of the founding members.

"I'm anxious to meet the new members. This will give a little more balance to it," Wesselhoft said.

The 149-member Legislature now will have 21 Indian members: Five new Democrats, two new Republicans, 13 original members of the Native American Caucus, and Sen. Nancy Riley, D-Tulsa, who did not join the caucus but is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, Free said.

That will make the Legislature 14 percent Indian. About 12 percent of the Oklahoma population is either all or part Indian, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Two Hispanics lost
Hispanics, meanwhile, are looking to 2008 and beyond after failing to elect either Wayne Guevara, D-Owasso, or Jesse Guardiola, R-Tulsa, to the House.
Guardiola said too few Oklahoma Hispanics were registered to vote to give the community a significant voice in this year's elections, but as Hispanic teenagers reach voting age, that will change.

"By the elections in 2012, we will really see a significant voter block in the Hispanic community in Oklahoma," Guardiola said.

Guevara, a fourth-generation American of Mexican descent, said he was surprised to see anger at illegal immigration spill over into anger at immigrants generally in his race.

He said he was ashamed of the prejudice and ignorance he sometimes experienced from people "who didn't know I was born and raised in Henryetta, Oklahoma, and never knew any Spanish until I married my wife."

Guevara ran as a Democrat in a largely Republican district. Hispanics' best hopes for winning a legislative seat will come in districts with more Hispanic voters, said Ed Romo, an officer in the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Romo already is looking at the 2008 race for the House District 93 seat in southwest Oklahoma City, where incumbent Democrat Al Lindley will be term-limited.

"That would be a grand opportunity for a Latino to attempt to campaign there," Romo said.

Black Oklahomans do not have to wait to celebrate. They picked up the House District 62 seat for the first time with the election of Shannon, the Lawton Republican who also is part Chickasaw.

In recent times, blacks in the Legislature have represented the same handful of districts in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

"This is historical. It's a turning point for us, actually," said Rep. Jabar Shumate, D-Tulsa, a member of the Legislative Black Caucus. "In the future, people will be saying, ‘If T.W. Shannon can do it, I can do it too,'" Shumate said.

Shannon will become the sixth member of the Legislative Black Caucus and its only Republican. Party politics don't matter, said Rep. Mike Shelton, D-Oklahoma City, another caucus member.

"He's black and elected. I think he's automatically a member, and I'm excited to have him," Shelton said.

Contributing: Jennifer Mock