In analyzing the American democracy, we find that it is evolutionary and unique in comparison to other democracies. In considering what has been called the American experiment, the American democracy should be separated from other democracies primarily because of structural differences including the electoral college, a bicameral legislature and the existence of 50 state governments.   The existence of the electoral college in and of itself is anti-democratic. The founding fathers created the electoral college to safeguard the people from having too much power. To illustrate this point, the elections of 1876, 2000 and 2016 were won by Rutherford B Hayes, George Bush and Donald Trump, none of whom won the popular vote.  

Thomas J Wertenbaker was a renowned American historian during the 1930s and 40s.  He put forth the thesis that during the 17th and 18th centuries Europeans came to the east coast of North America and began moving west.   While stealing land from the Native Americans, and introducing slavery to North America, some of the initial settlers from England and elsewhere practiced religious bigotry. The Puritans came to America for religious freedom because of the issues they had with their own treatment in practicing their religion. Yet, when they came to America the same Puritans hung Quakers for their religious beliefs. 

The so-called American revolution was actually a war for independence from Britain.  The War for Independence ended in 1781 and was settled by the Treaty of Paris in 1783. In 1787, the Constitution was adopted to replace the Articles of Confederation and subsequently a bill of rights was added to safeguard some individual rights. it is important that in 1787 slavery of black people still existed. To accommodate the slave states the convention decided to count slaves as 3/5 of a citizen, even though there was no provision for black males to have the vote. Women could not vote and would not have the right to vote in a federal election until 1920.  Women were also unable to own property and divorce was impossible. Only white males of 21 years of age and who owned property could vote. 

After the War for Independence slavery began to dissipate in some northern states. For example, Pennsylvania abolished slavery in 1780, Massachusetts in 1783, New Jersey in 1804, and New York in 1827. 

​After the civil war and the adoption of the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery throughout the United States, including the 11 Confederate states, Congress created reconstruction to transition the 11 states in the south from a slavocracy.  However, Reconstruction was not completed.  In 1876 the Republicans won the presidential election with Rutherford B Hayes. A deal was made between the Republicans and the south to remove those individuals in the 11 former Confederate states who were carrying out the reconstruction programs. President Hayes, who did not win the popular vote, withdrew all officials dealing with Reconstruction.  Jim Crow America was brought about, and we are still feeling remnants of Jim Crow to this day.  

Throughout history immigration to America was an exceptionally hot issue even before the civil war.  In 1856 former President Millard Fillmore of New York ran as a third party “No Nothing” candidate.   His primary issue was immigration.  Maryland was the only state he carried.  

Different treatment based on disability has been apparent throughout the history of American democracy. Disability discrimination   includes blindness, deafness, mobility disabilities, intellectual disabilities as well as mental or emotional disabilities.  Perception and stereotyping frequently are the basis for any kind of discrimination particularly around disability. Polls have shown that blindness is the most feared disability next to cancer.  Historically as late as 1980 blind people were expected to live in institutions specifically designed for blind residents.  Exceptions include blind mathematician Dr Newel Perry (1873 to 1961). With a PHD in mathematics he could only get a job teaching blind children in residential schools for the blind. Dr Jacob Bolotin (1888 to 1924), blind from birth, was a renowned physician of diseases of the heart and lung.  He had to fight his way through medical school. Dr. Jacobus ten Broek, (1911-1968) American disability rights activist, historian and legal scholar taught for 25 years at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. ten Broek was the founder of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) in 1940. Since 1940 the NFB has become the most powerful civil rights organization in the disability field. With affiliates in all fifty states, the district of Columbia and Puerto Rico the NFB is changing what it means to be blind. In the 1950s- and 60s blind people were not afforded the opportunity to teach sighted students in public schools. Through the courts and legislation, the NFB changed the legal status of the blind to teach all students in public schools. Until recently blind people were not allowed to participate in university programs for teaching the use of the long white cane.  This discrimination was based on the negative attitude that blind persons could not teach cane travel to blind people.  Due to this discrimination in 1999 a university program which included blind people was established. 

Blind people were not allowed in the state of Washington to serve on juries until the NFB went to the legislature which passed legislation to eliminate this discrimination in 1977.   Not unlike other protected groups of people, persons with disabilities have made progress through legislation, public education and by creating a more positive environment.  While groundbreaking progress has been made by all the protected groups there is still ignorance, religion, and an unwillingness to afford persons with disabilities an equal opportunity.  Whether the discrimination is based on hatred or pity or negative perceptions the impact is the same on the Individuals’ opportunity to participate fully in the American democracy. We need to safeguard the progress and expand the opportunities of participating in the American democracy. 

The creation of the cabinet level U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) was signed into law in 1980 by President Carter. The Department was a result of the breakup of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.  The USDOE was made up of several agencies, including   the Rehabilitation Services Administration, Office for Civil Rights, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services. All these agencies also include statutory laws which is expected to be part of the Department’s authority by Congress. However, with all these agencies within the Department it is not a very large cabinet Department with 4,400 employees as of 2024, the smallest of the cabinet departments.  

The far right has for many years tried to eliminate the US Department of Education with misinformation.  The purpose of the USDOE is to support local states and municipalities in educating all the individuals they enroll in their schools, rehabilitation programs and many other programs which serve citizens with special needs.  Curriculum and other state responsibility is not controlled by the Federal government.  The US Department of Education has been supported by presidents since its creation by President Carter. President George W. Bush created the No Child Left Behind legislation to add to the responsibilities of the US Department of Education.  Now under President Trump the DOGE is gutting the Department a little bit at a time.  As of a week ago the employees of the Department were given the option of taking a buyout and if they are eligible, to retire or wait to be eliminated.  Most employees have decided to wait and see.  It is important to know that no money for buyouts have been authorized by Congress. So where is this money for a buyout going to come from?  Employees have no guarantee that they will retain their health care or investment benefits. 

The reason I am writing is to let you know how the elimination of the Department of Education will affect the children and disabled adults who live here in Clallam County.  The first benefit of the US Department of Education which comes to the public’s mind is how this elimination would affect students enrolled in special education programs. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975 guaranteed a “free and appropriate public education”.  Prior to the passage of these statutes disabled children were not guaranteed a public education. Most disabled children had to be educated in institutions which may be some distance from home or would stay at home without an education.  Not only did these statutes require the public schools to provide an education for these children the US Department of Education disbursed to local states and districts funding to help educate these children. These funds would help with transportation, special support personnel and special equipment or textbooks. 

I taught for 2 decades blind and low vision students who were being educated in their local districts.  Between Port Angeles School District and Sequim School District there were at least 10 students. For rural small town school districts this was a large population. I then consulted on at least 6 more students.  These students required support personnel, braille transcribers, certified teachers of the blind or low vision students, orientation and mobility specialists, braille or large print textbooks and special technology to access their learning materials.  The US Department of Education provides federal money to help with transportation, support personnel and technology. The Federal government provided for textbooks at no cost to the local district.  If the blind and low vision students did not receive a local education the only alternative would be to attend the School for the Blind in Vancouver, Washington. This would not allow them to have the kind of family and local community experience sighted children enjoy. 

In addition, the US Department of Education provides funding for Rehabilitation services for disabled adults and adolescents.  English as a second language programs, and vocational education for adults and adolescents. The department also through its Office for Civil Rights makes certain that all the laws pertinent to these statutes are followed. The primary goal for this office is to provide technical assistance and early resolution not to punish local educational agencies.  

This is just a small list of how the Department of Education serves our citizens here in Clallam County. It is important that we demand of our elected officials that they do whatever they can to save this cabinet Department. As a community we need to let our fellow citizens know what the US Department of Education does for them. The misinformation that the Trump MAGA wants to sell the public is that the states can do the same thing. The reality is they didn’t in the past before the US Department of Education or will in the future if given the opportunity. They can’t.  It is not possible without the resources of the Federal Government. 

I am adding a letter the director of the teacher preparation program for blind and low vision students at Portland State University wrote. Portland State is the only preparation program for the Northwest. As Dr. Parker explains the Rehabilitation Services Administration, which is part of the US Department of Education, funds the training of the teachers who serve the students of Washington State in blindness and low vision.  I am one of those teachers. Dr. Parker states the need articulately. 

Amy T. Parker, EdD & COMS
Associate Professor
Coordinator, Orientation and Mobility Program
Portland State University, College of Education

“The U.S. Department of Education has played a significant role in my life personally and professionally. In 2006, I was selected along with 24 other fellows to pursue doctorates in special education with a focus on meeting the needs of students who are blind, have low vision or are deafblind. A consortium of universities collaborated, each to host its own doctoral scholars, to prepare us to work in higher education and other leadership roles. This grant was one of many that were awarded because Congress recognized there were severe teacher shortages in regular and special education. The teacher shortage was not only impacting schools, it was compounded by the challenge of not having sufficient faculty members to lead teacher preparation programs, particularly in the field of special education (Smith & Montrosse, 2012). The fellowship that I received, like all personnel preparation grant monies, required a service obligation for graduates to work in public education to serve the needs of American schools and universities. For every year of funding received, two years of service had to be documented by the graduate’s employers to fulfill the agreement of the award. 

My family and I moved from Georgia to Texas for my doctoral studies so that I could study with faculty who had deep expertise in how to serve children with low-incidence disabilities. Upon graduation, I have worked at universities to design curriculum, often collaboratively with practicing teachers and family members to create educational videos and resources to prepare future teachers as well as to support teachers who are already working in classrooms every day. Now as an Associate Professor, managing a program at a university, I am writing and receiving personnel preparation grants to support my master’s students financially as they choose to take on the challenge and the calling of teaching students who are blind, have low vision or are deafblind. My students are often already working in the field of special education full time, many are early to mid-career teachers, supporting families while taking on the challenge of graduate school to deepen their expertise and to meet the needs of students whom local educational systems are not well-equipped to serve.  My students who receive these grants are from red and blue states- anywhere in the world where American students are learning- including teachers who serve on U.S.Military bases. 

It is important to understand that the personnel preparation grants that are administered by the U.S. DOE require that 65% of the funds go to support our scholars, covering some or all of their tuition and fees. Only 8% of the grant goes towards the university’s overhead costs. Other components of the grant go to hiring local supervisors to mentor teachers, again supporting local personnel to prepare teachers to meet the needs of some of our most vulnerable students and families. The US DOE, staffed by people who have often been in classrooms and have their doctorates, provides technical support as we teach students, tracking and reporting our outcomes, providing us guidance for using research and best practices to maximize our efforts.

Along with all 50 states and U.S. territories, millions of American children are critically dependent on the U.S. Department of Education for support. This support takes shape in the technical assistance, infrastructure, and grant funding to state entities, including universities, who prepare teachers and related services personnel such as speech and language pathologists, physical therapists. sign language interpreters, and orientation and mobility specialists. These personnel provide direct support to students within states, supporting local schools in serving children with disabilities and the families of those students.

It is a false narrative to say that the effort to dismantle and destroy the U.S.DOE is about giving the responsibility of education back to the states. States are already responsible for educating children within their borders. At the federal level, the Department is a conduit for support, information and guidance across a vastly diverse and populated country. Many states do not have the capacity or resources to prepare personnel, especially personnel who serve children with rare disabilities. 

The U.S. DOE was created by law (Section 102, Public Law 96-88), to implement laws (The Rehabilitation Act of 1973; The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 1975; The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; the Higher Education Act of 1965; the Educational Sciences Reform Act of 2002), for the good of the American people. There are millions of children and families who will be impacted by the efforts to dissolve the U.S. DOE, and the students do not have the legal right to represent themselves in this ideological attack. The word “equity” which is now viewed as inflammatory is one of our most treasured values that has been enshrined in our laws.  I urge us to recognize the key role that the U.S. DOE provides to all of our educational systems and to uphold the laws that are implemented by this agency. “

Voters in Donald Trump’s second election signaled they were tired of the ‘waste and fraud’ in the federal government. Although Clallam County voted 52 percent for Harris, the recent snowstorm of Executive Actions and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency’s machete-like slashing of federal workers will reach into everyone’s life.

The chaos of these firings may seem far away in Washington D.C. or big cities. Many small communities do not realize the many services that exist in their area with those employees quietly doing their job. In Clallam County, 12 federal agencies are serving local citizens:

• The National Park Service (Olympic National Park) is probably the most visible.
• Customs and Border Protection has a border control station locally.
• There’s the major U.S. Coast Guard base on Ediz Hook.
• The U.S. Forest Service has an office in Forks.
• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge.
• Port Angeles has a Social Security Administration office.
• U.S. Postal Service post offices and workers across the County.
• Natural Resources Conservation Service has an office in Port Angeles.
• Pacific NW National Laboratory in Sequim.
• Veteran’s Affairs runs a clinic in PA
• Bureau of Indian Affairs serves the Tribes in Clallam County
• USDA Rural Development and Farm Service work out of a PA office

According to recent figures prepared by the Congressional Research Service (12/20/24), Washington
State has 56,772 federal workers, and Clallam County has approximately 1,100 of those federal workers.

These agencies provide important services and protection to the public. The agencies grew out of a
perceived need or demand by the public for services. Although reducing waste and fraud is a worthy
goal, it must be done with careful research, thought and planning. The government has procedures for
‘downsizing’ designed to help agencies plan for reduced staff and ensure that employees are treated
fairly and have adequate time to prepare for the loss of a job. None of those procedures are being
followed which is, frankly, illegal.

Both the Olympic National Park and the Olympic National Forest have already had to fire employees
under this policy. They are already experiencing the ways this policy will impact seasonal hiring, which is essential for navigating high tourist volume. The services these agencies provide go with them, creating a greater burden on the remaining employees. These people are our friends and neighbors, and they contribute to our local economy and communities. Whether we lose all or some of the services now provided locally remains to be seen. The distance from Washington state to Washington D.C. will not spare us.

Sources:

• Congressional Research Service. Current Federal Civilian Employment by State and Congressional District.
•  Employment Security Department. Clallam County profile.
• KUOW. Hundreds of federal workers apply for unemployment in Washington state amid Trump's purge.
• MYNORTHWEST News. Federal layoffs drive 35% jump in unemployment claims among Washington employees.
• MyClallamCounty.com. Fired federal workers see their dream shattered and an uncertain future.
• Government Executive. Oversight agency finds Trump’s federal worker firings unlawful, asks for some employees to be reinstated.

SEQUIM–Rural voters were a big factor in Donald Trump’s second-term election last Nov. 5 (Clallam County County Auditor). Yet, even in rural Republican districts, farmers are expressing anger, fears, and frustration about Trump’s tariffs on farm produce, his deportation of migrant farm workers, and his freeze on Agriculture Department funding that benefits family farmers.

Capital Press, a Salem, Oregon-based newspaper dedicated to farmers, loggers, and other rural communities, carried a banner headline in its Jan. 31 edition proclaiming, “Everyone’s Nervous” with a subhead, “Despite optimism about Trump, some policies trouble Farm Bureau.”

The article quotes American Farm Bureau (AFB) President, Zippy Duvall in his speech to the AFB convention in San Antonio Jan. 26: “Everyone’s nervous….we don’t know what steps the full deportation plan has in it.”

Duvall said mass deportation of farm workers, labor shortages, and a trade war that could destroy farm exports “is on farmers’ minds everywhere I go.” This from AFB, a reliably Republican outfit with many farmer members now expressing buyer’s remorse.

That includes right here in Washington State, where export of grain, fruit, and lumber are key industries. Also on the front page of Capital Press is an article headlined, “Trump’s Broad Deportation Order Fuels Fear, Speculation.” The article warns “that what is now official policy will rope in tens of thousands of farmworkers.”

Erik Nicholson, of Kennewick, Washington, a former national Vice President of the United Farmworkers, told the Capital Press that it isn’t only actual deportation, but mass fear, that makes farmworkers “reluctant to go to work,” fearing arrest by Border Patrol and ICE agents. “If this were May or June, we would be having a catastrophe in the fields…”

That fear of deportation is a factor here in Clallam County. I live on our family’s 55-acre farm, a dairy farm when I was a kid. According to the Environmental Working Group Farm Subsidy database, our farm is one of 455 farms in Clallam County employing 1,190 farmers and farmworkers. Those farms earned $17.8 million in farm produce last year  (Environmental Working Group [EWG], Farm Subsidy Database). 

We lease the farm to an organic vegetable grower, charging him only enough per acre to cover taxes and insurance. He grows carrots, beets, broccoli, lettuce, and other leafy vegetables on our farm.

During Trump’s first term, a similar war against immigrants was unleashed with Border Patrol vehicles cruising on Ward Road beside our farm. The crews of Latino farmworkers who tilled and harvested our crops disappeared overnight. I watched as the vegetable grower was left to tend the acres by himself, an impossible task. 

That policy raises a grave danger that millions of dollars worth of fruit, grain, and other food commodities will be left to rot on the ground. It means a collapse of our food delivery system, resulting in vastly higher prices for food in our supermarkets.

Rob Larew, President of the National Farmers Union assailed Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on food imports from Canada, Mexico, China and many other nations, warning that these nations will “trigger significant retaliation” on all U.S. exports to their markets. Farmers “are always the first to bear the brunt of unilateral trade actions,” he said, adding, “Our members have already suffered heavy losses from past trade disputes, especially with China, and have lost valuable market access.” (National Farmers Union press release headlined “National Farmers Union Urges President to Consider Tariffs Impact on Farmers”)

Larew also blasted Trump’s freeze on U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs that benefit family farmers. An example is Michael Protas, owner of One Acre Farm in Western Maryland. Protas signed a contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America program to install solar panels on his farm at a cost of $200,000. The deal called for him to pay half and the Federal Government to pay half. He paid his half and the solar panels were installed. But Trump has frozen paying the $100,000 USDA share. Portas said the Federal Government is defaulting on money they owe. Larew charged that the USDA spending freeze is presenting family farmers “with a lot of uncertainty about whether or not it will actually come through” and is “adding to that economic pressure in the countryside.” (Baltimore Banner, Feb. 25, 2025)

It all adds up to worsening food insecurity. MAGA Republicans have been blocking legislation that will renew the U.S. Farm Bill. They are determined to inflict ruinous cuts to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). The Republican budget resolution requires the USDA to find $230 million in cuts. Even though the GOP has promised no cuts in SNAP food benefits, Republican lawmakers told POLITICO that “current food aid benefits are caught in the crosshairs.” (Politico, Feb. 10, “GOP Plots Snips to SNAP”)

SNAP, Food Stamps, the Surplus Food Benefits program – all these nutrition programs enacted over the past half century, are strongly supported by farmers and farmer organizations as a way to address the crisis of hunger in America while also providing urgently needed subsidies to U.S. farmers. (National Farmers Union, “Fairness for Farmers”)

Liquidation or cutbacks of these benefits by Trump, Elon Musk, and other well-fed billionaires means a worsening of hunger and malnutrition in the U.S., the richest nation in the world.

​Julie Johnson, Neah Bay resident, is a State Committeewoman for Clallam County, Chair of the Native American Caucus of the Washington State Democrats, and was appointed a member of the Finance Committee and to the Executive Committee of the Washington State Democrat Party in January 2025. On February 17, I talked to her about her history of activism in the Democratic Party.

Tell me a bit about your past? Where did you grow up, where have you lived?
I am a Lummi Tribal member and when I was five years old my family moved to Neah Bay, where I spent my childhood. I married a wonderful Makah Man, a former teacher and coach here in Neah Bay. The first 15 years of our marriage we lived in Seattle. When we first moved to Seattle, I could not afford to attend college, so my husband would tape his Seattle Pacific University classes for me for two years. Eventually I attended several colleges: community colleges and University of Washington, as well as Evergreen and Western Washington whenever I could afford a class. Finally, I secured a bachelor’s degree in Social and Health Administration, with a minor in Economic Development. When my husband passed away about 11 years ago, I filled out a master’s degree scholarship application for Antioch University in Seattle. They asked me to submit an essay, I made the finals and then one day, they called me, “You have one hour to write a leadership paper -.”  Turn it in by 2 p.m.!  I won a $17,000 scholarship! Was so surprised!  This helped me get through the first year of my husband’s passing. I worked hard on a master’s degree in Community Organization.

What is your work experience?
I worked for the Makah Tribe as Social and Health Services Director for three years, and then moved into writing competitive grants and contracts. I worked with a Makah team to raise money to build a 250-boat marina, we worked closely with the Corp of Engineers to put in a breakwater to protect the Marina. Before that, I worked for the Lower Elwha S’Klallam Tribe as Planning Department Director. My job was to raise $1.6 million in research funding to “figure out how to take down the Elwha dams and restore the habitat in the Elwha River.” This was during the late 1980’s when Congressman Norm Dicks and Senator Slade Gorton were elected officials. 

​While conducting research of the history of the Elwha dams, elders of the tribe shared with me how the dams would release water without informing them. I asked “How did you notify everyone living here in the valley, when the water was raising?”  “Oh, we had cowbells, we would ring them when the water came into the valley.”  It was then that I noticed flood water lines in the tribal center in the late 1980’s. 

Representatives and owners of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams and the Japanese Daishowa America owned a pulp and paper mill in Port Angeles, asked to meet with the Elwha Tribal Council with very little notice. The Tribal Council asked me to share some of our concerns. I shared,

​I learned so much working for the Elwha and will always appreciate the four years I worked for them. It was so exciting when we secured our first Head Start funding, LI-HEAP, AoA Senior Citizens Grant. It was like going to school and winning basketball games!  Jerry Charles, Chair of the Tribe was one of our biggest supporters! I so enjoyed working for the Elwha Tribal Council. 

The Makah Tribal Council directed me to negotiate the Self-Governance Compact agreement to take over the operation of the medical clinic, which serves 2,500+ individuals and meets all the same accreditation requirements as the Olympic Memorial Hospital and to raise funds to build a Wellness Center both projects were completed. In taking over the Self -Governance operation of the clinic, 389 budget line items were evaluated & negotiated under the direction Mr. Hubert Markishtum, Chair of the Tribe. 

 I was honored to be elected Vice Chair of the NW Portland Area Indian Health Board, which serves 43 Tribes in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho for five years. During this same time, I worked as the Makah Intergovernmental Director and Grants Writer. I also, represented the NW Tribes on the University of California American Indian Graduate Program Board for 10 years. We worked on developing curriculum for Tribal Health Directors and Area Federal Health Providers to ensure all medical clinics met the federal and state accreditation requirements and like health standards. This was a great learning experience. 

What led you to the Democratic Party?
After I retired from the Makah, I began doing on-site training with college credits for 46 tribes. I learned a lot, but I got tired of so much travel. In 2008, I went to a meeting of a small group of about 25 Democrats in Neah Bay, and they elected me to attend the “Port Angeles” Clallam County Democrat meeting. At this meeting, I was elected as a delegate to the 6th Congressional District Convention. At the 6th Congressional District meeting, I ran and won a position to go to the State and National Democratic Convention to represent our State of Washington. It was an exciting time. Now, I encourage others to run and experience these meetings. 

At the Seattle Airport, on my way to the Denver 2008 National Democratic Convention, I spoke to Senator Patty Murray. I asked Patty ‘What will I learn Denver?’ and Patty said you will learn how to network.”  I realized I knew how to network in Indian Country, and I had much to learn in this arena, so, I have been studying “how non-Indians work together” ever since. 

Attending the Clallam County Democrats was hard at first, I was reminded of racism my husband and I faced when we were first married and we would go to Port Angeles to shop, etc. I was reminded,
we are comfortable with our own people, but stepping into the non-Indian world, reminded me of:

1. When my husband and I were not served in a couple of restaurants here in Port Angeles.
2. When I could cash a check, and my husband could not, because he was darker than me.
3. Having people assume I did not know something, because I am native or grew up on the reservation.  
4. I have been asked, would the CCD support a Native person, a Native candidate?  

I remind myself we have four tribes located in Clallam County. Tribes are the largest employers in Clallam County. Most Tribal members are Democrat. And I ask myself, “Why are they not participating in the CCD?”  I was welcomed into the Clallam County Democrat Party. 

At my first State Democrat Convention in Spokane, I saw only four Natives attending this convention.

We had a meeting and they recruited me to be Chair of the State Native American Caucus, a position I still hold. We developed 10 goals. One included lobbying for “Drop Voting Boxes” on all 29 reservations.

This was accomplished. Another goal was the elevating the Special Assistance to the Governor Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs to the Cabinet level. This was accomplished the second week of February 2025!  I was re-elected as Chair of the Native American Caucus in January 2025 for two years with a room full of Democrats! 

​What has been the highest point for you as a Democrat?
Getting Native people to run and get elected. Our numbers are growing. When I began, ten years ago, Senator John McCoy was the only Native American legislator. Today for the first time there are 3 legislators who are Native in Olympia:  One Senator and two State Representatives. Another highlight was having Debora Juarez, the first native elected to the Seattle City Council since it was established in 1869!  Today we have 14 Natives elected to City Councils and higher positions here in the State of Washington! I am so proud of the Native Leadership here in the State of Washington at so many different levels! 

How do we pass the legacy of the Democratic party to future generations?
Go out and meet young people, all people, invite them in. We want to hear them. Reach them where they are at. I was on the Peninsula College Board of Trustees – the first Native woman. When I started there were 3 or 4 Native students and 1 native teacher. Today, there are about 100 native students attending Peninsula College. It is so important to have Native Instructors and on the Board of Trustees.

It is so important to do regular outreach, talk to our people, meet them where they live, and the key word is “invite native people in person” to attend our events. The Tribal Canoe Journey is a big gathering – it will be hosted by the Elwha S’Klallam Tribe on August 1st this year. It is anticipated 3,000 plus individuals will be attending this event. “Let’s have a Clallam County Democrat Voter Registration Booth” set up. 

I am so impressed with the years of great hospitality at the Clallam County Democrat headquarters on a weekly basis, I hope we will be able to do more outreach to all sections of Clallam County this coming year. 

A strong cultural tradition of all Native people is to “verbally invite” people to events. Hopefully we all can practice this in-person tradition this coming year. 
​