Custer had his scouts. Governor Stitt has Wes Nofire.
As Speaker of the Council of the Cherokee Nation, I had a front row seat to observe Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s new Native American Liaison, Mr. Nofire, while he served on the Council. What I saw should terrify anyone who supports tribal sovereignty because Mr. Nofire opposes it.
In his four years on the Council of the Cherokee Nation, Mr. Nofire had the opportunity to work on some of the historic legislation the Council enacted. He could have advanced his own legislation on these and other important issues. He did none of that.
Instead, Mr. Nofire spent his time attacking the sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation, parroting Governor Stitt’s assault on tribal sovereignty and spinning bizarre conspiracy theories. The list of his legislative accomplishments is non-existent, and he led the council on being absent in 2022. The list of his attacks on his own nation and the sovereignty of all tribes is quite long and I will highlight some of it here.
When the historic US Supreme Court decision in McGirt was handed down, Indian Country was elated that the status of reservations of the Five Tribes in Oklahoma was reaffirmed. Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr and I went to work with other leaders, empaneling a sovereignty commission and forging a massive expansion of our criminal justice and victim protection systems.
Governor Stitt and the Cherokee Councilman Wes Nofire did the opposite. Stitt condemned the decision as an attack on Oklahoma. Mr. Nofire did the same.
In May 23, 2022, radio interview on KWON, Mr. Nofire referred to McGirt as a “big threat to the way Oklahoma has been conducting business for 140 years.” On May 26, 2022, he told an audience in Bartlesville that McGirt was “the biggest threat to Oklahomans.”
As unthinkable as Mr. Nofire’s opposition to McGirt is, his attacks on his own tribe’s sovereignty are worse. It’s no wonder one of his colleagues once declared his conduct “clearly treasonous.”
In a September 29, 2021, Social media post, Nofire asserted that “the Courts of the modern Cherokee Nation… have never legally established a jurisdictional court over the citizens of the Cherokee Nation.” In May of this year, he again cast doubton Cherokee Nation’s authority to administer criminal law across our reservation.
Think about that for a moment. For more than a century leaders like Governor Stitt have told the world that Cherokee Nation and other tribes were destroyed at Oklahoma statehood. They insult all tribes with the idea that native people are not capable of meting out justice or exercising other aspects of sovereignty. Our most fierce opponents deny our very existence.
We know better. The law and the facts lay waste to the nonsense the Cherokee Nation ceased as a government at statehood or lacks the sovereignty authority to operate a court system. Our government is one of the most effective in the country.
Yet, Mr. Nofire, as a sitting member of the Cherokee council, claims that Cherokee Nation lacks the authority to operate a court system and that McGirt is a “threat.”
Under Oklahoma law, the Native American Liaison is required to “ensure continuing outreach to tribes and… establish and maintains relationships with tribes.” Mr. Nofire’s hostility to tribes and denial of the existence of fundamental aspects of Cherokee sovereignty disqualifies him for the position and he should resign.
But, there is more. Mr. Nofire peddles in fact-free unhinged and ideologically extreme conspiracy theories that pose a danger of political violence.
In December 2022 and again in May 2023, then Councilman Nofire made the false and reckless claim that Chief Hoskin and Cherokee Nation Businesses were involved in “child trafficking.” In his May 2023 claim, a social media post that he paid to boost as an advertisement, he claimed that Chief Hoskin was directly engaged in child trafficking.
In addition to being completely false, Nofire’s repeated claims that Chief Hoskin and Cherokee Nation Businesses are involved in child trafficking are dangerous. We live in a world in which irresponsible and outrageous claims by public officials can trigger unstable people to engage in violence. It is beyond me how Mr. Nofire, now a top advisor to Governor Stitt, sleeps at night.
Mr. Nofire has peddled a range of other unhinged theories and outrageous claims. These range from claiming our Chief arrests, to claiming Cherokees are part of the “lost tribe of Israel” to labeling Chief Hoskin as the biblical “beast,” suggesting our Chief is Satan.
No one needs to take my word for it, as Mr. Nofire has either published all of these statements or voiced them in public forums, on the record for all to see.
It is tempting to dismiss my opposition to Mr. Nofire’s appointment as Governor Stitt’s Native America Liaison as mere politics. That is not the case. It is true I supported Chief Hoskin in his successful reelection bid. But, Mr. Nofire received 6.3% of the vote in his run for Congress in 2022 and 10% of the vote against Chief Hoskin in his race for Chief in June. Mr. Nofire has little relevance in Cherokee politics.
My opposition to Mr. Nofire serving as Native American Liaison is because he opposes tribal sovereignty, does not understand tribal sovereignty and he is more interested in peddling insane conspiracy theories than the hard work of public service.
Because Mr. Nofire and Governor Stitt are in lock step on opposing tribal sovereignty, I do not expect my opposition to make a difference. But our collective opposition just might. I urge you to write Governor Stitt and your state legislators and demand better.