ANACORTES, Wash. – Ken Hansen has been re-elected chairman of the Samish
Indian Nation.

Hansen, 52, was elected to a four-year term under a revised Constitution
approved by tribal members in May. The Constitution changed the number of
council members to seven; it formerly had nine with two alternates. Terms
were changed from two to four years.

All but three positions changed to four-year terms immediately; others will
change to four-year terms in 2006 to allow for staggered terms.

Leslie Eastwood, Samish Health and Human Services director, challenged
Hansen for the top position. “I perceived it was time to offer a choice.
Ken has been unopposed” in several past elections. Of the election results,
she said, “I did better than expected.”

Some 194 voters cast ballots at the June 26 annual meeting in the
administrative offices. Fifteen candidates sought 11 council positions.

TRADITION OF PUBLIC SERVICE

Hansen’s election continues a tradition of public service. He has served on
the council off and on since he was 18; he has been chairman for 16 years
and is also Samish’s policy analyst. His mother, Mary Hansen, was tribal
secretary in the 1950s and ’60s. His grandfather, Don McDowell, was
chairman in the 1920s and ’30s.

Hansen said family involvement in tribal government and “fits of madness”
have kept him involved. “This was my calling. It’s always a part of me.”

Hansen was part of the team that regained federal recognition for the
Samish in 1996. The Samish had been recognized since the 1855 Point Elliott
Treaty was signed. However, in 1969, Samish and other tribes were
mistakenly dropped from a federal list prepared by a Bureau of Indian
Affairs clerk. When the tribe regained federal recognition in 1996, its
treaty rights to fish were not restored.

Samish’s lawsuit to regain fishing rights is before the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals.

Hansen outlined his goals:

Have tribal-owned land placed in trust.

Samish owns 80 acres above Campbell Lake and plans to build homes there. In
August 2003, Samish acquired 11 acres at Ship Harbor in Anacortes. In
February, Samish acquired Weaverling Spit, 40 acres of tide-lands, 22 acres
of uplands and a developed RV park. Samish also owns a three-building
campus on Commercial Avenue, where its administrative offices are
headquartered.

Currently, Samish pays the City of Anacortes a fee in lieu of taxes for
police and fire protection, building inspections and other public services.
It is negotiating a similar agreement with Skagit County.

Economic development.

Samish’s land at Ship Harbor, its 22 acres of uplands and its developed RV
park provide economic development opportunities for the nation. Hansen
wants to explore those and other opportunities.

“Economic development is high on the priority list,” Hansen said.

Samish doesn’t have a casino but it makes money from gaming by leasing its
allocation of electronic machines to other tribes.

Continue to rebuild the tribal community.

This includes regaining all rights lost when Samish was left off the list
of recognized tribes in 1969. Those rights include fishing, currently being
argued before a federal appeals court.

The Samish’s efforts to regain fishing rights have been opposed by other
tribal nations who fear allowing more commercial fishers on increasingly
competitive waters.

Hansen said Samish’s efforts aren’t about getting into commercial fishing.
“It’s about our right to live off the land and water. That’s who we are.”

Richard Walker is a correspondent reporting from San Juan Island, Wash.
Contact him at (360) 378-6289.