Native American Press/Ojibwe News

Get out and vote for Ed McGaa in Tuesday’s primary

September 6, 2002
That was quite a hatchet job the StarTribune did on Green Party U.S. Senate candidate Ed McGaa this week. For the state’s biggest daily to devote that much space and time to a relatively insignificant issue involving a third party primary election issue is burlesque

I’m certain that the Strib was only interested in doing the muck-racking about McGaa in challenging his fidelity to the Green’s party platform and not about their concern that he would pull more votes than the other guy from their candidate who has overstayed his welcome.

The Strib went to great extremes to make a big case out of a relatively minor issue from more than twenty years ago, trying to discredit McGaa, and it doesn’t seem as though they have anything similar to any of the other candidates.

We who worked on reservations in the 1970s and 1980s know how difficult it was to try to get some economic development started, and we had to look at all kinds of different economic development projects to see what might possibly work. In retrospect, perhaps fertilizing barren areas with ash might be a better long-range solution to reservation problems, rather than all of the buffalo chips that the casinos have brought. How much crap do you think is generated every day at Mystic Lake, Prairie Island, and other reservation casinos, to say nothing of the insidious social problems which inevitably accompany high-stakes gambling operations?

It seems to me that instead of concentrating on high-quality objective journalism, the Strib’s primary concern with the “Ash McGaa” series is that in this time of renewed patriotism, post 9-11, McGaa will appeal to a large bloc of voters because of his war hero status, his ‘tell it like it is’ honesty, and his first-hand understanding of the problems faced by minorities and others who are economically disadvantaged.

What has Wellstone achieved in his twelve years of serving on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee? Absolutely nothing to benefit Indian people, other than the ‘tribal establishment.’ Most Indian people, both on reservations and in urban areas, find ourselves in the middle of an Enron—Arthur Anderson—WorldCom situation, where corruption and mismanagement are decimating our resources and eroding our communities.

Wellstone has consistently refused to deal with, or even to acknowledge, the civil rights abuses perpetrated by the tribal establishment that this great white liberal Senator supports.

Wellstone supporters have reportedly engaged in a number of “dirty tricks,” including trying to get McGaa un-endorsed and urging Green Party members to cross party lines and vote for Wellstone. It is to be expected that any number of Wellstone’s hard-core DFL supporters will vote in the Green Party primary in an attempt to eliminate McGaa from the race.

I urge people to get out to vote, and support Ed McGaa in the primary next Tuesday. Let’s get McGaa on the ballot for the November general election.