Chad Smith: No cronyism during my tenure at Cherokee Nation

Steve [Russell] has gone over the line with making wild, irresponsible and false allegations about my time in office. Perhaps he is thinking of the current chief, Bill John Baker, when he uses the words “master of cronyism.” Baker’s political house cleaning, replacing dedicated Cherokees with his own personal favorites and his campaign supporters, has drawn attention all over the Cherokee Nation, while my administration was marked by a willingness to work with all Cherokees and even hiring my own political opponents when they were the best qualified people for the job. I enjoy Steve’s effort at provocative writing and encourage him to continue but he should do so with allegations based on fact. Steve complains about and run downs the at-large candidates in the Cherokee Nation election. If he was so disgruntled about them, he should get off his self-righteous rump and run. He was eligible. There was no anchor tied to his waist holding him back from filing for At-Large Councilmember. I bet he would be a good one; he would have things straightened out overnight.