The newly elected chief of the Oklahoma-based Cherokee Nation plans to appoint the tribe's first-ever delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, a right outlined in a nearly 200-year-old treaty with the federal government.
In a letter Thursday to the speaker of the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council, Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. requested a special meeting of the council to consider confirming Kimberly Teehee, a former adviser to President Barack Obama. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter on Friday.
Hoskin, the tribe's former secretary of state, was elected leader of the 370,000-citizen tribe in June with almost 58% of the vote.
Hoskin said the tribe's right to a congressional delegate was affirmed in two separate treaties with the government, as well as the tribe's constitution.