It isn’t surprising for members of the Ute Tribe to attempt to recall their elected officials. The tribe's recall ordinance allows those who circulate recall petitions to list vague, all-encompassing allegations against the person they are targeting, and providing proof of the alleged wrong-doing is not expected.

In the past, some of the tribe’s recalled leaders refused to leave office even after the Election Commission confirmed the required number of valid signatures had been collected to send them packing.

In the 1990s one veteran tribal leader went as far as to change the locks on doors to offices and remove important files, all in an effort to prevent his ouster from office. Other recalled leaders simply refused to leave even when their replacements had been elected and sworn into office.

Four years ago, embattled tribal politicians simply refused to accept the recall petitions, effectively blocking the gathered signatures from ever being reviewed by the Election Commission.

Last November tribal members reportedly began circulating petitions to recall all six of their elected leaders. Now, however, petitioners are only targeting tribal chairman Curtis Cesspooch.

Cesspooch, who represents Uintah band members, is three-quarters of the way through his 4-year term in office. The 63-year-old Cesspooch was a self-employed electrician before leaving his business to serve tribal members on the governing board.

He also served a 4-year term in the turbulent times of the late 1980s and early 1990s when he was the target of unsuccessful recall petitions that failed to carry the required number of eligible voter’s names.

He hasn’t spoken out before, but now he says he’s had enough of special interests trying to remove tribal leaders in order to put “their own people” in place.

Cesspooch says his main goal during his time in office has been to represent the best interest of the tribe as a whole, and to work hard to maintain the trust of tribal members.

“It gets frustrating,” Cesspooch says, “it doesn’t matter how hard you work, if a group of people doesn’t get what they want, they spread untruths and start petition drives.”

Last month a failed recall attempt accused Cesspooch of four different counts of failing to abide by a referendum that his opponents contend forbids the adoption of the 1965 Ute Water Compact and giving continued authorization to the decade-old Big Springs Fish Hatchery project.

Petition recall carriers could not be reached for comment prior to press time.

The Election Commission voided 38 of the 137 signatures on the January petition.

The three-member commission is appointed by the Business Committee and includes one representative from each of the tribe’s three bands. Names on petitions can legally be voided before lacking the one-year residency requirement, being misspelled, illegible, or for having an incorrect address.

Cesspooch’s detractors returned to the Business Committee last month to submit “a notice of intent to circulate a recall” against him. The document states that Cesspooch had violated his oath of office because of “gross misconduct and continual travel in his official position as a Uintah Band representative.”

He knows he’s made enemies with his decision to complete the tribe’s fish hatchery at Big Springs, but compromises were made in an effort to work with protestors, he says.

The fish hatchery was approved 10-years ago by tribal members, spiritual leaders and the prior Business Committee, and Cesspooch believes that their decision should be respected. He did work with opponents, creating a buffer zone around the area they consider sacred.

Cesspooch says tribal members concerned with his travel to out of state meetings need to understand that all travel is pre-approved by his counterparts on the Business Committee. He says the meetings he attends all have a direct and long-term impact on the lives of tribal members.

“This job involves planning, getting things in order – there are so many things to be on top of: reservations roads, health issues, our natural resources – timber and oil and gas, education, and then there are always so many small fires to put out,” he says.

Projects he is currently involved in, include a road program that is chip sealing and paving roads on the reservation, efforts to secure tribal water rights, reviewing new technology that will make the tribe’s open evaporation ponds more environmentally friendly, creating an ordinance to provide more employment for tribal members in the oil industry, and a federal funding project with grant money to provide jobs for tribal members and stimulate the reservation’s economy.

The federal American Recovery Reinvestment Act funding provides the tribe with federal stimulus money, according to Cesspooch. Without attending required meetings, he says the tribe wouldn’t be eligible to receive the money.

“There are strict requirements that need to be followed by securing these monies,” Cesspooch says. “Only by attending the meetings do we know how to proceed with these resources. I have asked the rest of the council to become familiar with these, but only two, Frances (Poowegup) and Phil (Chimburas), are making any effort to participate.”

Quarterly information meetings are held to update the membership so they will be aware of what is being done in their behalf, he says.

Business Committee member Irene Cuch, who has also been the target of recalls in the past, says there is no truth to accusations that she is setting Cesspooch up by aiding the vocal constituents who want him out. And she notes that it is the right of tribal members to recall leaders they disagree with.

“It’s a difficult situation to be in when you are getting recalled, but people who are on the council understand it is just part of being on the council,” Cuch says. “It is a tough position to be in, but you have to do your job. You have to let people know what you are doing, where the tribe is going.”

Cesspooch says he feels that half of the tribe’s elected leaders don’t know “where the tribe is going,” because the same three Business Committee leaders fail to show up fifty percent of the time for their weekly business meetings, and don’t keep up with the business matters before them.

"It's frustrating when we have council meetings scheduled and there isn't a quorum. Many times we've gone ahead and held the meeting for informational purposes only,” Cesspooch says. “The people know that.”

Cesspooch says the only elected leaders who regularly attend the weekly meetings are vice-chair Frances Poowegup, councilman Phillip Chimburas and himself. One council member is on extended sick-leave, and has excused absences, but he says that attendance records show that Cuch and Richard Jenks do not attend regularly.

He agrees that there is a place for recall petition drives, but they should be warranted.

“I keep thinking about the people who voted me in and that I can’t quit on them now,” Cesspooch says.