Catawbas to elect new chief. Candidates talk Two Kings casino, economic development
Two distant cousins, both of whom have served in leadership roles for South Carolina’s only federally-recognized Indian tribe, are vying to be the next Catawba Indian Nation Chief.
Jason Harris has served as assistant chief since 2015. He and his opponent, Brian Harris, 51, have served on various boards and committees for the tribe. They both say they want to end tribal divisiveness and bring progress.
Whoever is elected will replace Chief William “Bill” Harris, 69, who was elected in 2011 and decided not to seek re-election. Jason Harris confirmed he and Brian are third cousins. It’s unclear how the candidates are related to Bill Harris.
Voters will go to the polls on July 29.
Both candidates recently did interviews with Herald reporter Tracy Kimball. Both said they want to enhance economic development for the Catawbas. And both had views on how the tribe’s casino in Kings Mountain, N.C., should be handled.
Here’s what each said during the recent interviews:
Brian Harris
“My goal is to progress us forward, maintain our integrity of tribal sovereignty while making us an economic powerhouse, not only in York County but in the state,” said Brian Harris. “One of the objectives to do that is for our people to generate wealth that will benefit our children and our children’s children....”
One way to enhance economic development is to bring business to the reservation, he said. Harris said he also would like to purchase property contiguous to the reservation.
He said he wants to help transform tribal citizens, especially youth, into “servant leaders for the prosperity of generations to come, who will hold steadfast in their resolve, like myself, to help provide generational wealth for our people.”
Harris said the tribe needs to enhance its medical care.
“We are in dire straits with housing and medical,” he said. “And I have a plan for both of those.”
He said he wants to tackle other issues affecting the tribe, including lack of resources, poverty, unemployment, mental health, drug addiction, sub-standard living conditions, discrimination.
He also said he wants to improve transparency within tribal leadership.
“When our General Counsel is in session, they are the governing body. And when they’re out of session and the executive committee handles the day-to-day affairs of the tribe, then they need to report back what they have done,” he said. “And that hasn’t happened in a long time.”
Harris said competition throughout North Carolina with the possible addition of new casinos, including one in the southeastern part of the state, may force the tribe to make adjustments at Two Kings Casino.
In 2013, the Catawba Indian Nation announced plans to build the casino, now known as Two Kings, in Kings Mountain, N.C. The Catawba’s business plan projected the casino to generate $150 million by its fifth year.
The Catawbas opened the casino in July of 2021.
“I feel like our philosophy six months ago was ‘build it and they will come.’ But now that we’re going to (possibly) be surrounded by competition, we have to do it the right way. We don’t want to build something so big that even though you’ve got 1,000 patrons in there, it looks empty, so we’re gonna have to adjust to the market, and be more marketable.”
He also said North Carolina could commercialize casinos and he has heard about talks to add several casinos in North Carolina that would compete with casinos in Virginia. Brian Harris said he would like lawmakers to allow only Native American tribes to run any new casinos in North Carolina.
Harris also talked about his role as a leader.
“I don’t make promises, I make statements, and if I make a statement, then I’m pretty sure I can get it done,” he said. “My knowledge, my experience, my know-how, my ability to get things done is the characteristics that I need in doing the job as chief and I feel that with everything that has been going on in the last four years, I am the right person at the right place at the right time to lead our tribe.
“And we will do them in a timely manner and to progress our tribe forward economically, while maintaining our culture, our integrity and our sovereignty and that’s really the reason why I decided to get involved in this race.”
Jason Harris
Jason Harris said Congress does not appropriate enough money to address the disparities throughout the U.S. among various Indian tribes.
He said he would like to hear an apology from the U.S. government for the “decimation of tribes” over the centuries.
Harris said the lack of economic development, lack of adequate updated housing initiatives and lack of government-to-government communications with tribes are issues among Indian nations.
Harris said he wants to implement a program, similar to a Seminole program, that identifies talent within the nation to work at the Two Kings Casino.
“It’s a way of making sure that our people are qualified and have the ability to step in and work for the casino,” he said.
He said he would like to bring in a community development financial institution to help tribal members with low-interest loans for homes and vehicles.
“Our current state, low-income housing, within four years that’s going to change,” he said. “So we’ve got to start planning for that now.”
Harris said since the casino was built, the tribe has increased the number of community grants to about 160, up from about 50, grants a decade ago.
“(The casino) allowed us to have different funding, ability to do matching grants where we may not have matching money before,” he said. “So that opens a new category for us in terms of grants, but we’ve done really, really well with that.”
He said it’s not the time to abruptly change all leadership within the tribe. He said keeping “qualified, experienced leadership” is best for the tribe.
“I think I’ve done everything that I can, been a part of the last three administrations and the biggest growth that we’ve had, has been in the past six years as my role as Assistant Chief,” Jason Harris said. “We’re coming off probably the biggest economic boon that the tribe has ever seen.”
A new constitution will streamline the structure of the government and help the nation work with federal agencies and issues affecting the tribe.
“Bring our tribe together, grow our tribe, finish our casino and diversify our portfolio to get into some other economic development areas and not rely solely on just gaming or the casino.”
Harris said he would focus on uniting the tribe.
“There’s a lot of division within the tribe right now,” he said. “And I think that my experience of being in leadership and having the longevity that I have had, is a tremendous benefit to our people.”
Details about voting
Tribal members can vote Saturday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Longhouse. For information on all candidates for assistant chief, secretary/treasurer, and executive committee, visit https://www.catawba.com/elections.
This story was originally published July 27, 2023 at 1:58 PM.
