Chiefs remove four Northern Cheyenne Council Members

LAME DEER, Mont – During the second week in February a group of traditional Northern Cheyenne Chiefs met and according to Facebook reports removed four Tribal Council members from office. Those targeted for removal include: Tory Davies, Busby District; Rueben Roundstone, Busby district; Cory Spotted Elk and Wade Red Hat, Lame Deer district. The reason for removal was apparently that they had missed too many Council meetings.

It is not clear which Chiefs were involved in that decision, although apparently it was not unanimous as President Small commented that “even the Chiefs are fighting.”

Although no official notice about this development has been provided, two Tribal Council members, Llevando “Cowboy Fisher, also a two-term Tribal President and Lynwood Ewing, former Council member and Tribal Treasurer did verbally confirm to Amanda White Shirt, Lame Deer district activist, that this did occur.

When asked what will happen next, the two elected officials said they did not know, because this has never happened before. The matter was taken up at a Tribal Council meeting on Tuesday, February 17; however, as the four “removed” members were not present, the question arises if the Tribal Council can conduct official business without the required quorum of eight members in physical attendance. Since the results of that meeting will not be available until after press time, NSNT will provide a follow-up report in the next issue.

Those members had been elected in November 2025 to replace eight seats on a Tribal Council that was also ousted by the Chief’s Society in the fall of 2025. Both moves are unprecedented in Cheyenne history and not supported by the Northern Cheyenne Tribal IRA constitution. Nonetheless, the Tribe with the blessing of Small moved forward because the Bureau of Indian Affairs determined that these matters were “internal political matters” which are not covered by the current Federal Policy of Self-Determination for Tribes.

President Gene Small was out of town in Washington, D.C. on Tribal business, lobbying for assistance with the reservation domestic water system and proposed changes to the site of the Battle of the Little Big Horn Battlefield when the Chiefs made the removal decision. So far, Small has made no official comment about the development. However, he did provide comments on social media that he too, was not sure what was going on. He also promised to hold meetings in the near future with each district to ask for the people’s advice about the current dilemma. “I think the audit has a majority support,” he concluded. “If not, the people can tell me that. I am only here as their servant. If not, they can tell me to my face.”

Also, to date, there have been no reports or information made available to the public about the forensic audit of some 94 million in Covid-19 related funding granted to the Tribe under previous administrations. Small’s successful call for such an audit ignited the current political controversy which has plagued the Tribe since 2024.

Small also said via Facebook that the audit is still ongoing with a price tag of $350,000 which he calls a drop in the bucket compared to the millions in question. For example, he also mentioned that a $265,000 tribal check was paid to one of the Council members, since removed, to secure a marijuana license without results.

NSNT will continue to keep readers posted about these unusual and unprecedented political developments at Northern Cheyenne.

(Contact Clara Caufield at acheyennereview@gmail.com)

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