The top vice president is seeking to replace the longtime president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska during its tribal assembly this week in Juneau, following significant achievements and controversies involving tribal leadership since the last election two years ago.

First Vice President Ku.seen Jacqueline Pata, who’s held that office since 2021, is seeking to replace Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson, the tribe’s president since 2014. Three other presidential candidates — Alicia “Lisa” Gassman, Tasha Hotch and Melissa M. Kookesh — are also listed on the ballot.

Peterson was unopposed in the 2024 election.

Pata, in an interview Sept. 18, said comments she’s heard from tribal citizens and the number of candidates running for president are indicative of “wanting to have some voice in the direction of their government.”

“I’m concerned about long-term sustainability,” she said. “I want to be able to make sure that we have financial accountability, we’re transparent and accountable to our tribal citizens, but also accountable within the tribal council and that we’re true to our values,” she said.

Attempts to reach Peterson on Sept. 18 were unsuccessful. In a social media post, he said the tribe is facing challenges because “we are living through unprecedented political times.”

“Federal administrative swings continue to challenge tribal sovereignty and funding across Indian Country,” he wrote. “Through these shifts, my focus has been keeping Tlingit & Haida steady, protected and moving forward.”

During the past two years the tribe has launched an education campus project in Juneau, debuted a long-planned tribal casino in Juneau, been prominently involved in glacial flood protection efforts and made other advances. But questions have been raised about some tribal business and leadership actions, such as a contract providing support services in Guantanamo Bay where the Trump administration has detained migrants.

Last summer tribal officials investigated abuse accusations by a former romantic partner against Peterson, with Pata announcing at a tribal council meeting a few weeks later the review had concluded with no finding of whether the accusations have merit.

Pata said she expects those accusations and other difficulties the tribe has faced to be part of the election debate when the three-day tribal assembly convenes Wednesday, Sept. 23, at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall in Juneau.

A profile of Peterson at Tlingit and Haida’s website states he is Tlingit from the Kaagwaantaan (Eagle/Wolf) clan and a lifelong resident of Southeast Alaska. Before becoming the tribe’s president, he served as CEO of the Prince of Wales Tribal Enterprise Consortium, president of the Organized Village of Kasaan, mayor and a city council member for the City of Kasaan, and member of the Southeast Island School District Board of Education.

Pata, according to the website, is a member of the Lukaax̱.ádi clan (Raven/Sockeye) in Haines. She has been the president of the Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority since 2019. Prior to that she was the executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, and deputy assistant secretary for Native American Programs for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She also currently chairs the tribal assembly’s governmental affairs committee.

Among the other three candidates, Gassman served in top leadership positions for the Sheet’ká Ḵwáan Sitka Tribe of Alaska before stepping down as its CEO last December. 

Kookesh is the permit facilitator for the Alaska Broadband Office, where she also served as tribal liaison for three years, and has worked as a legislative staff member as well as nearly a decade working in Tlingit and Haida’s office of the president.

Hotch, a longtime tribal health official, was the lone opponent against Peterson in the 2022 tribal assembly election.