Beasley Denson is ahead of Phillip Martin
The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians held elections for Chief and Tribal Council on Tuesday. To everyone's surprise, Phillip Martin did not manage to get 50%, and was not re-elected a seventh time to the executive office. Unofficial results have Beasley Denson with 1,404 votes and Phillip Martin with 1,358 votes, with an addition 500 votes split evenly between four other challengers to Philip Martin.
If Martin does not carry the run-off election, some time in the next 30 days, the only Abramoff client still in control of an Indian Gaming operation and a rubber-stamp council will be Chad Smith at the Cherokee Nation.
Stacy Leeds and Raymond Vann and the reform slate are the challengers to Chad Smith and his "Team Cherokee" slate of incumbents.
