Two incumbents, five others seeking Mashantucket council seats
Mashantucket — Seven candidates are vying for the two Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council seats up for election Sunday, Nov. 3, according to the tribe.
Incumbents Crystal Whipple, the council vice chairwoman, and Merrill Reels, the treasurer, are seeking reelection. The other candidates are Clinton Christensen, Roy Colebut-Ingram Sr., Robert Hayward, James T. Jackson and Mark Thornton.
Colebut-Ingram and Jackson previously have served on the council. Hayward, a brother of Richard “Skip” Hayward, the former council chairman credited with reviving the tribe in the 1970s, is the tribe’s regional government affairs manager.
The seven-member council governs the 1,100-member tribe and oversees management of the tribe’s Foxwoods Resort Casino, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center and other enterprises. Council terms are for three years.
In the upcoming balloting among tribal members, the top two vote-getters will win election. Following the initial vote, a second vote will be held to elect a council vice chairman. Council members subsequently will choose a treasurer.
The current councilors whose seats are not up for election are: Rodney Butler, chairman; Matthew Pearson, secretary; Richard E. Sebastian; Daniel Menihan Jr.; and Latoya Cluff.
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