Chickasaw Nation airing TV ads

ADA, Okla. (AP) _ The Chickasaw Nation is airing a series of television ads across the state in an effort to strengthen the tribe's economic position. <br/><br/>Although the ads are airing just months

Monday, September 13th 2004, 6:05 am

By: News On 6

ADA, Okla. (AP) _ The Chickasaw Nation is airing a series of television ads across the state in an effort to strengthen the tribe's economic position.

Although the ads are airing just months before a key vote on a state question on Indian gaming, tribal officials said the ads are designed to uplift tribal members and are not politically motivated.

``This is unrelated to any state question,'' said tribal spokeswoman Robyn Elliot. ``We are looking at how we work with Oklahoma, and this is how we do that on a broad scale.''

Former Bureau of Indian Affairs head Neal McCaleb and tribal legislator Judy Goforth Parker are among those featured in the spots.

Future ads will feature other well-known Chickasaws.

McCaleb said the ads are intended to focus on the Ada-based tribe's economic growth and unity.

``If you watch those ads closely, we purposely avoid mentioning gaming,'' he said. ``It's an effort to tell the full story of the nation.''

He likened the ads to a local Chamber of Commerce buying time to promote a city.

Because tribal members are scattered around the state, officials are buying air time in a wide market. The ads have been running on local television stations in the central and eastern parts of the state.

``We are not one-dimensional. Sometimes it seems like the only coverage we get in the media is gaming-related,'' McCaleb said. ``We are into gaming, and that's fine, but we're also about a whole lot more.''

The 35,000-member tribe is the largest owner of Class II gaming machines among state tribes.

Chickasaw legislator Wilson Seawright, who has seen the ads, said he was surprised by them initially.

``I would suspect the ads are meant to establish more of a sense of trust and confidence in the Nation,'' he said, ``but I don't know.''

Seawright said that while he didn't think the ads were motivated by politics, his tribe has been internally questioning the way some of its gaming money is being spent.