Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Still Working Hard
Retired Senator Continues to Support Native American Initiatives
Oct 31, 2009
Ben Nighthorse Campbell represented Colorado in the United States Senate for twelve years (two terms) before retiring in 2005. Prior to that, he served six years (3 terms) in the U.S. House. He has remained active with the law firm Holland and Knight, and continues to travel and work toward improving the lives of Native Americans.
Campbell still puts in a 35-40 hour a week on average in his legal work, but the former senator considers himself equally as much a jeweler ("...my real life's work"). Along with spending time with family, grandkids, and taking street rods to shows with whoever wants to ride along, Campbell puts in many hours a week of his own time, working on tribal issues and related legislation. Two areas that are of particular interest right now are health care reform and education.
Campbell on Health Care Reform
Perhaps more than other citizens, Native Americans will probably be affected by whatever health care reform is eventually signed into law. They get much of their coverage from the Indian Health Service, which is underfunded and overused. There is also a lack of health care providers in Indian Country. Even though he thinks there is a lot to be gained from reform, Campbell is not convinced that any of the reforms under discussion offer the best solution.
"I am not a fan of the current health care reform bills. It is an enormously costly way to address the issue. There are cheaper and more effective ways to address getting access to quality health care to those citizens who do not have health care without excess government involvement."
The former republican senator still values that conservative mainstay: less government. "Government has never proven to be a good provider of any services for the money spent. There are ways to address this without turning the system on its ear or spending a trillion dollars by allowing small businesses to band together as risk groups to avail themselves to private insurance options and then providing incentives to insurers to provide affordable coverage to those who remain."
Campbell has some ideas for improvement. "We need to provide more incentives for health care providers to work in Indian Country, in all of rural America for that matter. Reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act would be a good step. But we also need more a preventive health care focus and more outside-the-box thinking in Indian health care."
Campbell on Education
Campbell says he believes that education is better today in Indian Country than it was in the past. "Many of the wealthier tribes are in urban areas and their kids have access to better public schools. Other successful tribes, dissatisfied with their public schools or the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) system have started their own school districts and brought in top-flight educators."
Campbell adds, "Now, the reality is that the successful tribes make up only 10-12% of Indian Country. The other 90% face a different reality. The BIA system has gotten better through the years, but it is grossly underfunded."
Simply increasing funding to the current system is unlikely to be a complete solution. "Additionally many tribes face 50 -80% unemployment and all the problems associated with poverty: single parent homes, poor nutrition, alcoholism, drug abuse, you name it, " says Campbell. "It is hard for a kid who is surrounded by drugs and alcohol, who may not have eaten much in the last 24 hours to put a great deal of thought or effort into his/her studies. That is not to say that some great teachers have not inspired some great, motivated kids, but that is sadly the exception, not the rule."
Other Tribal Issues
Maintaining tribal sovereignty is high on Campbell's priority list. According to him, "The very survival of tribes as governments is at stake when sovereignty is under attack." Campbell is working to pass the Inouye Amendment to the Employee Free Choice Act to treat tribes as governments.
He says he is also concerned about organized labor getting involved in tribal governance. "If labor injected itself into tribal politics," says Campbell, "It would bring an outside dynamic, unfamiliar with tribal issues, into tribal politics and I believe that would be devastating to most tribes."
Ben Nighthorse Campbell continues to be a strong advocate for Native American rights and says he is proud of recent progress. He concludes with cautious optimism, "Things are looking up but, we have very far to go."
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