WHAT:
Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. will appoint outgoing Council Speaker Mike Shambaugh as Cherokee Nation’s Special Envoy to the U.S. Department of Justice and Related Agencies, and Senior Advisor on Public Safety.
WHEN:
Friday, August 15 at 11 a.m.
WHERE:
Cherokee National History Museum
101 S. Muskogee Ave.
Tahlequah, Okla.
WHO:
Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.
Deputy Chief Bryan Warner
Outgoing Speaker Mike Shambaugh
Council of the Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation Cabinet
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. will appoint outgoing Council Speaker Mike Shambaugh as Cherokee Nation’s Special Envoy to the U.S. Department of Justice and Related Agencies and Senior Advisor on Public Safety during a ceremony Aug. 15.
Shambaugh has represented District 9 of the tribe’s legislative branch for the last eight years. He was elected in 2017, re-elected in 2021 and served the last four years as Council Speaker. Prior to his service on the Council, Shambaugh served in law enforcement including as the Chief of Police for the town of Jay in the Cherokee Nation Reservation.
As Special Envoy, Shambaugh will serve as a member of Chief Hoskin’s cabinet and work closely with the Cherokee Nation Attorney General’s Office and Cherokee Nation Marshal Service, continuing to seize on the opportunities and continued growth of the tribe’s criminal justice responsibilities in the wake of the historic McGirt decision.
“Speaker Shambaugh has proudly served the Cherokee people and the public at large during his professional career. He is a staunch defender of tribal sovereignty, and we are fortunate that he has agreed to continue in service to the Cherokee people as Special Envoy,” Chief Hoskin said.
Shambaugh will be sworn in for a two-year term, coextensive with the final two years of Chief Hoskin’s term of office. The role is being created through an executive order, which will be signed during the ceremony Aug. 15.
As Council Speaker and Chair of the Rules Committee, Shambaugh sponsored and helped pass into law dozens of pieces of legislation ranging from language revitalization to housing, to education to health. He was the lead sponsor of the Respond, Recover and Rebuild Plan, a framework of over $1 billion in pandemic response and recovery spending.
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s McGirt ruling which led to the expansion of the tribe’s criminal jurisdiction, he served on a sovereignty protection commission and helped quickly direct over $30 million into the tribe’s criminal justice system.