2026 candidate Chuck Sams. Maybe Vote Yes if you feel like it or first ask for more info as he refuses to answer vote withhold

 

His bio (see below) as posted on the site of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council where he is one of the representatives for Oregon. Here is an interesting interview of Chuck Sams of March 2025. Here is the link to his candidate presentation. He is the only "self-nominated" candidate. The two others have been hand picked by the Board, a Board we should not trust, despite the present CEO's plea for our "support". As if they gave a damn about it: after losing the previous election they kept coopting 3 substitutes for 3 years as if nothing had happened :(

Chuck looks like a good candidate, the 2 others are not.

Update on January 5th after I sent an email to Chuck Sams, asking him for an interview to clarify his stand on union organizing, not allowing anti-union propaganda, working to change the bylaws to abolish the present bypassing of election when they are not favorable to the candidates selected by the board of directors. He declined to be interviewed and therefore I feel less inclined to vote in favor of his candidacy even if his profile is much better than the 2 others. At this point I would recommend more members emailed him asking for a clarification. His email is chassams@yahoo.com or csams@nwcouncil.org

I hope some of the journalists I have contacted will get in touch with him. Maybe he'll accept to talk with them? As of January 15, I had not seen any interview of him so it looks like he keeps refusing to engage and that's a big no-no for me. Refusal to be transparent, refusal to disapprove of an oligarchic board.

Charles F. Sams III, Oregon

email | 503-229-5171

Chuck Sams grew up on the Umatilla Indian Reservation where he is enrolled as Walla Walla and Cayuse with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR). Most recently he served as the 19th director of the United States National Park Service.the 

Over his 35 plus years career he has served as Executive Director and Deputy Executive Director for the CTUIR, in addition to Communications Director, Environmental Health & Safety Officer and Planner and Special Sciences Analyst with the Tribes. Other prior positions include, Program Coordinator for the Community Action Program of East Central Oregon; House Manager/Field Supervisor for the City Volunteer Corps of New York; CEO/President, Vice President Programs, Northwest Director for the Earth Conservation/Salmon Corps; Executive Director of the Community Energy Project; Executive Director of the Columbia Slough Watershed Council; the National Director for the Tribal & Native Lands Program of the Trust for Public Land; Executive Director of the Umatilla Tribal Community Foundation; and President/Chief Executive Officer of the Indian Country Conservancy. He received a Master of Legal Studies in Indigenous Peoples Law from the University of Oklahoma School of Law and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, Management, Communications, and Leadership from Concordia University. He is a graduate of the U.S. Navy / Marine Corps Intelligence Training Center 'A' School and subsequently served as an intelligence Specialist with an Attack Squadron, the Joint Intelligence Center Pacific Command, and the Defense Intelligence Agency Headquarters. He and his family live in Pendleton, Oregon.