Nighthorse Campbell Takes Culture to Senate...

Hey, the Senate floor could use some life!

--ryan

Colo. Senator Wears Indian Chief Regalia

By APARNA H. KUMAR, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, the Colorado Republican
known for his ponytail and bolo ties, made a bolder style statement
Tuesday, wearing a full chief's regalia to the Senate floor to manage
an appropriations bill.

Campbell, one of the 44 chiefs of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, said
his choice of attire was based more on convenience than anything
else.

"It was a bit of a tight schedule," he said, rushing into the Senate
chamber after speaking at the opening ceremony for the Smithsonian
Institution's new National Museum of the American Indian just west of
the Capitol. "I didn't know if I could change before I got to the
floor."

Wearing a full feather headdress and fringed white leather tunic and
pants that are his tribe's traditional chief's costume, Campbell
opened the debate on a $2.5 billion bill to pay for all of the
operations of Congress next year.

Campbell, 71, who is retiring at the end of this term after 18 years
in Congress, chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee's legislative
branch subcommittee.

Anticipating the time crunch, he sought his fellow senators'
permission Monday to appear in traditional tribal dress. They gave
their unanimous consent.

The son of a Portuguese immigrant mother and an Indian father,
Campbell is the only American Indian currently serving in the Senate.
He is also the first Indian to chair the Senate Indian Affairs
Committee.

He is not, however, the first senator to claim Indian heritage, said
Senate historian Richard Baker. Charles Curtis, a Kansas Republican
who was in Congress twice, 1907-1913 and 1915-1929, before becoming
Herbert Hoover's vice president, was one-eighth Kaw Indian. Robert
Owen, a Democrat from Oklahoma, 1907-1925, had a Cherokee Indian
mother. Over the years, the House has had several members of partial
Indian descent.

In a Senate where an unwritten dress code for men specifies dark
suits and sensible hairstyles, Campbell, often in cowboy boots, has
always been a fashion iconoclast. When riding Harley-Davidson
motorcycle around town, he prefers a black leather vest, jeans and
silver jewelry, which he designs himself.

Campbell, a former member of the House who sponsored the bill there
to create the museum, said its opening was the realization of a long-
awaited dream. He called it "a special day in the lives of all Native
Americans."

"From the Indian perspective, it's the opportunity that we're going
to have to tell our story our way," he said.