Jack Jackson, Jr.

INDN's List is thrilled to endorse Jack Jackson, Jr. for State Senate in the Second Legislative District. Jack has spent his entire career fighting for Indian rights, including representing the Navajo Nation for 12 years in Washington, DC. He then moved on to the National Indian Education Association, where he represented the educational concerns of over 3,000 American Indian and Alaskan Native educators, school administrators, parents and students. During the Fiscal Year 1996 budget negotiations, he worked tirelessly with tribal leadership to reinstate full funding of $81 million to the Office of Indian Education in the Department of Education.

In 1997, Jack became the Director of Governmental Affairs for the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the oldest, largest and most representative Indian advocacy organization in the nation for over 250 tribal governments. His main responsibility was overseeing legislative and appropriation measures before the United States Congress affecting Indian Country.

While at NCAI, Jack helped create a strong and credible Native influence at the national, state and local levels. He assisted in the design of a comprehensive government-to-government strategy, which resulted in three unprecedented Executive Orders issued by President Clinton and several Presidential Memorandums and Directives relevant to the needs and concerns of Indian Country. These actions protected Native American sacred sites and required appropriate consultation with tribal governments.

From 2003 to 2005, Jack served in the 46th Arizona State Legislature in the House of Representatives. In 2005, Jack was appointed by Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano as the Executive Director of the Arizona Commission of Indian Affairs (ACIA). His main duty was to ensure that the Commission provided assistance to the State of Arizona in fulfilling its responsibilities to Arizona’s 22 Indian Nations and Tribes by making recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature. He conferred and coordinated with officials and agencies of other governmental units regarding Indian issues, and worked to provide improved relationships and a greater understanding between tribal governments and the State.