I understand that this is an AK newspaper, but the writer is showing an ignorance regarding Natives issues.  The author seems to take umbrage over AK having 40% of the total number of recognized tribes but no representation.  While I agree that AK Natives should be represented, that 40% is misleading.  When the government officially recognized AK Native tribes, they seemed to codify almost every separate native village as a separate tribe, which is radically different than how it was done with the Native American tribes where typically all the villages in an area with the same culture were grouped into a tribe.  That means that while there are fewer Lower 48 tribes, they are much larger.  Estimates place the total number of AK Natives living in AK right now as between 110,000-125,000.  If we were to consolidate those all into one tribe, it still wouldn't even break into the Top 5 of the largest federally-recognized tribes, and represents only about 2% of the total US Native population.