Robert Satiacum Jr. distrusts Hillary Clinton's environmental policies, which he calls “crimes against our mother, this Earth.” | Getty Democratic elector says he may reject Clinton The Washington State activist says he'd rather violate law — and pay $1,000 fine — than violate conscience.

Robert Satiacum Jr. calls Hillary Clinton a “clown,” a “rat,” a “criminal” and a virtual clone of Donald Trump. But that’s not all.

He’s also one of 12 Democrats designated to cast his electoral vote for Clinton if she wins Washington, a blue state she's expected to easily carry. Now, he’s caught in a fierce personal struggle over whether to rebel against her in the Electoral College, a decision that could create havoc in a close presidential contest.


“How can I say and do and be who I am and then cast a vote for somebody that’s the same as Trump?” Satiacum wondered. “They may be male, female, but they’re in the same canoe.”

Satiacum, an activist member of Washington’s Puyallup Tribe, says he isn’t aware of any truly “criminal” activity by Clinton but distrusts her environmental policies, which he calls “crimes against our mother, this Earth.” He suggests that the plight of Indian country has become removed from discussions between two parties who “gripe about first-world problems.” He hosts a Native American radio show called “Tribal Talk” that airs in the Tacoma area, and he says he has vented about his disillusionment with the election for months.

That’s partly why Satiacum says he can’t resign himself to supporting Clinton.

“I have to either step down from being this thing I was elected to be or I’ve got to step down from being myself,” he said. “That’s the teeter totter I’m on.”

The Electoral College rarely gets noticed in presidential years, but it wields the only official power to elect the president. Though voters cast ballots for president, they’re actually choosing slates of partisan electors — 538 across the country — who cast the official vote in December. Electors nearly always support the will of voters in their state, which has allowed the process to slip into obscurity. Indeed, 31 states (including Washington) have laws requiring electors to support the statewide winner. Others require electors to sign pledges making similar promises of support.

As a result, “faithless electors” have been extremely rare throughout American history, and they’ve never altered the outcome of an election. According to FairVote, there have been 157 altogether, and nearly half were the result of candidates who died before the Electoral College got to meet. The last faithless elector voted in 2004, when a Minnesota Democrat wrote in John Kerry’s running mate, John Edwards, instead — essentially taking a vote away from Kerry.

Satiacum, whose wife Elizabeth cast an electoral vote for Barack Obama in 2008, isn’t alone in his doubts. A Georgia Republican elector, Baoky Vu, resigned in August after telling a reporter he was open to rejecting Trump. And Texas GOP elector Chris Suprun told POLITICO he had strong reservations about supporting Trump as an elector as well, but he has since indicated he’d back the mogul if Trump wins Texas.

Satiacum’s father led high-profile protests in support of Indian fishing rights in the northwest in the 1960s and 70s. The Associated Press reported, when the elder Satiacum died in 1991, that Marlon Brando and Jane Fonda appeared with him at these protests. He later became a fugitive from justice on “racketeering charges that involved trafficking in contraband cigarettes, arson and the attempted murder of a rival tribal leader.” In 1989, awaiting sentencing on molestation charges, he fled again and died a week after his capture.

Also an environmental activist, the younger Satiacum, described his father – as well as his mother who is still alive – as trailblazers for the Puyallup tribe and said his people always remind him he has “some big moccasins to fill.” The lessons of his past, as well as the lessons he wants to teach his own children, are also factors in his decision about how to handle his role as a presidential elector.

“If I vote for her, maybe not this year … but if I future-trip it and fast-forward five years, 10 years, 20 years – my son is old enough to understand the severity,” he said. “All of his teachings, all of his foundations – his dad’s words, his dad’s teachings that form and shape him, who he is — to see that I voted for her, then I’m a liar. Then I’m point blank a liar.”

Satiacum said after his initial conversation with POLITICO, party officials in Washington State reached out to him to get his assurance that he would cast his ballot for Clinton. “I said ‘yes, that’s what I’m elected to do,’” he said in a subsequent interview.

But now he’s not so sure — and he says he won't be pushed into it either. “No party’s going to say ‘you’re going to do that,’” he said. “They don’t think with me, they don’t live in my head, they don’t live in my heart.”

Washington Democratic officials pointed to a pledge that all Democratic electors signed when they were chosen.

“In our conversations with our electors and in the pledge they have signed, they have committed to uphold their responsibility and vote for the Democratic nominee for president,” said party spokesman Marc Siegel. “We are confident that Hillary Clinton will win the presidency and that our other down ballot candidates will win election.”

State law requires the pledge to be filed with the secretary of state, and violations carry a $1,000 fine. Satiacum said that penalty wouldn’t deter him if he ultimately decides his conscience compels him to cast his vote a different way.

“That’s not even a factor,” he said.

Satiacum got involved in this election cycle as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia for Bernie Sanders. He was among the delegates who stormed the press tent after Clinton was formally nominated. Satiacum was picked as a delegate, he said, largely by chance – after delivering brief remarks at a local convention decrying the lack of concern for Indian Country. Later, Patsy Whiteout, a prominent Native American education advocate, nominated him to be an elector.

Satiacum said his culture requires him to respect his elders, and that Whitefoot’s decision to nominate him also weighs against any consideration he has about potentially dropping out. Though he said he was aware that rejecting Clinton as an elector would anger his political allies, he said that he’s worried the party – which he says he has been active in since only about 2009 – has gone off course.

“That’s where I’m stuck,” he said. “I talked to my mom late last night about this. I talked to my wife … My wife says I’m overthinking it. She said, you don’t have to vote.”

Whitefoot did not respond to a request for comment. Satiacum worried she might be offended if he gave up his seat in the Electoral College. But mostly, he said, he thinks about his six children and 10 grandchildren.

“My hands are tied. I’ve been elected. I can’t walk in on that day and do what my wife did: act like I’m happy to be there and elect the first woman president,” he said. “There’s 16 souls that have the future ahead of them … 16 other lives and souls I’m considering when I say ‘no, I’m not going to vote for her.’”