Jay Brummett is running against incumbent Rep. Mark Wheatley, a Democrat, for the District 35 seat in Murray. On his Web site, http://www.brummett.info, Brummett says he is "proud of my entire ethnic heritage and strive to instill this pride in my children." He goes on to say he has donated his "time, effort and money" to working in his "ethnic community" by volunteering as a mentor and detention center chaplain for American Indians.

Brummett said he sticks by everything on his Web site.

"I have not made ethnicity an issue in this campaign," he said in a phone interview last week. "All Americans should be proud of their ethnic background - that's what makes America great."

Yet, several American Indian community leaders said they're curious to find out more about Brummett because they were surprised to hear about one of their own running for office. E-mails questioning Brummett's American Indian ties and community involvement have been circulating among the Indian community for several weeks.

"I'm one more person in the community - I've never heard of that name before," said Dena Ned, who runs Salt Lake Valley's Native American community center. "It would be interesting to see why that's coming up."

The No. 1 question American Indians have for Brummett is: "What tribe are you from?" Utah is home to eight federally recognized tribes.

Brummett said in the interview he is of mixed blood from the Lakota tribe on his mother's side and speaks Lakota "not as good as some and better than others." Brummett, who was born in Salt Lake City but moved away and returned in the late 1980s, said he visits Rosebud and Pioneer Ridge reservations in South Dakota at least once a year to teach his three children about their roots. He said he chooses not to be an enrolled member for "a number of reasons" but declined to say why.

In the mid 1990s, Brummett filed a complaint as a "member of the Lakota Sioux tribe" to the Utah State Tax Commission's Motor Vehicle Division that ultimately resulted in a Utah Supreme Court ruling that revoked license plates containing the word "redskin" in any form because it was offensive to American Indians.

But in a later interview, Brummett admitted he is not Lakota by blood, but identifies as Lakota because he grew up learning about the culture through his step-grandfather, a Lakota. He said his Native American blood actually comes from his grandmother, a mixed-blood Comanche.

"The life experiences I have are Lakota," Brummett said. "That's how I affiliate."

Brummett, an Ogden city employee, said people questioning his ethnic identity is a "meaningless issue" and he would rather talk about education and public safety. Conservative minorities in politics are often "attacked" by their own communities because of their conservative party lines, he said.

"As a Republican, there are a number of folks [American Indians] who will say I'm not known. They will decide on whether I'm Native American enough," Brummett said. "I know who I am and what I am."

The Utah Democratic Party recently requested an investigation into whether Brummett and Jon Greiner - Ogden's police chief and a Republican who is running for the Utah Senate - are violating the federal Hatch Act. The law prohibits state and local employees who receive federal pay or oversee federally funded grants or programs from seeking a partisan elected office.

American Indians interviewed for this story said they're usually suspicious when people claim to be of native or of mixed blood. "Sometimes, people say they're native when they're not because no one ever checks it," said Ned.

Some American Indians said their community in Utah and nationwide is small enough that they all have some connections to each other. They see each other at powwows. They know each other through family friends. And they also get to know non-American Indians who run in their circles.

Cal Nez, a graphic designer and Navajo activist in the Salt Lake City area, said he's always looking for people, especially "natives," for community and business opportunities. So he was surprised when he read Brummett's Web site and had never heard of him.

Harry James is president of the Native American Association of West Valley, a group that organizes the valley's largest annual powwow. He said if Brummett is concerned about native issues, why hasn't he organized a community meeting or met with community members? "Where has he been? No one really knows him," James said. "He's been hiding all this time, why come out now?"

jsanchez@sltrib.com