PEMBROKE — After spending about 90 minutes making his case for election to tribal chairman, Welford Clark unexpectedly announced Thursday that he is dropping out of the race and throwing his support behind Purnell Swett.

The surprise announcement came during Clark’s final statement at a Pembroke Area Chamber of Commerce-sponsored public forum, an event held as an opportunity for candidates to present their views on issues affecting the Lumbee people. Clark participated in the entire forum before announcing his decision to withdraw.

Clark said his decision was based on health-related matters. He declined to make any further comments.

Swett said that he had heard rumors that Clark might withdraw from the race, but did not know that he planned to take such action at the forum.

Tony Hunt said that he had heard similar rumors.

“I had heard the rumor, but didn’t expect it to happen,” Hunt said.

Lemark Harris, chairman of the chamber, was dismayed by the surprise announcement.

“We knew absolutely nothing about this,” Harris said. “We worked hard to make this an informative event. We did not want politics involved.”

The forum, held at the Indian Education Resource Center in Pembroke, drew a crowd of about 150 people who listened to the four candidates — Terry Campbell is also running — answer questions they had been provided earlier this week. Issues ranged from how a tribal administrator should be selected to housing rehabilitation, economic development and the fiduciary responsibilities of the executive and legislative branches of the tribal government.

On the issue of the tribal administrator, both Hunt, a Hoke County commissioner, and Swett, a former Robeson County schools superintendent, stressed their experience in hiring administrators. Both said the tribal administrator must be people-oriented and have the ability to work well with the tribe’s chairman, council and members.

Campbell, a Tribal Council member, said the administrator must be a “visionary,” have a thorough knowledge of housing needs, and have some previous tribal administrative experience. Clark said the administrator must be knowledgeable of “Indian business,” since it is different from the workings of municipal, state and federal governments.

Hunt and Swett said as chairman they would oppose an amendment to the tribe’s constitution that would give more fiduciary responsibilities and oversight to the Tribal Council. Both said that the responsibilities of the three branches of government need to be protected, noting that it is the council’s responsibility to legislate fiduciary matters while it is the chairman’s responsibility to see that the legislation is carried out.

Campbell said he would support a constitutional amendment that would give the Tribal Council more oversight and authority to establish fiduciary policies and procedures.

“These are officials elected to serve the people,” Campbell said. “It is what the people expect.”

All of the candidates agreed that the government should play an important role in the development of the Lumbee tribal area.

“The tribal government should lead the way in economic development,” Hunt said. “The tribal government needs to be proactive, not reactive.’

“We need to be aggressive with economic development,” Swett said. “We have to be creative in how we approach this.”

Campbell emphasized the need for the tribe to become serious about economic development if it hopes to attract businesses to the area.

“Until they see that we are serious as a tribe, they won’t come to the table,” he said.

All of the candidates also agreed that their administrations would work to move applicants for housing help off the waiting list as quickly as possible. They did not, however, fully support getting more rehab applicants from underserved districts on the rehab waiting list.

“I’d like to look at that program and see if it needs to be changed,” Hunt said. “You don’t need to make every district get the same amount. You need to be careful that; you don’t set up a quota system where some districts are getting services they don’t need and other districts aren’t getting the services they do need.”

“In a perfect world you would not have this problem,” Swett said. “I would instruct my administration to look where the services are needed so that we can speed up and soon eliminate the problem.”

Campbell noted that this year there will be about $27.9 million available for housing rehab.

“With that much allocated we should be able to do a lot to reduce the number on the rehab waiting list,” he said.

With Clark’s exit from the race, voters now have three candidates from which to choose a tribal chairman when they go to the polls Nov. 17. Beverly Collins-Hall had filed as a candidate, but withdrew her name.