Greetings LCO!
It’s been a few months since you’ve last heard from me, and
as you all know, at the time I was putting in an effort to share with you all
news that you wouldn’t have heard otherwise. My voice was loud and it was heard
throughout the community and our chairman, Mic Isham, didn’t like it, so he
responded.
The current administration took a two-pronged approach to
squash my attempts to bring you the truth about the wide spread corruption and
mismanagement occurring at the tribal council and upper management level of our
tribe.
First, Mic had our tribal attorney announce in a monthly
director’s meeting that no one is to talk to the media without first consulting
the legal department. This was a first. I’ve been writing the news for the
tribe going on 20 years now and regardless of my past disagreements with tribal
chairs, none have ever instructed director’s to be quiet, forbidding them to
talk about their programs. This worked because all of a sudden, all the directors
were afraid to talk with me and they started dodging me as I pursued
interviews. And these were simple interviews to highlight the positives of our
reservation and show the good things these programs were doing for our
community.
Secondly, Mic approached potential advertisers to stop them
from advertising in the new publication I was starting up at the time. He began
with tribal enterprises but then he approached Hayward advertisers and told
them that the tribe would boycott their businesses if they advertised with me. This
was done by a tribal chairman. Incredible!
This two-pronged attack worked. I couldn’t continue to do a
newspaper for you all without being able to pursue stories from the program
directors or without advertising dollars to pay for the printing.
But then, just recently, now our tribal administration has
gone a step further and taken a page right out of Hitler’s playbook by
attempting to silence anyone from speaking out. They sent out a letter, signed
by Rusty Barber, saying that no tribal employee is to speak out about their
workplaces on social media. Now, this is understandable, but they included
wording in that letter that adds the tribe as a whole, which is a complete
violation of your federal right to free speech. It basically says that if any
employee of the tribe went on Facebook and said “council sucks,” they could fire
you, and all this just in time for election season, so that they can hang the
threat of losing your job over your heads if you speak out. This is wrong. I’m going to be writing an entirely separate
blog about that letter in the next few days, so I’ll leave it right there for
now.
But, it was this final straw that helped me decide that if I
can’t offer my services to our tribe as a newspaper man, and bring you the
news, then I’ll offer my services as a tribal council member, one who
understands that the free flow of information is vital to the health and
well-being of a community. So, officially, I’m throwing my hat in the ring and
I’m going to give it my all to win a seat on the tribal governing board where I’m
100% confident I can make a difference.
There’s a handful of issues I’m investigating and I’ll be
writing about in the coming weeks. Some of them I’ll be revisiting since
writing a few months back. These include;
1.
The casino bond restructuring: We had a sweet
deal but our leadership didn’t like it, now we are facing a default on the bond
in a year from now. What will happen? The investment group will come in and
take over management of our casino and we won’t have a hand in running our own
casino, nor will we see a dime from it until they get their money.
2.
The Kinnamon Project: How could a remodel take
four years? This is another example of the fleecing of our tribe. Originally
what started out as a $350,000 federal grant has ballooned into add-ons and
tribal subsidization beyond anything you can imagine for a simple remodel. And
there is still no date set for the opening. We need to be asking why and in no
way is this the fault or responsibility of the workers. It all falls on the
project coordinator, Brian Bisonette.
3.
The Clinic records: This should stay at the
forefront of issues for our tribe because an employee of the clinic took 180
medical records out of the clinic and into her home. Did she do this for her
own benefit or was she working on behalf of someone else, which is what I
believe and I will be sharing that story with you real soon. I’m investigating
the links to high ranking officials on our reservation. You must realize that
this is more than just the simple act of an employee taking home medical
records. Those records have social security numbers, addresses and even
signatures on them. Either she, or someone else, could have easily taken your
social security number and forged your signature to accomplish a lot of things,
such as background checks to gather information on you…for sinister purposes.
We need to know whose records were taken.
4.
The casino management has to go! They’ve done
enough damage to our tribe and they’ve hurt enough of our people through
firing. The undue stress they’ve caused on numerous families on our reservation
is enough for me to say there is no other option but an entire restructure of
the top levels of management at our casino. I won’t even get into the finances
and all the other issues for now, but it all needs to be addressed this
election season.
5.
The tribal finances and a lack of a Treasurer’s
Report: I’ve asked numerous times, are we broke? And I get the same answers
that we’re not and yet, leadership refuses to show us where we are at
financially. Our secretary-treasurer gave a report at a membership meeting
about four months ago that had absolutely nothing about current finances and
attempted to focus on an imaginary budget for the upcoming year. Past
administrations and secretary-treasurers, which includes Don Carley under Gosh,
Brian Bisonette under Louis Taylor and Mic Isham under Gordon Thayer, have all
provided an overview of tribal finances, and yet, currently, we are kept in the
dark. Why is that?
As we entered the holiday season a few months ago, our tribe
was indeed broke. Regardless what anyone tells you, believe it. Our tribal
officials were struggling to find a way to even pay for Christmas bonuses. And
then a lifeline was thrown in the form of a $2.3 million dollar settlement at
the end of November. The financial problems went away…temporarily. I’m investigating this settlement as we speak.
There are a few questions about this. You see, there were some issues with the
casino bond that was issued in 2006, signed by Brian Bisonette, which allowed
our tribe, under the former leadership of Gordon Thayer, to seek $11 million
dollars in damages. We even won the right to have the case heard in tribal
court, which means it was a slam dunk! We would have won. The defense offered
us a quick settlement and we accepted it. $2.3 million was the settlement, the
lifeline that saved our current administration from exposing the truth to you,
the community, that our tribe was nearly broke and we weren’t going to be able
to pay Elder Christmas bonuses or employee Christmas bonuses. Here’s where the
major questions arise…why did our leadership settle so quickly in a case that
we most certainly would have won…in the amount of $11 million dollars!!!!
Was it because they were in desperation mode to save themselves
from the embarrassment of not being able to pay those bonuses, or is there more
to it. Were there some shady activities that took place during the negotiations
of those bonds and someone didn’t want that coming out in court? These are the
questions you all need to march up to that tribal office and start asking.
And ask them once again, how much money do we have in our
bank accounts since we received a $2.3 million settlement less than four months
ago? If we weren’t nearly broke when I said we were four months ago, then we
should be sitting pretty good right now after receiving that settlement. Unfortunately,
that settlement was simply a band aid on a gushing wound. It only slowed the
bleeding for a moment, but I’m here to tell you, our tribe will be broke again within
a few months. Once again, our tribal leadership is running through millions of
dollars. What happens if another life line isn’t thrown to us this time around?
Win or lose, I won’t hold back through this election cycle.
I’ll investigate many of these issues and I’ll share everything with you.
And once I’m elected, I’ll continue to write a regular
column and share with you everything that is happening at the council level.
There’ll be no more secrets and that I can promise you. For that reason, the powers that be will do
everything they can to prevent me from being elected. All the questions you’ve
had will be answered, such as simple things like ‘how much does a council
member get paid?’ This shouldn’t be a secret, and once I’m elected, you’ll
learn the salaries of every council member. I’ve always been a newspaper man,
it’s in my blood, and this means that providing the community with information
is and will be a top priority of mine.
And please, give me some feedback on what I’m sharing with
you and on what you’d like to see in the way of change at LCO. If you want to
talk, I’m available. My number is 558-9807. I’m looking forward to hearing from
you and I’m looking forward to your support. Most importantly, I’m looking
forward to working for you, the membership, when I’m elected to the tribal
council.
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