Sault Ste. Marie, Mi...There's a feeling of foreboding in the air. Director Bouschor is trying for a comeback. He's trading on his success in beating the payout rap and the metals awarded him by hanger's-on and other, scratch my back I'll scratch yours' leaders in the community. Director Bouschor operated in the wings of the Payment Administration and successfully obstructed the implementation of the new tribal constitution. With the help of his henchmen on the board as well as those employed in various governmental departments, he successfully blocked reforms the Payment administration worked hard to put in place.
Director Bouschor resents Aaron Payment for turning on him after mentoring him for years. What's he missing here: Payment renounced his quid pro quo style of government. He decided there had to be something better and he went on to graduate school and earned a Master Degree in Public Administration. He studied governmental systems and learned things that his mentor didn't know.
Quip pro quo...it's when public officials, in a position to make a difference, peddle that influence to turn a dollar for themselves. In exchange for an order with a vendor, they ask him to pay part of his campaign expenses. If a construction firm wants to work for the tribe, they have to pony up. Lawyers have to divvy up for tribal business sent their way. Constituents have to blindly support them for putting their children to work or helping with financial aide for college or admission to a trade or business school.
Board members as well as constituents often point out that director Bouschor signed the contract for Greektown without lawyers or anybody else present...just him and the Greeks. Many believe he got a check in the mail every month as a result of that deal. Payment isn't quip pro quo. At a public meeting in the JKL Building several years ago, he attuned to his constituents for his mentoring by and his following in the ways of director Bouschor for several years.
Bouschor is out to restore his standing in the tribal community. He's out to make a name for himself again. He has no interest in the new constitution or in better government. He refers to those things as revolutionary. He sees himself as a tribal chief and tribal members as his subjects. He wants their blind support. With his imperialistic style of leadership, he dominates the very people he claims to work for. He's a failed businessman who has a desire to be a corporate leader. He's all about money.
Since the nineties the tribe hasn't seen one business success. Bouschor accrued all his medals in the monopolistic years of setting up tribal casino on trust land across the Upper Peninsula. With that market saturated, economic development in the tribal community stopped. Without the tax breaks of trust lands and a monopoly in the market place, the Bouschor people weren't able to compete. In the ensuing years since then the tribe has lost tens of millions of dollars: with some estimates being as low as $80,000,000.00 and others as high as $1,500,000,000.00.
All of the tribal slush funds (self-sufficiency funds) have been used up. The elders are told they have nothing to complain about because the tribe is paying them 12% on their land claims fund...which doesn't exist any more and once amounted to $29,000,000.00.
The trouble here is the question it raises: Is director Bouschor mentoring Chairman McCoy? It doesn't look good. Chairman McCoy broke his campaign promise to separate the chair and the CEO roles of tribal government. He's exercising the authority of tribal CEO despite last summer's referendum separating those two positions. Like with director Bouschor himself, this reflects the little respect he has for the will of the people. Even under the articles of the present tribal constitution he's clearly a rogue chairman.
There is an answer: it's in the articles of the new constitution. Quit selling your souls for a few dollars more. Pull your hand back and say no to a handout from tribal officials. Educate yourself and find your own job, be it with the tribe or elsewhere. The Bouschor Regime is the worst thing to ever happen to the tribe. It's corrupted the heads of many of our large familys and has establish corruption as the only way of doing the tribe's business.
Don't mistake or underestimate director Bouschor. He's the tribe's dapper don...a master manipulator and a behind the scenes operator. Nothing good will ultimately come from activities on the board.
Appreciate it: the Payment Administration, whether you liked it or supported it or not, called together a committee of community members and they, with the help of two constitutional lawyers, wrote a new constitution for the tribe. The answers are in it. Study it over. Support it.
All the tools for doing cleaning up government and changing the way it does business are in between the covers of that document.
Thank you,
Charles Forgrave
6 comments:
Chuck WE HAVE POUNDED OUR heads against the wall saying a new constitution is the ONLY thing that will change our tribe. Yet even the newly elected leaders who we supported on this issue have done very little citing the corruption of the tribes leaders. You have to be either a family member or just plain dumb to think Bernard and his group are doing anything that is great for the tribe. The reality is, somewhere in the mix, they are getting more out of the deal than you will ever know.
fear is the weapon the tribal leaders are employing to hold on to their power. they have honed the fear factor to a fine edge. members who work for the tribe fear joblessness, members who hope to work for the tribe fear rejection, members who have family members employed by the tribe fear retribution if they expose their true feelings about our tribal board. the fear of withheld tribal benefits if one does not walk the expected walk keeps many tribal members silent. this has damaged the once proud tribe's image and will undermine the tribe into oblivion. apathy and fear are the cancers allowing this corrupt board to continue on this path confident that noone will stop them. please have the courage of your convictions and rage against these parasites.
It takes courage....but most of all...it takes determination ..to correct a wrong. If you fear letting anyone know what your choice is....especially if it goes against the corrupt element....just tell them what they want to hear. Your ballot is secret. Just make sure that these corrupt power wielders don't beat you down anymore. Feeling that fear is the worst feeling of all.
If they ask...tell them what they want to hear...but vote the way your heart tells you.
Vote for a democratic future.
votes are like flowers, if you gather them you get a bouquet
It is not just fear of the board that keeps people from speaking up, it is fear of other tribal members. A lot of folks have tried to raise their voice about tribal issues and lodge complaints, suggestions, etc., only to be beaten up on by other members who have problems with them. The whole tribe is in chaos but it is not just the board who creates it. There are a few immature voices who continue to batter others, and stupidly think they are doing good but are really causing damage.
There are lots of people that want to know who they can vote for to replace Cathy McCoy Abramson, Lana Causley and Joe McCoy
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