ACCEPTING RESUMES FOR CHAIRPERSON.....APPLY WITHIN

With so many members of the tribe who have displayed integrity and intelligence in the way they live their lives, why settle for anything less to sit in the chairperson's seat of the Sault Tribe. If you are interested in holding a seat and would like to expand on your qualifications and principles, send a letter to weave977@yahoo.com and I will post it here.

Below is Aaron Payments desires for the Sault Tribe.

I support a separation of powers and granting the Membership standing in Tribal Court to bring a cause of action against their government if our Constitutional rights are violated. Some are easily fooled by the smokescreen that a separation of powers is the 'white mans' way but a separation of powers originated from the Iroquois Confederacy.

I support elected judges who must be Sault Tribe Members and have law degrees with experience in Indian law. Once elected, the only cause for removal of judges should be for malfeasance and not because the board or chairperson threatens your job.

I support a separation between the board and chair functions but since the people have already decided that issue, I would support the Chair being a facilitator between the administration and the Board to ease operations and for immediate decision making.

In our day an age, gaining a consensus before acting is easily accomplished. I support enhancing the democratic principles of the Members to weigh in on all decisions of the elected body. Again, with technology like Survey Monkey or other on-line survey instruments, we can at least ask the members for direction before making major decisions.

Any appropriations over $500,000 should be ratified by the Membership. The Board or Administration should be prohibited from spending new money until after the referendum period has passed.

One big thing missing is any semblance of labor rights within our employment. I support enacting tribal labor law, conferring irrevocable jurisdiction to an independent tribal court and an administrative procedures act to provide all employees a right to their jobs. If we do this right, employees won't need to unionize. The 2% raise for employees over three years is shameful.

Finally, I support both term limits and a recall provision to allow Members to decide more timely if someone on the Board (or Chair) is violating the principles of democracy. Of course, these items would need to be scrutinized by the people and yes, voted on by the people.

Respectfully,
Aaron Payment