FROM THE SAULT TRIBE GUIDE....A WORD FROM OUR REPRESENTATIVE
Posted by Director DJ Malloy in the Sault Tribe Guide.
OK ST Members... I have read all of your posts. I took the weekend to try to put everything in perspective. Your hopes and fears are valid and well founded and I believe I know where you all want this to go. However... unless someone can pull a rabbit out of their hat... there is NOT going to be an election. I am prohibited from even proposing it as it has been tabled until after the General Election courtesy of Director Pat Rickley. Because it is tabled, it is an active resolution an is subject to referendum; but to date I haven't seen a petition to do so.
The bottom line is this... without an election we are left with the Constitutional obligation to appoint. The Constitution says the board shall appoint to fill the vacant seat. There has been talk of several people being nominated but there has been nothing presented in writing as to whom is on the list for tomorrow nights meeting. Joe Eitrem has indeed been talked about for over a month, as has Lana. And until there is someone seated, Lana is the sitting acting chair.
Here is a synopsis of the process so far. Constitutional language says: "The Board shall appoint." Tribal Code says: "The board shall hold a Special Advisory to assist in appointing a person to fill a vacancy. This election shall be non-binding." Election Code then prohibits any election activity within 6 months of a Notice of Election. That cycle begins on the last Friday in January. Therefore, when McCoy resigned, he did so at a time that prohibited any Special Advisory Election. Contrived or happenstance... that's the facts. Then.. Cathy A and myself brought forward a resolution to amend the code and several board members supported to allow for an election. IT failed on the first presentation on a 5 to 5 vote. Lana Causley voted to break the tie. She voted against amending the code to allow an election. After the second presentation of this resolution, Director Rickley tabled it "until after the next General Election" rendering it useless. There is an absence of a petition to referendum the tabled resolution that would allow the people to decide whether or not an election would be held. In short... the resolution is dead and this means there will be no election!
Here is what I believe... I believe there are board members who think/surmise/know that Aaron Payment would have won a Special Advisory Election. They don't want Aaron on the board. So they voted against it. The argument was made that Aaron had the next highest votes in the last chair election... that didn't work either. Now we have a chair who has assumed the duties via a resolution to allow business to go on until such time the seat is filled. and ... here we are. If we don't appoint, we are violating the Constitution and Lana will continue to serve out the term until someone is seated. This is why I asked the question... Who do you want? Who can garner the 7 votes needed to assume the chairmanship? Who is the least caustic? Who will be the least obstructive to the change we want to see?
I honestly don't know what is going to transpire tomorrow night. But I know this... we can not go on the way we are. There is no forward movement and we are spending too much time on politics and not enough time on moving the tribe ahead and addressing the needs of the members. Elders need more services, we are top heavy with management, the money is flying out the window in lawsuit judgements, and we still have done NOTHING, in the past year that I've been here, to meet the needs of our people! Land Claim money was spent on property for a transportation garage, (they are to pay rent to the fund... but it's still a misuse of the funds). I could go on and on. We NEED to change the way we are focusing on who is in charge and start paying attention to the tribe we are supposed to be serving! No one is being served by this type of leadership because there is no movement forward. It's no different than stagnant waters; and without a fresh stream to aerate the pool... we stink!
Respectfully submitted, DJ
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16 comments:
Rickley is still trying to figure out how he got elected. If you shoved his brains up a hummingbirds ass it would fly backwards.
Thanks Lynne for posting DJ's comments. I am not a member of Nathan's elite little group as I value my job and Nathan must live in a dream world if he thinks that we should be brave enough to use our real names on any site that the powers that be could consider radical. Risking one's livelihood and money for food, shelter and clothing to meet Nathan's requirement is not being 'brave', it is being foolish.
I risk it everyday. It's not foolish. It is people like you who are afraid of the system that we fight for creating a better government. If your afraid, continue doing what your doing. But certainly think about what your doing before saying another negative comment about the STG. You want change? Were working on it. And you don't have to post anything, you can just join and read. Many people don't say anything. Kind of a contradiction to say you are worried about the powers that be and say STF is foolish. I am brave, always will be. Sorry your not. TO say I am foolish only says to me, that's why you cannot say what you want to say using your real name.
Well if no election then how about a revolution???Nah let's just keep posting things that they might read and then snicker about behind closed doors. Yeah that should work.Like they are afraid of what we think.It should be obvious to everyone that they could not care less about us or our opinions. We said election..they said no. Period end of report. They will have their way.
One more thing..How come we (well maybe just me) have no clue where the money to pay off the bates garage thing is coming from? I heard a nasty rumor that to pay it the elder money will be cut to $300 as I said it is a rumor I heard and I was just wondering how true. I will say this..most of the "rumors" I have heard turned out to be true. And I am curious as to whether or not our former chairman,McCoy, will be required to pay back that 60,000 he helped himself to so he could pay his personal bankruptcy attorney.
And people wonder how the tribe could be broke.No brainer.
I just want to say the the Sault Tribe Guide is not an elite group. If you have a Facebook account than you can join. As Nathan wrote, you can read but don't need to comment.
I understand that many feel the need to be anonymous in order to protect their job. This is one serious problem we hope to be able to change. There are laws to protect employees in the world outside the tribe and those same protections should be in place within the tribe. Employees should have a method to launch an investigation against supervisors who retaliate or are forced to do so by higher ups. How will that be accomplished? A separation of powers! The BOD should have zero to do with employment matters....absolutely ZERO!
One thing that is great about Facebook is that you can message any of us privately and ask that we discuss a particular topic and that you do not want your name revealed to the group. You can write to me and I will post it without your name so that the group can discuss it.
Nathan and Lynne,
Nathan, you are risking nothing and bravery is a whole lot more than signing your name to a post. It is not bravery when you risk nothing. Bravery is going to work every day and providing for your family, even in a system that you hate. Do not ever accuse someone of not being brave when they continue to do what they need to in order to take care of their loved ones. You are playing some kind of weird and sick game. How dare you challenge people to risk the well being of those who are dependant on them.
Lynne you are right. It is a real danger to those in the system. Does not matter if you cannot post, even showing one's name on what can be considered a dissident site is enough. But Nathan is no better, he also wants to silence the voices of those who he cannot control.
Thanks Lynne for at least being sensitive and mature enough to understand the realities of the situation.
We need a new constitution. Period. Without it, we will continue to be living in kaos. Sadly if something is not done sooner, it will only get worse. Change starts with people talking about it. There are at least three board members who read STG, and perhaps more hear about it. Sites like this one and STG do have an effect, because there are only a few places you can go to to get an immediate feel for tribal members for a situation. FB has created revolutions, and they start with people talking. Something to consider.
Good point Lynne, people can also have people on there they know ask questions.
Nathan,
Something for you to consider is that if you would relax your control a bit, and mature a bit, then you may be able to get a lot more participation. We get enough control and pettiness from the Board.
Well I must say this: that those causing the most contention in the group stepped back or dropped out. When you got Rex and Gary on there demanding that members pay money to be on the site, Rex demanding that people write and when they do, he says they take up too much space, Chuck insulting anyone that he feels he is in competition with or that doesn't like his sex comments(Lynne, Nathan & Tom)and then demanding that Nathan be kicked off even though he created the site, Gary kind of putting down the sensitivity of women towards Chucks reference to his Fuzzy pink female parts remark while getting all hot and bothered over one of the females he knew in the past, and Aaron turning it into his campaign site with Rex and Gary demanding contributions for it, it seems more like they were the ones trying to control everyone else. That's why I don't say anything because I'm not sure if I support Aaron this time and I don't like people demanding that I contribute money to someone I am not sure that I support. I don't like being told to write something especially after Rex told them off for what others wrote. I do like learning about a lot of stuff I didn't know was going on. There's only a couple people on there who are trying to get something done. Oh yeah, then there is Marge who seems a bit looney and who thinks Bill would be a great director and Bill who I know is nothing but a stupid, lazy bum living off the state and the tribe and pretending to be director material. Who's the control freak? It's not Nathan. Bill, Marge, Rex, Chuck and Gary kind of defeat what I thought was the purpose of the site. If it was more serious to building a better tribe without insulting others than I might have something to contribute.
Bill Who?
Actually I read several of Charles Forgrave's comments on another site and he made a lot of sense. It was Nathan who got all paranoid and controlling in response and then he started attacking Charles and accusing him of things that were ludicrous. Charles has some valid points and he is a knowledgeable man.
Guess you have to be part of the group to know the players, Bummer.
Whats the matter with asking who your talking about? slandering even. Since it isn't in the article, must Be on this STG thing.
Too bad your doing the same thing your blaming other people for. It's a real shame.
And , correct me , if I'm wrong, but being Annish is a little more than about blood quotas, isn't it? it's also mindset , or So I thought. It is really too bad you all can not co operate.
Do you realize that by giving all you attention and articles to Nathans little group (and yes 160 is little compared to the entire tribe) that you are essentially ending your blog site here and closing off an important information site to anyone who does not want to be a Nathan groupie or who is not a Sault Tribe member. This blog used to be an important source of information and meaningful discussion and it is tragic that it is being decimated by a little power monger.
I admit I have not been putting the time into Little Miss Sunshine but I have also had little time to spend on the Sault Tribe Guide....the job hunting process is very time consuming.
I know that LMS reaches a far greater audience so I will post some of the relevant info from the STG and vice versa to reach as many as possible.
Thanks so much for being a faithful reader.
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