An Unhostile Takeover

In January 2000, the Grass Roots Oyate, a Lakota Sioux activist organization, began its occupation of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Headquarters to protest what they see as massive corruption in tribal government. With the support of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the tribal president was suspended in May 2000, and inquiries were made into the management of tribal funds. The activists vow to remain in the Red Cloud Building, which they have renamed the Tetuwam Nation Embassy, until their demands for an end to corruption and ineffective policies have been met.
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Takeovers of Oklahoma Tribal Headquarters Continue.
By JoKay Dowell, Indian Country Today, Oneida, N.Y. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Jan. 7--OKLAHOMA CITY - Amid physical confrontations and court proceedings the tribal headquarters of two Oklahoma Indian communities remain occupied by opposing factions. In the pre-dawn hours of Dec. 19, five women entered the tribal headquarters of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma (KTO) through an unlocked door and barricaded themselves inside using furniture to block the entrances. The women, all enrolled members of the KTO, said their actions were necessary after tribal chairman Tony Salazar refused to leave office despite a Dec. 13 recall election ousting him. "The system failed us," said Glenda Deer. "We had to take matters into our own hands. We're fighting for our people who are afraid to speak. People have been threatened," Deer said...
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History Of Native American Tribal Conflict

WISCONSIN -- What happened in Lac Du Flambeau isn't the first tribal conflict we've seen in our area.An outreach specialist at the UWSP Native American Center says such "takeovers" are not common.. but they're not unusual either.We've seen them happen in Bowler.. Nekoosa and Mole Lake back in 1997.Andrew Gokee says tensions within tribal communities have been occurring for centuries.........
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Just a few years ago, similar actions were taken by members of the Mackinac Bands to remove the office from the corrupt chairman and his daughter who misappropriated hundreds of thousands in state and federal grants.
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When Sault Tribe members removed the former chairman, Bernard Bouschor, by a vote of the people, little did they know that they voted in those that would uphold the Bouschor way of greed and corruption. Members talked of a clean sweep during the 2006 election but Bouschorists outnumber voters in unit one and they successfully brought in another Bouschorist.

Now, in order to secure the tribe once again as their own, the Bouschorists have loaded the ballots with the assistance of a corrupt judicial system, corrupted the election with the active assistance of the election chair by removing non-Bouschorist voters from the registered voters lists and relocating unit boundaries to prevent voters from voting out their representatives who failed to represent anyone except themselves.

The Bouschorists are back and about to takeover by breaking the laws of the tribe, violating the constitution and by corrupting the election process and the entire judicial system. This is a hostile takeover.

The members of the tribe can stand up and stop it in its tracks by, literally, standing in the way.
Bring your own ballots since the election committee chair has corrupted the election. Conduct an honest election by appointing a new election committee chairman and appoint a committee to step in. If you were 'moved' from your unit to another against your will in order to prevent you from voting out the representative that failed to represent you in exchange for one that you hope will, change your ballot to the way it is supposed to read and work with others in your unit to deliver your ballots to the newly appointed election committee.

We have a choice to allow or disallow a corrupt election. Most members are law abiding citizens unaccustomed to having to take a strong stand against corruption. Would you sit back and allow communism to take over your government by assuming there is nothing you can do? The BIA has an obligation to work with tribes, hence the name "Bureau of Indian Affairs". Get involved by demanding BIA representation and assistance. This is an unhostile takeover.

Or.....you could turn your back on all those members who have not worked on behalf of the Bouschorists who will lose their jobs and benefits. You could look the other way, cover your eyes and ears and pretend this is not happening. Or....you could do the right thing, say no to corruption and participate in an unhostile takeover.