Describe Bouschorism

Bouschorists.....is this what you want for our people?

As reported in 2001......
DETROIT -- The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians has built a $250-million-a-year financial empire out of casino profits, but critics claim the money is being squandered by tribal leaders and not making it to the members who need it most.

The tribe's 29,000 members have no control over how the money is spent, are unable to hold their leaders accountable and see little in tribe-funded services, the Detroit News reported. Unlike other casino-rich tribes, the Sault Chippewa has no profit-sharing plan for members, and many of its services are federally subsidized.

Revenues from Detroit's Greektown Casino and five other Sault Chippewa casinos in the Upper Peninsula are controlled by a 13-member board, led by Chairman Bernard Bouschor. The powers granted the 52-year-old Bouschor as the head of a tribal government far exceed that of most elected officials. With no independent court, police, auditors or justice department within the tribe to answer to, he has amassed incredible economic and political clout.

Civil rights and legal recourses taken for granted by many Americans are often nonexistent on reservations, where tribal leaders control everything.Bouschor makes $100,000 a year as tribal chairman and CEO. He gets another $167,000 as the tribe's chief operating officer for casino operations.

**We found out later that he hid what he actually made....almost a million a year.

The chairman's benefits are in sharp contrast with those of the people he serves. For most tribal members, the personal benefits from the tribe's newfound wealth have been few. Fifteen years after the tribe opened its first casino, the majority of its members still qualify for some kind of federal assistance. There is no profit-sharing plan for distributing casino revenues to members, unlike the Saginaw Chippewas in Mount Pleasant whose adult members get $52,000 a year from their tribe.

"The people living on the reservation have nothing," said Verna Lawrence, a former board member ousted in 1977. "The government owns the land that their houses sit on. If you don't own the land, you don't own anything. The tribal leaders like to keep the Indian people poor or they wouldn't get federal funds."Sault leaders say they decided more than a decade ago to use casino revenues to build a diversified economy and pay for social services, not create a welfare state.

"Bouschor said the tribe's financial books are open to any tribal members who visited tribal offices."When individuals ask for information we provide as best we can," Bouschor said. "Obviously, it may not suit what they think is appropriate or enough.

"The tribe now employs close to 7,000 people, nearly 2,900 of them in the Upper Peninsula. It has built five health clinics, a two-hockey-rink recreation center, a state-of-art elementary school and several housing developments.The tribe also helps fund funerals, provides college scholarships and gives elders a $100-a-month stipend.

But by the tribe's own accounting, much of the money for the services comes from federal and state funds, not business or casino profits. After paying operating costs and debts for its businesses, only $30 million of the tribe's revenues actually go to run the government and provide services for members. By contrast, the tribe got $75 million from federal programs, state funding, land trust payments and other outside sources, Hatch confirmed.
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So where is the money Bouschor? You built nothing....federal money built it all.
** comment added by Lynne Weaver