The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1991-07-12

              White Earth member alleges vote-rigging in 1990 election
By Julie Gravelle
A former White Earth Reservation
employee said she and other
reservation members forged election
ballots that handed a September
1990 election victory to
Secretary-Treasurer Jerry Rawley.
Sue Bellefeuille, a White Earth
Chippewa band member and the
reservation's former bingo manager,
said she signed reservation voters'
names and addresses on 135
absentee election ballots that helped
Rawley win a runoff election against
Eugene McArthur, a critic of tribal
Chairman Darrell "Chip" Wadena.
Another 400 ballots were forged by
others, she said.
Rawley, a Wadena ally on the
reservation's governing council,
won the Sept. 11 runoff election
against McArthur by 349 votes.
Without the 535 allegedly forged
ballots, McArthur would have won
by 186 votes.
McArthur defeated Rawley in the
June 12, 1990, tribal election by 12
votes, but tribal court Judge Dick
Tanner ordered a new election.
Because nearly 90 ballots had been
thrown out by election officials, who
said they appeared to be fraudulent,
Tanner said the race had become
close enough to require a runoff.
Records signed by the
reservation's general election board
on Sept. 12 certify that Rawley
received 856 absentee votes in the
runoff election and McArthur
received 325. The ballots were
destroyed after the election.
Bellefeuille, a longtime friend and
supporter of Wadena, said she was
approached by election board
chairwoman Carley Jaskin in August
to help rig Rawley's election. Jaskin,
who has served on the election board
since 1986, is appointed by the tribal
council. The tribal council is
controlled by Wadena and his
supporters.
"Carley came to me at the end of
August and asked me to get absentee
ballots for Rawley's runoff, but said
I don't have time to send out ballot
requests," Bellefeuille said. "I didn't
go in and say, 'Do you want me to
make out some crooked ballots.' I
didn't know they did it like that."
Bellefeuille said she asked Jaskin
to see the tribal enrollment book to
help her to forge names and
addresses of family members.
"Later, Jerry Rawley brought the
book to the bingo hall in a box. He
said, 'I hear you need a book.' He
gives me this big enrollment book,
and he's not supposed to have it
"After Rawley gave me the book,
Carley Jaskin gave me 35 ballots. I
took them home. I told her I'd found
a lot more people. She gave me
another 100 ballots. She said, 'Make
up Minneapolis addresses. We don't
check them anyway.' She said she
had made up a few herself. A couple
girls came to my house and filled
Fisheries board elections—July 20th
The "re-election" of the Red
Lake Fisheries board of directors
is set for Saturday, July 20, 1991,
from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The new
election is a result of recent,
unpopular decision-making by the
three member majority on the
board - Phillip Johns, Rudy
Johnson, and Ron Beaulieu.
Candidates on the ballot will be
the same as on die March annual
meeting ballot. According to Red
Lake historians, this is the first
time in the Fisheries 62-year
history that board members have
been slated for removal due to
inadequate leadership.
The controversy began with the
failure of the Fisheries board to
rehire Dan King as manager after a
record season. After Dan King quit
on June 5 because of a reduction in
his contract, a grass roots
campaign began to get him back.
When it appeared that the three
member majority did not want him
back and offered no reasons for
letting him go, a large number of
Red Lake fishermen asked for the
removal of the three board
members.
A petition was circulated among
fishermen demanding the rehiring
of King and the removal of the
three board members in question.
Then a special board meeting was
called on June 22 by the over 140
petitioners to discuss the rehiring
of King and the removal of Johns,
Johnson, and Beaulieu. The special
meeting was discounted by the
three board members who stated
that the petitioners did not follow
proper procedures. They refused to
cooperate, and this forced the
special meeting to be held
outdoors because of no access to
the fisheries building. According
to many fishermen, by refusing to
show up and defend their
decisions, they displayed a blatant
disregard for the fishermen who
voted them onto the fisheries board.
Fishermen finally caught up with
the three board members at their
regularly scheduled board meeting
on June 27. It was only then that
the majority of the board agreed
to put their names up for a vote by
the people. At this point, they
could no longer play down the
widespread dissatisfaction among
fishermen.
It appears that, once again. Red
Lake fishermen have come to a
fork in the road. If the majority of
the board remains in power, the
Tribal Concil will have a strong
influence on all fisheries matters.
This is an obvious conclusion
based on the support the three
board members have received
from the Tribal Council and Tribal
Courts. However, if a new board is
elected, it looks as though the
independence of the fisheries will
be secure for the immediate future.
One fisherman, who requested
anonymity, said, "It was dumb to
get rid of Dan King, everybody
knows that. But those three guys
(Johns, Johnson and Beaulieu)
acted really bad towards us
fishermen. They avoided us, told
us our petition was no good, and
even called us welfare bums! They
showed they don't respect us, so
I'm not voting for them."
Another fisherman was even
more vocal in stating, "I heard that
Preston Graves dropped out of the
race so that he could take over as
manager if Johns, Johnson and
Beaulieu are re-elected. Could you
imagine our fisheries with Preston
Graves as manager?" The Ojibwe
News confirmed that Preston
Graves withdrew his name from
the ballot for the upcoming
election.
Indians build on
gambling money
Bloomington, Minn. - As leaders
of the American Indian gambling
industry wrapped up their
convention here Wednesday, you
didn't have to look far for examples
of how crucial gambling has become
to tribal development.
Gambling has enabled the Shakopee
Sioux to go from a $250,000-per-year
federally funded budget to a $50
million-per-year tribally funded
budget, said Leonard Prescott,
president of the National Indian
Gaming Association and chairman of
the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux
reservation near here.
The gambling enterprise of the
Wisconsin Winnebago, meanwhile,
has paid for a tribal silk-screen
business, a meat processing plant, a
pharmaceutical company, and
health, education, elderly and
housing programs. Soon, the new
businesses will have their own
off-shoots: a domestic deer herd and
an intertribal venison-salmon trade
agreement with the Quinault Tribe
of Washington state.
"It's been a long road, but we've
made good advances in the last year,"
said tribal councilor Greg Little John
as he relaxed between sessions at the
Gaming Association's convention.
Prescott said the tribal gambling
option is about the only money-
making tool tribes have. Tribes have
been subjected to a "history of
atrocities" that left them pauperized.
Now Prescott's tribe offers to help
others develop or expand gambling
operations, supplying machines at low
cost so tribes can keep control of their
own gaming and not have to deal with
an urgent flock of outside investors -
who are hungry to "pick us off," as
one Apache official here put it
"Control is the key," said
Winnebago councilor Parmenton
Decorah. "You need a strong tribal
council, members who are adamant
on maintaining freedom from mob
influence - and they have to live in a
glass house," under the scrutiny of
tribal constituents who will make
sure the councilors remain honest.
"Like any politician, you have to
keep your constituents informed,"
Decorah said. "You have to make
sure you use your gaming money in
a way that's best for the tribe."
But much of the worry about mob
influence is a scare tactic so the federal
and state governments can control tribal
gambling, said Donovan Archambault
chairman of the Fort Belknap
Assiniboin-Gros Ventres of Montana.
"Hell, they can't control drugs or
crime - they can't protect themselves
from the mob," he said. "So they
can't fool me they're going to protect
us. We don't need someone looking
over our shoulder all the time."
But a 1988 law requires mat the state
look over tribal shoulders in gambling
matters. States and tribes are required
to make gambling compacts
governing Las Vegas-style gambling.
If there are no compacts, tribal
gambling can be stopped or inhibited.
Tribes in Minnesota have 22 of the
nation's 32 compacts.
"Our relationship with the state of
Minnesota, I'm happy to say, is
(excellent)," said Myron Ellis,
president of the Minnesota Indian
Gaming Association and councilor
for the Leech Lake Chippewa band.
Not so in Wisconsin, where the
state has refused to make the
compacts and U.S. District Judge
Barbara Crabb has given the state an
Aug. 17 deadline. In a June 20 letter.
Gov. Tommy Thompson urged
legislators to outlaw gambling
before then. He said state voters
"inadvertantly" authorized tribal
casino gambling when they
approved a state lottery in 1987.
[Reprinted with permission from the
Duluth News-Tribune.]
out ballots."
When Bellefeuille returned the
forged ballots to Jaskin, Bellefeuille
said Jaskin told her, '"With these
135 and the 400 I gave Jerry, this
should do it' and he (Rawley) won
by 500-some absentee ballots."
Jaskin refused to comment on the
allegation that the election was
rigged.
"I have no comment whatsoever
on Sue Bellefeuille. As far as I'm
concerned, the election is over. It's
in the past," she said, and hung up
the phone.
Jaskin tried to resign after
February's election, but Wadena
persuaded her to oversee his
re-election in June 1992 before she
can quit, Bellefeuille said.
Although contenders for tribal
offices have said for years that
White Earth elections are rigged by
incumbents and have called for
election monitors and investigations,
Bellefeuille is the first tribal member
to provide evidence of fraud.
White Earth councilor Dan
Stevens, a Wadena critic, protested
the runoff election in a Sept. 15
letter to Bureau of Indian Affairs
area director Earl Barlow, saying it
was "fradulent, tampered with, and
rigged." Stevens stated that
McArthur had actually received 650
absentee votes that were "switched"
by Rawley and Jaskin.
Stevens requested that the voting
records for the June and September
election be impounded and that the
FBI investigate.
"We wanted to have an honest and
fair election," he said. "If I didn't do
this, it makes it look like
something's wrong (with me). My
constituents asked me to do
something."
Rawley denied Bellefeuille's and
Stevens' accusations that he helped
rig his election, saying neither
Bellefeuille nor himself have access
to enrollment books. He said
Bellefeuille's accusations stemmed
from her unhappiness at her
brother's removal from the tribal
council after being convicted of
misusing travel funds.
"Sue is disgruntled," he said. "I
wonder what sort of integrity a
person has to even admit to trying
something like that."
He  added that a federal
investigation hasn't turned up
evidence to support her charges.
U.S. Department of the Interior
investigator James Hanbury of
Rapid City, S.D., confirmed that he
had completed an investigation at
White Earth and had turned his
findings over to U.S. Attorney
Jerome Arnold about three months
ago. Although Bellefeuille said she
discussed the election with Hanbury,
he won't say whether her allegations
were part of his report.
Arnold confirmed that he had
Hanbury's report, but he said he
hadn't taken any action and couldn't
discuss the case.
Although results from every White
Earth tribal elcetion in the past
decade have been protested amid
Vote-rigging/see page 8
"V«oaBESafe.
Fifty Cents
July 17,1991
I
Copyright, the Ojibwe News, 1991
A Bi-Monthly Publication
Bemidji, Minnesota 56601
David
of the
David Beaulieu, who was
instrumental in passing the Tribal
School Equalization Bill in Minnesota,
has been named acting commissioner
of the state Human Rights Department
by Gov. Ame Carlson. Carlson made
the appointment Tuesday, July 9,
and it became effective July 11.
Beaulieu will replace Frank
Gallegos, who is returning to work
at Honeywell, Inc.
A long time Indian activist,
Beaulieu has worked on human
rights issues in many capacities.
While serving as director of Indian
Education Programs at the
Minnesota Department of Education,
he worked toward the passage of the
Indian Education Act of 1988.
named acting commissioner
Human Rights Department
According to Mara Dehn-Altstatt,
School Grants coordinator at the
Indian Education Office, Beaulieu
also helped to broaden the act.
"Under Beaulieu's efforts the act
now requires the involvement of
parents at the school district level in
the form of parent advisory
committees, or PACs," which
Dehn-Altstatt said "is going to prove
to be one of the greatest assets to the
Indian students." Dehn-Altstatt has
worked with Beaulieu since he came
to the department and says his staff
thinks very highly of him because he
is a "team player" and a "leader."
She said Beaulieu has done "a lot for
Indian education as director of
programs."
"When he came to Indian
Education, he looked at it not for
what is was but what it could be."
She said that Beaulieu helped to
strengthen the inter-government
relations between state and tribal
governments and that he "was a
strong push" for the Tribal School
Equalization Bill. The bill allows for
state funds going to tribal contract
schools to reach a point where their
per-pupil expenditure equals that of
their public-school counterparts.
Beaulieu has taken a one-year leave
of absence from his post at the
Department of Education, according
to Dehn-Altstatt, and she said that
staff at Indian Education are hoping
he "finds his way back to us."
Though Beaulieu is well-respected
by some, others are skeptical. At least
some residents of the Red Lake Band
of Chippewa Indians are displeased
with his handling of the recent
financial crises at the Red Lake
School District #38 while he was
Indian Education Program director
for the state.
In addition to working at the
Department of Education, Beaulieu
was appointed (by former Gov.
Rudy Perpich in 1989) to serve on
the state's Library and Information
Services Planning Committee. Gov.
Carlson calls Beaulieu a very
"capable manager who will do an
excellent job for the department of
Human Rights."
Gaming head's speech angers Indian leaders
By Susan Stanich
Bloomington, Minn. - The
arcrimony that surrounded a
controversial 1988 gambling law
resurfaced here Tuesday, as the
National Indian Gaming Commission
chairman addressed tribal leaders
about their obligations under the law.
Although maintaining a jovial
manner, Anthony Hope, the
presidential appointee to the
commission that oversees tribal
gambling, was no-nonsense in his
remarks.
He told about 300 participants at the
National Indian Gaming Association
convention that the law clearly
allowed his commission to take a
percentage of their tribes' gross
casino earnings; that tribes can
regulate bingo themselves only if his
commission has three years' proof of
irreproachably honest operation; and
that tribes should sink their casino
revenues into education and
economic development, because
gambling goes in cycles and might
bottom out
About 150 tribes run gambling
enterprises that netted an estimated
$700 million this year and could top
$1 billion next year. Although
Hope's speech drew few comments
from the floor, some tribal officials
afterward expressed anger at what
they called his patronizing manner.
"It was a good soft shoe," said
Donovan Archambault, chairman of
the Fort Belknap Assiniboin-Gros
Ventre Reservation in Montana. "If
he ever comes to Crow Fair
(powwow), he could probably win
the men's fancy dance."
"Of course gambling goes in
cycles," scoffed Oneida Nation
attorney Jerry Hill. "What doesn't?
The stock market goes up and down
too, but do investors stop investing?"
Hill said tribes don't need Hope's
advice on  how to run their
businesses and use their revenues.
The three-day convention included
workshops on running secure games,
marketing and litigation. Officials of
tribes from Oklahoma to Connecticut
moved through a boatshow atmosphere.
Vendors peddled beeping video gaming
machines, off-track betting options,
casino layout plans and hors d'oeuvres
supplies. Hope was accompanied by
fellow commissioners Jana McKeag
and Joel Frank.
Although the commission has not
begun to meet formally, it has begun
issuing regulations. The first batch,
those governing the $1.5 million to be
assessed tribes to pay for commission
activities, also prompted bitter
comments. Tribal leaders argued mat
the federal government has no
constitutional right to impose a tax on
tribes.
A lawsuit challenging the
constitutionality of the Indian
Gaming Regulatory Act, which
established both the commission and
the fee, failed last year in U.S.
appellate court.
"A long time ago Indians owned
everything," Archambault said.
"Then the white man came, and
pretty soon we don't own anything.
And this gaming is going to be the
same way. They're going to take our
money to run this commission,
which is their own organization, and
use it to regulate our operations so
much they won't be ours anymore."
Hope said the commission has
received complaints that it has no
right to impose the fee. "But the law
is clear, and (the regulations) we put
out are clear.
[Reprinted with permission from the
Duluth News-Tribune.]
States must negotiate gaming contracts
Bloomington, Minn. (AP) - U.S.
Sen. Daniel Inouye told
representatives from about 60 Indian
tribes that they can't ignore state
governments when they set up
casinos.
Cooperation between state and
tribal governments "will allow you
to shape a better and brighter
economic future for your citizens
and their citizens," the Hawaii
Democrat said Monday to open the
first National Indian Gaming
Association Convention and Trade
Show.
"That is the essence of
sovereignty, to have one government
negotiate with another government,"
Inouye said.
About 500 representatives from
tribes around the country are
attending the three-day convention
to examine a burgeoning industry its
supporters say has replaced the
buffalo as a means of survival for
Indians.
Some tribes want to open casinos
without working out with states
agreements on which forms of
gambling will be allowed. Officials
in some states have objected to some
forms of gambling, such as
blackjack, keno and video games.
In Minnesota, agreements between
the state and the tribes allow
blackjack and some video games.
Inouye, chairman of the Senate
Select Committee on Indian Affairs,
said the 1988 Indian Gaming Act
requires tribal governments to
negotiate agreements with state
governments.
He said the nation's founding
fathers recognized the sovereignty of
tribal governments when drafting the
Constitution.   The   federal
government, state government,
foreign governments and tribal
governments are all mentioned in
the Constitution, according to
Inouye.
"This gathering is premised upon
the solemn nature of Indian
governments," Inouye said.
Inouye noted that many tribes are
in the process of negotiating gaming
compacts with state governments.
Both sides must realize that
negotiating is a "two-way street,"
Inouye said. "Negotiations must be
done in good faith."
He added: "Sit down and work
things out together."
Inouye also urged tribal
governments to be diligent in
ensuring criminal elements do not
take over gaming operations.
"It is everyone's interest to have
clean and honest games," he said.
"The worst thing that can happen to
you is to have thugs take over your
operation. It will not only hurt you,
it will hurt all your brothers and
sisters."
Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn.,
who introduced Inouye, urged tribal
governments that conduct profitable
gaming operations to develop a
community investment strategy.   .
"In many ways gaming has been a
critically important economic
development tool in our state,"
Wellstone said.
Leonard Prescott, chairman of the
Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux
Community in nearby Shakopee, is
chairman of the National Indian
Gaming Association.
Convention goers are scheduled to
tour his tribe's Little 6 Bingo and
Casino, one of the largest Indian
gaming operations in the nation.
Claim to land on Rainy River must be ruled on again
U.S. District Judge Harry
MacLaughlin must once again
decide whether or not the Red Lake
Band of Chippewa Indians have a
right to tide for 59.25 acres of land
bordering the Rainy River.
Attorney for the Band, Marvin J.
Sonosky, of Chambers, Sonosky &
Sachse of Washington, D.C, who
is associated with Edwards,
Edwards & Bodin of Duluth,
Minn., motioned on June 12 that
the court reconsider the case, in
which the Band claims right to tide
of Government Lots 3 and 4. The
court ruled against the Band June 3.
Since that time, defendants*
attorneys have answered the motion
to reconsider and the U.S.
Government, on Friday, June 28,
filed a second Amicus Brief (Friend
of Court Brief) recommending to the
court that "this untimely amendment
should not be permitted."
According to the brief, signed by
Pamela S. West, Trial Attorney, U.S.
Department of Justice, the
"Plaintiff's Motion poses a direct
attack on the interest of the United
States. It challenges the plenary
power of Congress to regulate
Indian affairs and the condemnation
authority of the United states to
acquire flowage easements "
The brief also states, "by amending
the Nelson Act. .., under 1938 Act,
Congress, in its plenary power,
permitted the Secretary to acquire
flowage easements and to extinguish
Indian tide to ceded lands still owned
by the United States which were
location in the same location specified
in the 1928 Act"
Thus, Plaintiffs motion challenges
"legal reality" and "seeks to
circumscribe the condemnation
authority of the United States to
extend only to so much of (the
subject proerty as lies below
elevation 1064)."
The band filed a brief in response
July 2, and the state of Minnesota,
a defendant in the case, filed a
motion for dismissal July 12.
Judge MacLaughlin is expected to
rule on the case within the next
several weeks.
Should the court reverse its
earlier judgement and rule in favor
of the Band, the city of Baudette,
state of Minnesota, Minnkota
Power Co. and several other
defendants would be required to
pay a fee or rental value to the
Band for their us:: of the land. The
amount of money owed to the
Band could add up to hundreds of
thousands of dollars.