The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1994-09-30

              Carley "Baby Doll" Jasken's defiance of
feds lands her in jail
/.G. HOTLINE 1-800-424-5081 or (612) 291-1334
By Gary Blair
The second person suspected of helping commit electionfraud in the White
Earth Resenation's June general election appeared last week before a federal grand jury in Minneapolis.
Reports say notary public Stella
Oppergard admitted that she certified
at least 30 absentee ballot request
forms for her nephew, Rick Clark, a
second term council member who ran
unopposed in the election. They say
she also testified that Clark then sent
those documents via U.S. mail.
PRESS sources at Mahnomen, Minnesota say resenation chairman Chip
Wadena told them about Oppergard's
testimony. "He told me they're going
to get Rick (Clark) for mail fraud,"
one source told the PRESS. "He also
told me, 'We have to get rid of (secretary/treasurer) Jerry Rawley, he's two-
faced."
The latest developments in the federal investigation at White Earth were
brought about by the election protest
filed by former council member Danny
Stevens, who was defeated by Rawley.
Of specific interest to the feds were
absentee ballots "signed" by resenation enrolles who were deceased.
Reports say Carley "Baby Doll"
Jaskens, the first person subpoenaed for the grand jury, refused to
tell federal prosecutors anything on
September 20, citing her rights under the fifth amendment ofthe U.S.
Constitution and as a member of a
sovereign Indian nation.
Other reports say on Friday of last
week, Darb McArthur, White Earth
resenation executive director, informed Chip Wadena that. Baby Doll
was shredding papers in the
resenation's headquarters located at
Mahnomen.
Wadena told him to call the FBI
who then called the Mahnomen
County Sheriffs Department who went
to the office to stop her. The FBI
arrived later and took the documents
that had been shredded, along with
the ones that were saved. The agents
also took the shredder as part of the
evidence. Baby Doll was arraigned on
Wednesday in Bemidji for Obstruc-
Jail cont'd on pg 3
Jasken's defiance of feds lands her in jail/ pg 1
:inn admits using LL tribal insurance funds/ pg 1
rext of criminal complaint filed against Jasken/ pg 3
tecker Co. halts use of road trans. WELRP/ pg 5
Voice of the Anishinabeg (The People)
i
Finn admits using  Leech Lake tribal
insurance funds for personal purposes
By Bill Lawrence
In a KSTP - TV, Channel 5 Eyewitness News report aired last Monday
night, Senator Harold "Skip" Finn of
Cass Lake admitted using hundreds
of thousands of dollars of insurance
funds that he managed for the Leech
Lake band, for personal purposes.
Finn described the amounts he used
from the insurance fund to purchase
land, automobiles, and a house as
loans, but questions concerning the
terms and conditions ofthe loans and
who for the tribe approved the loans
need to be answered.
In addition, Finn claims that he paid
the loans off with interest, but where
did he get the money to pay them off
and where is the documentation supporting all these transactions? Ac
cording to the Channel 5 news report
the insurance is now depleted and
hundreds of thousands of dollars are
still unaccounted for. Contrary to
Finn's claim, "there was no financial
loss to anyone or any entity," which
was included in his apology and explanation that he submitted to the Bemidji area media late last month,
Funds cont'd on pg 6'.
The
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Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded   in 1388    Volume G    Issue 14    September 3Q, 1994
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe News, 1994
Red Lake election suits delayed
By Sharon L. White
The Red Lake election lawsuit is
"still pending, still in litigation" according to Red Lake's Chief Judge
Wanda Lyons.
On September 15, the Red Lake
Tribal Council (RLTC) filed a notice
of appeal with the Red Lake Nation
Court of the two pending election
suits. The RLTC appeal challenged
the decision of Red Lake Special
Judge Eugene DeLorme's interim order that took jurisdiction of the suits.
When Judge Lyons was asked if the
Red Lake Tribal Council has filed an
appeal requesting an extension of
time, Judge Lyons responded, "No extension was asked."
In addition, she confirmed that
there has been a change in judges,
because one of the appeal judges had
a conflict of interest.
Chief Judge Wanda Lyons stated
that she was working on finding a new
judge, but could not produce a name
at the time ofthe telephone interview.
Special Judge Eugene DeLorme was
not notified by the Red Lake Nation
Court or aware of any actions that released him of any judicial duties.
It is also worthy to note that the two
complimentary lawsuits filed by
newspaper publisher Bill Lawrence,
have also been delayed pending the
outcome ofthe council's appeal.
Suspect charged in White Earth probe
By Chris Ison and Pat Doyle
Staff writers, Minneapolis Star
Federal authorities charged their
first suspect Wednesday in a wide-
ranging investigation into corruption
at the White Earth Indian Resenation
near Mahnomen, Minn. They appear
to be concentrating on election officials and several tribal government
members who have been in power
there for years.
Agents suspect election fraud, misuse of federal money and construction
fraud involving the Shooting Star Casino, according to documents and investigators' interviews with tribal
members.
They appear to be focusing on several tribal council members, including Darrell (Chip) Wadena, who has
been tribal chairman for 18 years.
They're looking into council members' salaries, alleged to be in the
range of $150,000 to $200,000, and
casino building contracts that went to
council members, paying them thousands more. Also at issue are "comps"
— free meals, rooms and other perks
that council members allegedly authorized for themselves and others at
the casino.
More than $60,000 in comps was
authorized by council members in the
first seven months of-this year, according to documents allegedly handed
over to investigators and obtained by
the Star Tribune.
Although federal authorities historically have given tribal governments much room to police themselves, the breadth of the investigation, which involves grand jury testimony and many subpoenas, indicates
that the millions of dollars being pro-
More word from White Earth
By Gary Blair
According to a source at Mahnomen,
all but one ofthe White Earth council
members will be indicted within days.
They say the council member that is
expected to be excluded is Tony
Wadena, the son of resenation chairman Chip Wadena.
The source also told the PRESS he
recently mentioned the corruption on
the resenation to a local snowmobile
dealer who responded, "What corruption? I don't see any corruption. Chip
Wadena just bought a $ 10,000 snowmobile from me."
Two years ago Chip Wadena told a
reporter from the Duluth News Tribune that anyone on the resenation
who didn't support him could "suck
eggs." It is now apparent that if the
federal government has their way Chip
Wadena will be the one "sucking eggs,"
and for a long time.
The following are just some of the
reports that the PRESS has received
since the government's shake-up began at White Earth:
* The city fathers of Mahnomen plan
to provide thousands of dollars of the
small town's revenue to help build an
industrial park for a pasta plant that
Chip Wadena and his Italian casino
manager say they want to build.
* Since the PRESS carried a schedule
ofthe White Earth resenation's tribal
council compensation withdrawals
from the Shooting Star Casino's internal trade, Chip Wadena has supended
those pay outs.
* Jerry Rawley, the resenation's secretary/treasurer, has been receiving
consulting fees from Chip Wadena
and council member Rick Clark's dry
wallbusiness. It's reported that they've
been paying Rawley $ 15,000 a month.
That's quite a sum for someone who
has never worked in that occupation.
* Chip Wadena has been trying to
raise $50,000 to hire Forrest Gerard,
a government hack and crony, to write
his biography.
* They say Chip was trying to skim the
room rates at the casino's hotel to pay
for his ghost writer. The plan was to
raise the room rents from $37.00 to
$42.00 per room, taking the top five
dollars off while having the accounting records reflect the $37.00 rate.
* Angelo Mendura, whose company
manages the casino and apparently
the resenation, put a stop to Chip's
grandiose plans.
duced by casinos such as Shooting
Star have raised the stakes.
Election fraud and other corruption
have been alleged at White Earth for
years. But the arrest of Carley Jasken .
chainvoman of the resenation's General Election Board, was the first official action since authorities began
questioning resenation members
months ago. And it is just one of the
many federal investigations that have
emerged at the resenations and in
executive offices of gaming companies in the past year.
U.S. Attorney David Lillehaug
wouldn't comment on the investigation, but he acknowledged that federal
authorities have assumed a higher
profile on resenations since gambling
has expanded.
"We have great respect for tribal
Probe cont'd on pg 3
* The matter of former council member Steven McArthur's conviction for
misuse of resen'ation funds is once
again being talked about since the
election fraud allegations. It seems a
certain individual at the Mahnomen
bank was aware that another council
member was allowed to pay back resen'ation travel funds that they had
misused while McArthur was never
given that option.
McArthur, they say, felt he was setup for the conviction after he returned
from a trip to New Jersey with Chip
Wadena because he told people they
had met some "questionable" people
who offered Wadena $5,000,000 to
help build a casino. They say McArthur
also told Wadena after that meeting
that he didn't think they should get
involved with those people and shortly
thereafter he was charged with misusing funds.
* Danny Stevens has been telling
people for sometime now that he is
going to be a star witness against the
resenation's council. However, they
also Stevens has aligned himself secretly with Wadena who has been
trying to discredit council members
Rawley, Clark and Paul "Poncho" Williams.
Carley Jasken (above) appeared before U.S
Magistrate Judge Randy Berg in Bemidji.
State Senator Harold Finn (right) was
interviewed on KSTP-TV concerning his
misapplication of insurance funds.
Arraignment of Carley Jasken before
U.S. Magistrate
Ms. Carley Jasken, age 64,
chairwomen of the White Earth
Resenation Election Board, was
arraigned before U.S. Magistrate
Randy Berg of Bemidji, Mn on
September 28,1994. Judge Berg read
the charges of obstruction of justice
for shredding election documents
against Ms. Jasken and explained her
rights to her. She indicated that she
would be represented by an attorney
by the name of Martinez of
Minneapolis, Mn and said that she
understood her rights.
Judge Berg told Ms. Jasken that if
she was found guilt of the charge of
the Obstructions of Justice she could
receive the punishment of 5 years
imprisonment and a fine of up to
$250,00 orboth. Judge Berg told Ms.
Jasken that he would release her on
her own recognizance subject to the
following six (6) conditions.
1. Not commit any further offences
during the time of her release.
2. Notify' the court of any change of
address or phone number.
3. Promise to appear at any further
proceeding or for apprehension.
4. Sign an insurance appearance bond
in the amount of $20,000.
5. Contact U.S. pre-trial senices in
Minneapolis.
6. Avoid all contact with Ms. Terri
Darco, a White Earth RTC secretary,
during the duration of this case.
Ms. Jasken's agreed to the six
conditions and was released. Next
appearance for Ms. Jasken was set by
Judge Berg for Tuesday, October 4th
at 10:30 a.m. in room 628B, at the
U.S. courthouse in St. Paul, before
U.S. Judge Jonathan Leventhal.
According to Press source in
Mahnomen, Mn. Ms. Jasken's was
arrestedby agentsofthefederaltaskforce
on Tuesday evening on the 27th of
September while she was playing bingo
at the Shooting Star Casino. She was
then taken to the Beltrami County jail
in Bemidji, Mn. where she spent the
night. Her arraignment took place
about 11:00 am in the Beltrami County
Courthouse.
St. Croix Chippewa gambling pays members
$12,000 each
TURTLE LAKE, Wis. (AP) _ The
St. Croix Casino may just be a place
to drop some quarters and flip some
cards for visitors, but it has created a
profound change for its Indian owners,
tribal leaders say.
The 2-year-old casino provides jobs,
better health care, a chance for
education and $12,000 payments to
each ofthe St. Croix Chippewa's 680
members, they say.
The St. Croix was once one of the
poorest bands in Wisconsin and had
few members and little clout, former
tribal chairman Don Saros said.
"These people are poor _ they never
had nothing," Saros said. "They were
looked on by white people as dirty
Indians, because they didn't have the
money to buy nice clothes."
The band is no longer poor, but
tribal casinos aren't obligated to reveal
how much they make. About 1,200
people are employed at the Turtle
Lake casino and the smaller Hole in
the Wall casino in Danbury.
With success has come growing
pains, especially internal feuding over
how to spend the profits and manage
the casinos.
"There's a lot of money, but outside
ofthe per capita to people and money
donations, we haven't seen any
enterprises," said Ken Mosay, 50, a
former tribal council member and
frequent critic of the current tribal
leadership.
Most Wisconsin bands received
resenations in 19th century treaties,
but the St. Croix Chippewa band had
no land until the U.S. government
gave it some in the 1930s. The
resenation consists of 10 scattered,
wooded parcels throughout Polk,
Burnett and Barron counties.
In 1984, the band converted a Turtle
Lake dance hall and supper club into
a bingo hall. As federal court cases
and legislation expanded Indian
gambling, the bingo hall added casino-
type games.
In 1992, the bingo hall was paved
over and a new 65,000-square-foot
casino was constructed. The band also
runs a 158-room hotel in Turtle Lake,
two casino restaurants and four
smaller bingo operations.
About half the tribe's profits go to
members and the rest funds a variety
of projects, including a clinic, street
repairs, housing and business
construction, tribal officials said.
The per capita payment of $ 12,000
a year doesn't compare with the
$500,000 yearly members of the
Mdewakanton Dakota Community in
Shakopee, Minn., receive, but it's
still higher than any other band in
western Wisconsin, officials said.
Tribal member Phyllis Lowe, 52,
Pay cont'd on pg 3
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