Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1996-07-19

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Minneapolis Indian program directors
object to restrictions on Phillips funds
By Gary Blair
The American Indian component
of the Phillips Neighborhood
Revitalization Plan (INRP) is
drawing criticism from nearly all of
the community's Indian program
directors, except for the American
Indian Opportunities and Industrial
Center (AIOIC) organization.
The nearly $200 million in
revitalization funds appropriated by
the Minnesota Legislature to assist
Minneapolis' poorer neighborhoods
are similar to those of the "Pilot City"
days. Only this time the lawmakers
are demanding more accountability of
potential grantees, and our so-called
Indian leaders are complaining about
the increased restrictions. The INRP
purposed budget, as revised July 2,
1995, calls for $3,688,019. Those
funds are to be matched by each
grantee from other sources.
After more than 25 years oflndian
programs in Minneapolis that were
supposed to help Indian people,
"according to their promoters." Page
two of the INRP introduction reads
in part as follows, "Several recent
studies indicate that today's housing
situation for Indians in the Phillips
Neighborhood is worse than
Minnesota reservations and other
areas of the city. Poor health and the
highest citywide infant morality rate
combine with large numbers living
below the poverty level in a
neighborhood with the highest
population density to keep Indian
people in the Phillips Neighborhood
at the bottom of the socioeconomic
scale.
"It is fair to say that the condition
of American Indians has served to
attract countless government and
private dollars to Phillips. Each time
a new federal or local policy was
developed for relieving the pains of
poverty, the quality of life for Indians
did not improve. Many Indian
families have lived in the Phillips
Neighborhood for three or more
generations and deserve direct
involvement in the planning and
development of the neighborhood.
Indians can no longer be treated as
an 'add on.' or used for their poor
socioeconomic characteristics to
become incidental to neighborhood
planning."
These are the words of Indian
program directors who in the last ten
Funds cont'd on 3
Fond du Lac RBC defies constitution to
block referendum vote
By Jeff Armstrong
In a move which could have
repercussions throughout the six-
reservation Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe, Fond du Lac's Reservation
Business Committee last week refused
to recognize a petition to compel a
reservation vote on the RBCs planned
construction of a $9-15 million
administration building.
Submitted July 3 and signed by 269
resident eligible voters, the petition
would require that any RBC
expenditure of $400,000 or more first
be approved by a referendum vote of
Fond du Lac members. While not
disputing the fact that the number of
signatures exceeds the constitutional
requirement of "20% of resident voters
of the reservation," the RBC denied
the petition, which it claimed "would
bring all activity on the Fond du Lac
Reservation...to a standstill."
The RBC said such a move toward
democratization could jeopardize
annual per-capita payments, a
statement which opponents called a
thinly-veiled threat.
Defending their action in a July 11
letter to reservation members, the five
RBC members wrote, "It is not a
reasonable understanding of the
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
Constitution that Article XIV would
enable 269 out of over 3500 members
of the Fond du Lac Band to stop the
Band from operating."
But Fond du Lac member Kelly
Smith, who singlehandedly obtained
the petition signatures, said the RBC
is flouting the constitution in order to
barpopularparticipation in allocating
the reservation's wealth. "The more
money that comes in, the more they
want to keep it closed so we don't have
any say in how it's spent," said the 29-
year-old Smith.
Vote cont'd on 3
Dakota arraigned on charges of conspiracy
and tax fraud
MARQUETTE, Mich. (AP) _ The
chairman of the Keweenaw Bay Indian
Community pleaded innocent to all
charges in a 54-count federal
indictmentaccusing him of conspiracy
and tax fraud.
"It's been a difficult year for me,"
Fred Dakota told WLUC-TV in an
interview Thursday, when he was
arraigned in LT.S. District Court in
Marquette. "All I can say is I'm very
glad that I'm able to go into court and
prove that I am innocent and not be
tried by this media."
Jerrold L. Polinsky, 65, of Atlantic
City, N.J., was arraigned with Dakota
and also pleaded innocent to all
charges. Each was released on
$150,000 personal recognizance
bond. Trial was scheduled for Oct.
28.
The indictment accuses Polinsky of
paying Dakota for agreeing to lease
video gaming machines for the tribe's
Ojibwa Casino in Baraga from
International Gaming Management,
a Minnesota corporation.
Dakota accepted more than
$125,000 inpayments fromMay 1991
through December 1993, "intending
to personally benefit and enrich
himself through the receipt of
kickbacks," according to the
indictment.
Dakota and Polinsky each are
charged with one count of conspiracy
and 25 counts of proscribing thefts or
bribery concerning programs
receiving federal funds.
Dakota, 59, of Baraga also is
charged with three counts of filing
false federal income tax returns.
If convicted on all counts, Dakota
faces up to 264 years in prison and
$6.8 million in fines. Polinsky faces
up to 255 years in prison and $6.5
million in fines.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Judd Spray
told WLUC that the government is
confident of its case.
Dakota's attorney. Mark Stevens*
said defending his client has been
difficult because of adissident group's
11-month occupation of tribal
headquarters in Baraga. Tribal
officials have set up offices in the
Ojibwa Casino, several miles away.
Stevens said documents pertinent
to his client's defense are in the
building occupied by members of
Fight for Justice.
Dakota cont'd on 5
Blocked casino plan shows lobbies,
politics in action
By Greg Gordon  and Dennis
Cassano
Minneapolis Star Tribune Staff Writers
WASHINGTON D.C. -
Minneapolis lobbyist Patrick
O'Connor, a former treasurer of the
Democratic National Committee
(DNC), put his Washington
connections to ful 1 use last year while
seeking to block three small Indian
tribes from opening a casino in
Hudson, Wis.
In a letter to the White House,
O'Connor boasted that he had chatted
privately with President Clinton days
earlier, and that the current DNC
chair was assisting him. He noted
that his clients—several Minnesota
and Wisconsin tribes that opposed
the casino—were longtime Democratic
campaign donors.
Paul Eckstein, a lawyer pushing for
the casino, said O'Connor and
Minnesota's congressional delegation
had succeeded, at the behest of the
rival tribes seeking to protect their
own casino revenues, in killing the
proposal.
Nor was he amused when he found
out that the opposing tribes have
showered the DNC with more than
$80,000 in donations over the past 14
months and also contributed cash to
Clinton's reelection campaign.
The blend of money and power
surrounding the Interior Department's
July 14,1995 decision tooverrule two
staff recommendations and reject the
casino application has led to a full
blown flap.
The three losing tribes last year sued
the department, alleging that politics
unduly influenced the outcome of what
would have been an obscure policy
battle.
The department won a decision from
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb in
Madison, Wis., last month blocking
the Chippewa from questioning
department officials and others about
political influence. She ruled that,
although the bands "have shown that
congressional and presidential
contacts were made with the
Department of Interior, they have not
shown that the contacts could be
deemed improper."
Blocked cont'd on 5
Babbit says direct funding option for tribes unworkable
By Philip Barsher
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Interior
Secretary Bruce Babbitt attacked a
plan by Senate budget writers to
accelerate the move toward direct
funding of American Indian tribes.
, Tribes already can get direct grants
for selected Bureau of Indian Affairs
programs if they qualify through the
agency's "self-determination" process.
But the plan approved by a Senate
Appropriations subcommittee last
week would allow tribes to skip the
qualification procedures. Tribes
would be required to take direct
funding forall BIA's law enforcement
and social programs. They could no
longer pick the programs they wanted
to run.
Babbitt said Monday that the plan
wasn't workable and that many tribes
weren't prepared to run all BIA
programs.
"This is an all-or-nothing deal," he
said in a telephone interview. Some
tribes "feel they can handle some of
these services but want to retain the
BIA for others."
The plan represents a shift in
strategy for the subcommittee's
chairman, Sen. Slade Gorton, who
last year tried to sharply cut funding
for BIA, one of the most criticized
agencies in the federal government.
The Washington Republican thinks
that direct funding would save money
in administrative costs, aides say.
The plan is similar to a BIA
reorganization bill approved by the
Senate Indian Affairs Committee.
Under the self-governance process,
tribes take control of selected
programs, such as law enforcement,
while letting the BIA continue to
administer others.
Babbitt, who oversees the BIA,
said the Senate plan also could have a
result Gorton doesn't intend _ forcing
the government to spend more money.
Congress is required by law, for
example, to provide aid to poor
Indians, and if tribes didn't spend
some oftheirfundingforthat purpose,
lawmakers could be required to
appropriate extra money, Babbitt said.
"The concept is good. ... What
they're attempting to do is accelerate
the process and they're tripping all
over themselves," Babbitt said.
The plan is included in the
subcommittee's proposed budget for
the BIA for fiscal 1997. The budget
would provide $1.58 billion for the
agency, down from $ 1.59 billion this
year. The House provided $1.54
billion for BIA.
"I believe there would be some
mixed feelings out there through all
the tribes," said Richard Sangrey,
chief of staff for the Chippewa Cree
tribe in Montana.
He said it could "lead to the BIA
central office being totally gutted,
which wouldn't be good."
LLRBC reimb. of $14,000 rest. chk. to M. Ellis/ pg 8
Power struggle at Leech Lake/ pg 1
Fond du Lac RBC defies
Mpls Ind Prog Dir(s) obj. to funding restrictions/ pg 1
Pow Wow Trails/ pg 6
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Tribal elder Bernie Rock speaks in support of newly elected chairman Eli Hunt to the more than 500
Leech Lake enrollees at the public meeting at the Palace Casino last Monday. Photo by WJL
Power struggle at Leech Lake
By Nate Bowe
Bemidji Pioneer Staff Writer
CASS LAKE — Apparently intent on
influencing the power struggle under
way between newly elected Tribal
Chairman Eli Hunt and the rest of the
Leech Lake Tribal Council, hundreds
of people attended a tribal council
meeting Monday at the Palace Casino
Paradise Room.
At the contentious four-hour
meeting, Hunt offered to resign if the
rest of the council would follow suit,
and he directed to be read aloud a
statement issued by the council
accusing Hunt of overstepping his
authority and trying to use "mob rule"
to establish a "dictatorship" on the
reservation.
Hunt, a former tribal health director,
was sworn into office in late June
after defeating former chairman
Alfred "Tig" Pemberton in the June
11 tribal elections.
Hunt set of the standoff with the
Tribal Council on July 8, when he
fired executive director Roger Aitken
and replaced him with Gerald White.
He also appointed Linda Johnston to
take the place of former deputy director
Donna Murray and chose Burton
Howard to take over for George Wells
as gaming controller.
A crowd of hundreds applauded
Hunt's action at a Tribal Council
meeting the next day, but the council
was not pleased. At a meeting held
July 12, after Hunt adjourned the
meeting and left the building, the
council and tribal attorneys developed
an issue statement charging that:
"Chairman Hunt violated the 'Leech
Lake Band of Chippewa Tribal
Council Rules of Operation and
Procedure' by his dictatorial action in
terminating the three employees.
Chairman Hunt further violated his
own rules by appointing hand picked
individuals, again ignoring personnel
policies and the resolution he signed
on July 2nd, to replace the employees
he terminated without due process."
Hunt acknowledged that he signed
the new procedures policy but argued
that tribal law, which authorizes the
chairman to "exercise general
supervision of all (non-Tribal
Council) Band officers and top
supervisory band employees"
supersedes the policy. Hunt said that
opinion is based on conversations
with tribal members and with
attorneys Robert Fairbanks, a Leech
Lake Band member, and Zenas Baer
of Hawley, long active in issues on the
White Earth Reservation.
In a resolution passed July 12, the
council called Hunt's actions illegal
and "beyond the scope of his
authority," since it was "not taken as
a result of direction or instruction of
the Tribal Council." It nullified the
Struggle cont'd on 3
Indian communities building hotels, centers
at whirlwind rate
(AP) Indian communities in
Minnesota are building hotels and
convention centers at a whirlwind
rate in an attempt to attract more
business for their casinos, but
economists say they should proceed
with caution.
New buildings worth at least $80
million are planned or completed.
The building boom started last fall
and is predicted to run into next year.
Tribes in the Twin Cities
metropolitan area want to compete
with the Mall of America in
Bloomington and Canterbury Park
racetrack in Shakopee. Those in rural
areas are planning more hotel rooms
for tourists and business meetings.
"What we're looking for are boat
shows, farm machinery shows," said
Tribal Chairman Roger Prescott in
explaining why his Lower Sioux
Community just opened a convention
center near Morton, about 100 miles
west of the Twin Cities. The center
and hotel are connected to the tribe's
Jackpot Junction Casino.
Court upholds payments to non
By Bob Egelko
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Millions
of dollars in partial compensation for
the United States' violation of treaties
with Sioux Indians must go to nearly
2,000 descendants of 19th century
tribal members rather than current
Sioux tribes, a federal appeals court
ruled Monday.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals upheld an Interior
Departmentdecision that 1,969 people
were lineal descendants of a Sioux
tribe that was dispersed after an 1862
military conflict. The court also said
payment of part of the settlement to
non-tribal members does not violate
the tribes' rights.
A 1972 federal law gave those
descendants 25 percent of a settlement
reached in 1967 by the federal
government and three Sioux tribes in
Montana, North Dakota and South
Dakota. The settlement was for U.S.
appropriation of 27 million acres of
tribal land in Iowa, Minnesota and
But some economic development
advisers say the tribes could find
themselves in debt, particularly those
located in rural areas.
"The worry that comes to mind is
that tribes would take on a great deal
of debt and the gambling bubble would
burst," said Jerry Reynolds of the
First Nations Development Institute
in Fredericksburg, Va.
Hoping to create a stopover spot for
vacationers headed north, the Fond
Building cont'd on 3
-tribal members
South Dakota in the 1860s in violation
of earlier treaties.
The 1,969 people, none of them
members of the current Sioux tribes,
were awarded $746 each in 1968,
compared with $372 each for tribal
members under the settlement. The
payment to non-members has been
sitting in a government account
collecting interest since 1968 and now
totals about $13.5 million, said
Bertram Hirsch, a lawyer forthe tribes.
Payment cont'd on 3