Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2003-03-07

              INDEX
War Stories and
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY
2
Wounded Knee 1973
NEWS BRIEFS
3
COMMENTARY/gDITORIALS
4
CLASSIFIEDS
7
nana A
Letter: Inmates don't
run tribal elections
page 4
Abusive police
officers should be
laid off first
page 5
MCT members must
revise MCT
constitution and
bylaws
page 4
Commentary
The rule that
| almost was:
The saga of 'full
faith and credit'
page 4
Minn. Supreme Court rejects proposed 'full faith and credit' rule
Orders further consideration, community input, study of possible reciprocity compact
by Clara NiiSka
In an order dated Wednesday,
March 5 and signed by Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz, the Minnesota Supreme Court finally ruled
on the rule of court proposed by
the Tribal Court/State Court Forum, which would have granted
full faith and credit to tribal court
orders, judgments, and other
tribal court actions in Minnesota.
The order, printed in full in this
week's issue, rejects the sweeping
'full faith and credit' rule that the
Forum petitioned the Court to
adopt on April 11, 2002. The Forum, initiated by then-Justice
Sandra Gardebring in 1997, is
comprised of tribal attorneys and
tribal court judges as representatives of "tribal" interests, as well
as members ofthe Minnesota legal community including Court of
Order
In re hearing on proposed
amendments to the
Minnesota General Rules
of Practice for the
District Courts
State of Minnesota in
Supreme Court
CX-89-1863
Appeals Judge Robert
Schumacher.
The proposed rule rejected by
the Supreme Court on Wednesday would have mandated state
courts' rubber stamping most
tribal court actions, both criminal
and civil, giving them the same
force as state court actions. Objectors claiming that a tribal
court's decision was made in disregard of due process or other
constitutional rights would have
shouldered the "burden of proof'
under the proposed rule.
The Supreme Court's Advisory
Committee on the General Rules
of Practice considered the proposed 'full faith and credit' rule
for four months, holding pubhc
meetings and hearing testimony,
and on August 19 filed a recommendation that the rule not be
adopted "at this time." The advisory committee is a fifteen-member body chaired by Justice Sam
Hanson, and oversees the formulation of the Rules of Court that
determine how trials and other legal processes operate in Minnesota. For example, whether or
not certain categories of evidence
are admissible at a trial, what
constitutes hearsay, and other key
decisions are made in accordance
with the rules of court.
On October 29"', the Supreme
Court held a hearing on the Tribal
Court/State Court Forum's proposed 'full faith and credit' rule.
The court heard oral arguments
by the Rules Committee, the
Tribal Court/State Court Forum,
and from some members of the
public. Five Indian people who
COURT to page 6
On April 11,2002, the IVIinnesota Tribal Court/State Court Forum petitioned the court for adoption of a rule of procedure for the recognition
of tribal court orders and judgments. The court requested that the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the General Rules of Practice
consider the rule and make a recommendation. The Advisory Committee filed its recommendations on August 19,2002. On October 29,
2002, the supreme court held a separate hearing on the matter. The supreme court acknowledges the valuable efforts of the Minnesota Tribal
Court/State Court Forum and all other parties who provided comment
ORDER to page 6
Chairman White holds public meetings at Leech Lake
By Diane E. White
On Monday, February 24,
newly elected Chairman Peter D.
White opened Leech Lake Band
of Ojibwe Reservation Business
Committee (RBC) meetings to
the pubhc. He promised this at
his swearing in ceremony on Friday, February 21 along with his
desire to create a unified Leech
Lake Band void of pohtical dis-
sention.
Conspicuously absent from the
swearing in ceremony were the
Peace & Justice campaign committee and the De-Bah-Ji-Mon's
photographers and writing staff,
previously closely linked to each
other and the campaign for Dee
Fairbanks and Eh O. Hunt.
The first 9:00 pubhc meeting
was held late as the RBC were
not yet in the office. Chairman
White began by asking the District Representatives to be present
in the office so they can help their
respective District constituents,
as they would now be responsible
for all constituent help as had
been the practice of previous administrations. The Tribal Referral
program is a failure as it has become known as 'Tribal Refusal"
and the Tribe has no further need
for a program that does not help
tribal members according to the
newly elected Chainnan.
At the second pubhc meeting,
one week later, the Chairman
backed down from his proposal
to do away with Leech Lake's
Tribal Referral program as Dis
trict III Representative Richard
Robinson and District I Representative Burton "Luke" Wilson
argued that under gaming regulations the Band is required to have
a program in place to distribute
donations to needy tribal members. Acting Executive Director,
Gerald White (Chairman White's
brother) and long time Division
of Resource Management (DRM)
Director proposed that each tribal
member be allotted a dollar
amount and at the end of each
year the members who did not
use their cash allotments would
be provided a cash donation in
the amount of whatever dollar
amount the RBC had originally
MEETINGS to page 6
RLTC adopts budgets for 2003
By Bill Lawrence
At a special meeting on Thursday February 27, the Red Lake
Tribal Council (RLTC) considered
and adopted budgets for the tribal
general and indirect cost funds for
calendar year 2003. The amounts
adopted were: for the general fund
$4,824, 111; and for indirect costs
$2,195,703. These amounts are significantly lower than the
$8,681,305 and the $2,532,000 approved by the former Whitefeather/
King Administration for the general
and indirect cost funds respectively
for calendar year 2002. Budget
summaries for both funds will be
included at the end of this article.
In his presentation to the RLTC at
the February 27 meeting, treasurer
Darrell Seki thanked his staff for
their work in assisting him in preparing the 2003 budget. He also
thanked the council for their patience as he and his staff dug
through the financial mess they inherited. Because of that, "it just
took us a lot longer then we
planned to get the budget together,"
Seki said. He added that the most
difficult part has been "to determine an accurate and reliable revenue stream that would take us
through the year." Seki told Press/
ON in an interview that, "in one
case we found money in an account
that didn't show up until a government agency inquired about it and
in a bank account we didn't know
we had." He added that, "this
year's budget was put together by
the bottoms-up method, which required each department head to
justify their budget to the tribal
business office," including himself.
"In the past it's pretty obvious that
the budget was put together tops-
down with the treasurer telling each
department how much they would
get." Seki also said that he had "the
input of a budget committee appointed by the tribal council in preparing this year's budget"
In his Budget Narrative that was
included in this year's budget and
handed out at last weeks meeting
treasurer Seki wrote:
"Many ofthe financial decisions
ofthe past administration have
placed heavy burdens upon the current management of the Tribe.
As we look forward, we face many
great challenges and uncertainties.
Our task now is to guide the Red
Lake Band of Chippewa through
the current economic downturn and
prepare a foundation for the future.
It is our hope that the preparation
of conservative and less costly budgets, will provide for a more efficient and effective Tribal government.
"For the ensuing fiscal year
2003, the projected General fund
BUDGET to page 3
Tribal PAC
influence at the
Minnesota capital
The table detailing campaign
contributions made by tribal and
gambling interest groups and
their law firms' PACs, published
in this week's issue, shows a total
of more than two million dollars
spent on Minnesota elections during the last seven years, as well as
a steadily rising increase in Indian attorneys' PAC campaign
contributions.
The Minnesota Trial Lawyers
Association's PAC (Trial-PAC) is
the largest contributor to Minnesota political campaigns, spending more than half a milhon dollars since 1995.
Also among the law firms contributing the most to PACs is
Robins, Kaplan, Miller and
Ciresi. Their website does not
detail the specifics ofthe firm's
Indian law practice, but notes that
the two RKMC foundations "are
committed to having a significant, measurable impact on institutions and organizations working
in our primary areas of interest:
health, knowledge, justice, home,
and expression." In addition to
PAC contributions, that commitment is reified through RKMC's
support of the American Indian
PAC to page 3
Supreme Court
upholds tribal
lawsuit rights in
one case, rejects
them in another
By Gina Holland
Associated Press
Washington—A sharply divided
Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that
the government can be sued for allowing buildings on Indian land to
fall into disrepair.
By a 5-4 vote, the court said that
the government could be held responsible for the condition of land
held in trust for Indian tribes, estimated at more than 56 milhon
acres.
The decision allows the White
Mountain Apache Tribe to pursue a
lawsuit that seeks $14 milhon for
repairs at Fort Apache in Arizona.
Justices rejected Bush administration arguments that it could not
be sued for damages, but could be
ordered by a court to make improvements.
Justice David Souter, writing for
the majority, said that contention
LAWSUIT to page 7
County Board refuses to back metro
area casino
by Brad Swenson
Bemidji Pioneer
A measure asking Beltrami
County support of a metro area casino jointly run by the state and
area American Indian tribes failed
in a 3-2 vote Tuesday night.
"The state will get into gaming,
so we'd rather join them than fight
them," Beltrami County Board
Chairman Quentin Fairbanks said
Tuesday in asking for the board's
support.
Fairbanks, tribal business planner for the Red Lake Band of
Chippewa, brought a resolution approved 10-0 on Feb. 11 by the Red
Lake Tribal Council in support of
"several urban casino complex initiatives in conjunction with the
BOARD to page 3
Red Lake woman honored for helping
grow nearly 14 million trees
By Molly Miron
The Pioneer of Bemidji
REDBY,Minn.(AP) —In
1978, Gloria Whitefeather-Spears
began planting trees on the Red
Lake Nation.
"The first forester fired me three
times. He said I would never make
it, and now it's 25 years later," said
Whitefeather-Spears,' manager of
the Red Lake Forestry Greenhouses.
' During those years,
Whitefeather-Spears has been responsible for growing nearly 14
million red pine, white pine, jack
pine, tamarack, white cedar, white
spmce and black spruce.
She also has served as a
firefighter since 1979 and has
worked on forest fires all around
the country. And she teaches fire
prevention and tree appreciation in
the Red Lake Schools.
For her accomplishments,
Whitefeather-Spears will receive
on Saturday the Award of Honor,
which is the highest recognition of
the Black, Indian, Hispanic and
Asian Women in Action at the
TREES to page 7
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Founded in 1988
Volume 15 Issue 39
March 7,2003
Submitted photo
Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer meets with high school students participating in Project
120 in her office at the State Capitol. Project 120 is a program of the Institute for Learning and Teaching,
which brings high school students from across Minnesota to participate in week-long sessions at the
Capitol during the legislative session.
The Secretary of State spoke with the students about her duties as a constitutional officer and her role
as chief elections official of Minnesota. While at Secretary Kiffmeyer's office, the students were able to
make a souvenir impression of the State Seal to take home.
Among the participants meeting with Secretary were (from left to right): Rose Lussier of Redby, Aleisha
Pemberton of Redlake, Timothy Sumner of Ponemah, Jenna Martinez of Red Lake, Virgil Skinaway, Jr.,
of Red Lake, [Secretary Kiffmeyer], Sharon Beaulieu of Red Lake, and Shileen Kingbird of Red Lake.
"It was a real pleasure to be able to meet with the Project 120 students, and I really appreciate seeing
their active citizenship at a young age," said Kiffmeyer. "Meeting with the Project 120 students is one of
my favorite things to do as Secretary of State.
The theoretical foundations of U.S. Federal Indian Law
By Jeff Armstrong
Fresh from its successful crusade against Muslim rule in 1492,
the Spanish monarchy extended
the ideology and force of its holy
war against "heathens and infidels" to the shores ofthe New
World. Backed by the Spanish
monarchs, Columbus embarked
on his voyage on the assumption
that he could claim for the Spanish Crown by right of "discovery"
any lands occupied by non-Christian peoples, an assumption later
supported by Papal edicts and incorporated to some extent into
early U.S. federal Indian law
cases. Indigenous lands were considered Terra Nullius, existing in
their original natural state and
therefore subject to annexation by
superior Christian civilizations.
Spanish theologian and legal
scholar Franciscus de Victoria and
other philosophical dissenters,
however, theorized that indigenous
peoples were in fact rational human
beings whose rights as such could
not be unilaterally extinguished by
explorers or popes. Relying upon
the prevailing European Law of
Nations, Victoria postulated that
Natives retained their natural rights
to freedom, subject only to their adherence to the norms established
under international law of the day.
Yet Victoria did allow for the possibility of the conquest of Indians
who violated international standards after a period of tutelage in
which indigenous peoples would
be instructed in the ways of Christianity and European law.
Both currents of Spanish legal
theory heavily influenced the development of U.S. Indian Law. One
can clearly see the ideas of Victoria
at work in contemporary concepts
of trusteeship and assimilation,
while the notion of unused land oc
cupied by a subhuman, pagan species fueled the drive by land-hungry settlers to push the American
frontier ever westward. The common assumption of both ideologies
was the unquestioned supremacy of
European culture; combined, they
gave rise to one of the most damaging single acts of congress, the
Dawes Allotment Act, in which the
U.S. took the land in return for its
gift of civilization to benighted, nomadic peoples. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall's three seminal
opinions between 1823 and 1832
on the legal status of colonized indigenous peoples within the boundaries of the United States built upon
the doctrine of discovery in establishing the conceptual framework
for what became known as Federal
Indian Law, a fluid and expanding
body of federal statutes and admin-
LAW to page 5
Judge rules against tribe in key political donations case
By Erica Werner
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES— The Agua
Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians must abide by the same finance laws as everyone else
when contributing to California
pohtical campaigns, a judge
ruled in a case that was seen as
an important test of tribal sovereignty.
"The court rejects the assertion that the doctrine of tribal
immunity applies here to insulate the tribe from the jurisdiction of California state courts to
enforce state laws designed to
protect the integrity of state legislative and electoral process,"
Sacramento Superior Court
Judge Loren McMaster wrote in
refusing to dismiss a lawsuit
brought against the tribe by the
state Fan Pohtical Practices
Commission.
"If large contributors to the
electoral and initiative process —
like the tribe — were not subject
to FPPC enforcement actions, the
institutions and processes of
California's government would
be subverted to a significant extent," he added in his 17-page
ruling released Thursday.
Tribal attorney Art Bunce said
the ruling was wrong and the
tribe would likely appeal.
The Agua Caliente, one of the
state's wealthiest and most influential tribes, had argued that because of tribal sovereignty it was
not bound by the state's campaign rules and California did not
have the right to sue to enforce
them.
The tribe could face multimil
lion-dollar fines if the ruling
stands.
"It's a slam dunk," said FPPC
Chairwoman Karen German.
"The court agreed with us that
tribal sovereign immunity really
was not the issue here, it was
California's state sovereignty that
was at stake."
The FPPC alleged that the
Agua Caliente band, which operates two casinos in and near Palm
Springs, was late in disclosing
more than $8 milhon in donations
to candidates and causes between
1998 and 2002.
"This is the clash ofthe sovereigns," said Joseph Wiseman,
who teaches American Indian law
at Empire State Law School in
Sonoma. "It's potentially a
JUDGE to page 6
Two die in Red
Lake crash on
Saturday
Luana Perkins, 40, of Red
Lake, and Angel "Sam" Rivera,
26, of Fort Totten, N.D. were
killed in a two-vehicle collision
about 2V2 miles south of Red
Lake on State Highway 89. Another motorist called in the crash
to the Red Lake Department of
Pubhc Safety shortly after 1:30
p.m. on Saturday.
Arlie Wipf, 40, was driving
Perkins's' 1986 four-door Chrysler
south on Highway 89 on snowy
ACCIDENT to page 7
Doyle vetoes bill giving lawmakers final
say over gaming compacts
By JR Ross
Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Jim
Doyle vetoed a bill Friday giving
lawmakers final say over gaming
compacts, saying the legislation was
a political move that would undermine the state's ability to get more
money out of American Indian
tribes to help balance Wisconsin's
massive budget deficit.
Republicans who control the Legislature immediately announced
lawmakers would meet Monday in
an attempt to override the veto in the
first bitterly partisan battle of
Doyle's administration.
Doyle, a Democrat, said Republicans put politics first in passing the
bill Feb. 21. Allowing lawmakers to
reject the compacts would cost the
state hundreds of millions of dollars
in lost revenue, forcing deeper cuts
in programs like education and
health care because ofthe lost
money, he said.
Doyle is counting on $237 million in additional revenue from the
gaming compacts to help fix the
state's $3.2 billion budget deficit.
DOYLE to page 7