The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1997-03-07

              Stolen Money to be Used for Clark's Appeal
By Gary Blair
Stolen money apparently will be
used to finance an appeal for former
White Earth district rep. Rick Clark,
a member of the Darrell "Chip"
Wadena gang that was convicted last
June of federal corruption charges.
PRESS/ON sources say Clark's sister
Beverly told them that her brother has
paid a $15,000 retainer fee to famed
Minneapolis criminal defense attorney
Ron Meshbesher who will write the
appeal.  Clark is presently serving a
nearly five year sentence that started
Jan. 6. 1997. at the federal correctional
facility near Duluth, MN.
Clark, who is reported to be the
richest person in Mahnomen County,
was convicted last June of fraud in
connection with the construction of the
reservation's Shooting Star casino
located at Mahnomen, MN. Clark and
former White Earth secretary/
treasurer Jerry Rawley, were also
convicted of voting fraud in
connection with the reservation's
1994, general election. Wadena was
the reservation's tribal chairman at the
time of the theft and federal
prosecutors told the jury that Wadena
received kickbacks from Clark whose
sheet rock company they both secretly
owned.
Clark's attempt to gain his freedom,
however, is unlikely to be fruitful,
federal authorities arc now
conducting an additional investigation
into Wadena's handling of HUD
housing construction funds at White
Earth. Wadena and Clark were also
involved in housing construction
Appeal cont'd on 5
Summary of   Granite Valley v. Jackpc.
Junction Casino Ruling
By Julie Shortridge
For those of you who have not yet
read the case of Granite Valley v.
Jackpot Junction Casino, which was
published in the February 21 issue of
the PRESS, the following is a brief
overview of its contents.
The case is significant because it
includes a lengthy critique by Judge
R.A. (Jim) Randall about how tribal
sovereignty is an ill-conceived legal
quagmire, and is detrimental to Indian
people and anyone else who interacts
with tribes.
Judge Randall wrote the now-
famous dissenting opinion in the case
of Cohen v. Little Six Bingo last year,
in which he said, "Tribal'sovereignty'
is just one more indignity, one more
outright lie, that we continue to foist
on American citizens, the American
Indian."
The Granite Valley case involves a
dispute between Granite Valley Hotel
and Jackpot Junction Bingo and
Casino. The Minnesota Court of
Appeals niled on February 19 that the
hotel can sue the Lower Sioux Tribe in
state court for breach of contract even
though the tribe claimed "tribal
sovereignty" makes it immune from
such lawsuits. The tribe is making this
claim even though it specifically
waived sovereign immunity and agreed
to be subject to state courts in its
contract with the hotel.
The tribe stated in a legal brief that
the issue of whether a tribe can be sued
"requires a court's analysis to go
beyond simple notions of contract law,
to also address issues of sovereignty
and sovereign immunity." Judge
Randall responds, saying, "I accept
the challenge.... I agree...that
'sovereignty'andsovereign immunity
is the only real issue in this case."
Here are some key quotes from
Judge Randall's opinion in theGranite
Valley case:
Ruling cont'd on 8
HUD gets blame in own report
Investigators fault agency for tribal-housing abuses
By Deborah Nelson and
Eric Nalder, Staff Reporters
Seattle Times
The Department of Housing and
Urban Development is largely to blame
for rampant abuses in the nation's
tribal-housing program, a new internal
report says.
The report by HUD's Inspector
General's office is highly critical of
department officials, saying they have
systematically discouraged oversight
of the program designed to help low-
income Native Americans get decent
housing.
AA ^.ic point, the report says, HUD
staff was forbidden from visiting
reservations to monitor how federal
money was being spent. As a
consequence, abuse and waste have
gone unchecked, with real costs to
taxpayers and to more than 100,000
Native American families living in
squalid conditions.
"Something has to change," said Dale
Chouteau, the Midwest inspector
general for HUD, whose staff wrote
the assessment.
The report is part of nationwide
investigation by the Inspector
General's office into allegations of
widespread problems in the tribal-
housing program, which provides
about a half billion dollars a year in
subsidies to Indian housing authorities.
The problems were first revealed by
The Seattle Times in a five-part scries
published in December.
The Times' series found dozens of
cases of fraud, abuse and
mismanagement by tribal housing
authorities, due in large part to lax
HUD oversight under deregulation.
The abuses included tribal leaders
building large, luxurious houses for
themselves, friends and family
members, while more needy people
were passed overforassistance. Others
misspent money earmarked for
housing on other things, including
Report cont'd on 6
PERM Holds Fundraising Dinner
By Gary Blair
A 2nd annual fund raiser for the Elk
River based group, Proper Economic
Resource Management, (PERM) was
held at the Radisson Hotel in St. Paul,
MN on Feb. 28, 1997. The event was
titled, "Gourmet Wild Game Dinner
with Bud Grant." Grant, however, did
not attend the dinner. Howard Hanson
a PERM organizer told the nearly 200
member gathering that Grant went to
Canada to do an interview with a Field
and Stream Magazine reporter.
The PERM group, headed by Grant,
Hanson, and Mark Rotz, has been at
the forefront of the Indian hunting and
fishing treaty controversy that now
surrounds the Lake Mille Lacs area of
Minnesota.   Attorney, Stephen G.
Froehle of the law firm of Persian,
MacGregor and Thompson, who
represents the group's legal efforts to
over-turn the more than century old
and recently upheld treaties, addressed
the dinner attendees.
Froehle, told the group about the
Landowners' upcoming appeal. He
said that recent court rulings in other
parts of the country would help the
Landowner's legal position.
He also asked PERM members not
to picket the boat landings at Mille
Lacs during the start of the spear
fishing season. "All that does is
benefit the liberal journalists. We
want to win this one in the courts. We
will be granted an injunction and that
will stop the spearing well into this
summer," Froehle added.
Mille Lacs Lake reservation activist
Vincent Hill, his wife Carol and your
writer were invited guests for the
twenty five dollar per plate non-Indian
version of a traditional Native
American feast. They served us,
venison; braised duck; baked catfish;
pheasant with Minnesota wild
mushrooms and various types of
desserts. They also offered us some
turtle soup during the close of the
event.
Hill and his group of supporters
have been active in exposing the lack
civil rights and accountability on the
Mille Lacs reservation.
PRESS/ON's interest in the event
was to gather the news. Your writer
was drawn by the menu, and the
words, "We'll have a ticket for you at
the door."
HUD ignored signs of trouble on
reservation, say investigators
By Eric Nalder and
Deborah Nelson, Staff Writers
Seattle Times
The sprawling reservation of the
White Earth Band of Chippewa — the
largest reservation in Minnesota —
was controlled for two decades by a
corrupt tribal chairman, Darrell "Chip"
Wadena.
Wadena was not officially in control
of the tribe's housing authority, which
administered federal grants intended
for needy tribal members. But he called
the shots there, putting friends and
relatives in the best houses built by the
U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development, and granting
himself lucrative contracts.
A new internal report says HUD
officials ignored signs that should have
warned them of Wadena's dealings.
The report by the Midwest regional
office of HUD's Inspec tor General said
HUD officials knew for two years that
Wadena and two of his lieutenants
were being investigated by the Justice
Departmentforembezzling funds from
the tribe's casino — crimes for which
they were eventually convicted.
Yet for years, HUD did not check on
how the White Earth tribe was spending
millions of dollars in federal housing
grants - even though reviews are
supposed to be performed regularly.
Andofficials ignored or missed other
warning signs. For example, the report
said, whistle-blowers complained to
HUD in 1992 that powerful tribal
members friendly to Wadena were
jumping ahead of others on the waiting
list to get HUD-subsidized houses.
Yet even after those HUD officials
visited the reservation and confirmed
the complaint, HUD "took no
corrective action," the report said.
HUD cont'd on 6
Learn to be political insiders, Indian leader advises
By John Flesher
ACME, Mich. (AP) _ American
Indians should become more
politically savvy to protect their
sovereignty and resist cuts in programs
on which they depend, a national
spokesman said Friday.
"You need your advocates ... in the
corridors of Congress and in the
corridors of the administration at all
levels on a day-to-day basis," Ron
Allen, president of the National
Congress of American Indians, told a
gathering of Midwestern tribal leaders.
That means finding the money to
pay lobbyists and other experts who
can make Indian voices heard among
the clamor of competing interests,
Allen said.
"If you want to play the game you've
got to ante up. ... We need to protect
our rights, whether it's in Washington,
D.C, or anywhere else."
Allen spokc-to the newly formed
Midwestern Alliance of Sovereign
Tribes, which concluded a two-day
strategy session in advance of a
lobbying trip to Washington, D.C
More than 100 people attends ;
first meeting of the newly formed
MAST, which represents 33 tribes in
Michigan,  Minnesota,  Iowa and
Stolen Money to be Used for Clark's Appeal
Summary of Granite Valley v. Jackpot JunctionRuYmg
HUD ignored signs of trouble on reservation
Fond du Lac RBC questions control of TEC/ pg 5
Medure, former partners pay $65,000 claim/ pg 7
r
Voice of the People
1
Wisconsin. They approved an agenda
calling for a heavy schedule of
meetings with members of Congress
during the March 10-12 visit.
They will focus on matters such as
casino taxation, child adoption, health
care, welfare, land rights and
environmental protection on the
reservation.
The list of issues is long and varied.
But leaders agreed there's a common
theme: sovereignty.
Too few Americans realize the U.S.
Constitution and numerous treaties
recognize tribes as sovereign nations
Insiders cont'd on 6
Fifty Cents
We Support Equal Opportunity  For All People
Founded   in 1 9BB
Volume 9    Issue HI
March 7, 1 997
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe Mews, 1 997
\. y/
Al Goodwin and Erma J. Vizenor face off in the White Earth tribal secretary-treasurer race March 11.
The Reformer vs. the Developer
Tribal secretary-treasurer race pits candidates of differing philosophies
and backgrounds
By JAMIE MARKS
Detroit Lakes Tribune
Al Goodwin says he doesn't like the
dark side of politics. The nasty tone of
the campaign for White Earth secretary/treasurer, he says, is not what he
would like.
But after tribal chairman Bugger
McArthur and District III representative John Buckanaga wrote a scathing
diatribe against him in the tribal newspaper, Goodwin fought back. And he
didn't spare the ammunition. In subsequent advertisements, he accused
the "McArthur/Vizenor" regime of
everything from buying votes to political firings.
The Ojibwe News fueled the fire
when itpublished an investigative story
delving into financial questions that
came up during an audit at Pine Point
School while his opponent, appointed
tribal secretary-treasurer Erma
Vizenor, served  as school principal.
Vizenor, however called the latter,
"digging up dead bones," and appeared
undeterred by the negative nature of
the campaign. "The case was closed
and obviously I won the case:' Vizenor
said.
Vizenor admitted she sought to have
the audit records expunged, but state
auditor Mark Dayton told her "don't
worry about it," because the audits
would be seen as politicallymotivated.
"Under all of the circumstances,
considering who was pulling the
power strings, we did remarkably well
Election cont'd on 7
Anglers protest Mille Lacs restrictions
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn.
(AP) - An overflow crowd of walleye
anglers - many of them angry - showed
up for an informational meeting on
restrictions proposed for Lake Mille
Lacs.
The Minnesota Department of
Natural Resources has proposed new
restrictions for the state's premier
walleye lake because of recent treaty
rights decisions favoring the Mille
Lacs Band of Chippewa and other
Chippewa Indians.
The DNR is proposing a so-called
slot limit, which would prohibit
anglers from keeping walleye 16 to 20
CORRECTION
The February 28th article entitled
"Who Does Kitto Think He's Kidding"
by Julie Shortridge, should have
included the following statement:
When a reporter asked Kitto how he
could say the Tribal Accountability
Legal rights Fund is trying to "divide
and destroy Indian people," asking,
"Isn't Bill Lawrence, this group's
president, himself an Indian?" Kitto
shrugged and responded, "Well he
claims to be, "implying that Lawrence
may not be Indian.
What could be a more blatant
attempt to "divide and destroy Indian
people" than for Kitto, the self-
proclaimed "spokesman for tribes" in
Minnesota, to publicly bring into
inches long. They could keep walleye
smaller than 16 inches and one over
20 inches. The slot limit would take
effect with the May 10 fishing opener.
The daily walleye limit on Lake Mille
Lacs would stay at six, the same as it
is statewide
Many in the crowd of 450 were
particularly upset that the Indians
would be allowed to use gill nets,
which trap fish by their gills, to harvest
their share of walleyes.
"You tell an angler to put that 18-
inch fish back, and it will swim 200
yards away and get caught in a gill
net," one man said. "That's not right.
It's not fair to take it away from one
question the heritage of a known
Indian person?
Editor's Note: We regret omitting
this statement from the original article.
See photocopy of my Red Lake Band
of Chippewa membership card. My
Dad was 1/2 Red Lake Chippewa and
my Mother is 1/4. I wonder if Larry
Kitto would be so forthcoming in
providing the details of his heritage?
Kitto should take to heart something
Judge Randall said in his recent
opinion in the case of Granite Valley
Hotel v. Jackpot Junction Casino: "If
you can't inject truth into this debate,
get out of the debate."
NOTICE
Apparently someone stole all the
group and give it to another."
The reaction at the meeting was
expected, DNR spokeswoman Marcy
Dowse said Wednesday. "We knew
and know that people are passionate
about these issues and expected
people to react with their concerns
very vocally and very strongly."
Dowse said the DNR will not take
any immediate action.
"We need some additional
information from the bands," she said.
"Wc need to put together what we
heard from the people last night to
make sure we are going in the right
Anglers cont'd on 8
issues of last week's PRESS/ON from
the distribution location in the State
Office Building next to the Capitol in
St. Paul, where legislators, lobbyists
and other political people spend most
of their time now during the Legislative
session.
Last week's issue was the one with
Larry Kitto's picture on the front and a
critical article about Kitto's position
on civil rights. Kitto is a lobbyist for
the Indian Gaming Association, so he
has been spending a lot of time in the
State Office Building himself lately.
This kind of vigilante effort to limit
freedom of the press has been known
to occur in the past when someone in
a position of tribal power and influence
doesn't like what is written in PRESS/
ON, especially when it's about them.