CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
National Congress of
American Indians (NCAI)
I also have commented on the
increasing threat to tribal sovereignty.
The Senate Committee held a hearing
on this issue with testimony from legal
scholars, legislators, and tribal officials.
The NCAI’s Sovereignty Protection
Task Force has been addressing this
critical issue. Tribes across the country,
including the Siletz Tribe, have been
involved in, and contributing to, this
important effort.
The NCAI Executive Council held
its winter session in Washington, D.C.,
from Feb. 22 to March 1, 2002.
I attended the conference along
with council members Jane John and
Rosemary Landis; Brenda Bremner,
Siletz general manager; and Zak Zakoji,
consultant. Franklin Ducheneaux
coordinated our congressional contacts.
The conference included presen
tations on such diverse topics as
education by Bill Mehojah, director of
the Office of Indian Education, and
Congressman Dale Kildee; judicial
issues affecting Indian tribes by
Associate Justice Stephen Breyer of the
U.S. Supreme Court; health issues by
Indian Health Service Director Michael
Trujillo; and federal appropriations
affecting Indian programs by Assistant
Secretary Neal McCaleb.
Individuals giving their views on
Indian issues included both Republican
and Democratic U.S. legislators: House
members Frank Pal lone of New Jersey,
George Nethercutt of Washington, and
Nick Rahall of West Virginia; and
Senators Ben Nighthorse Campbell of
Colorado, Daniel Inouye of Hawaii,
Tim Johnson of South Dakota, and John
McCain of Arizona.
In addition to attending the general
sessions, the Siletz representatives
attended Senate Committee on Indian
Affairs hearings on the “Management
of Indian Trust Funds” and on the
“Rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court
Affecting Tribal Government Powers
and Authorities.”
In previous issues of Siletz News,
I have commented on the Department
of the Interior’s controversial proposal
to restructure the BIA’s trust services.
A special NCAI task force has been
sifting through the various tribal
proposals addressing this issue and the
Senate Committee has been providing
oversight on the restructuring process.
In closing my chairman’s report, I
would like to take the liberty of sharing
To the editor:
A number of us have been
reviewing records of the 2002 Tribal
Council election. What is amazing is
that not one of the records supports the
certification of the election results.
For example, the poll book,
supposedly the official record, indicates
only 680 voters who submitted mail-in
ballots; the signature envelopes total
679, and the election director’s
handwritten log has 684 (including
three voters recorded twice)? Yet, the
certification indicates 682 mail-in
ballots. The election director stated that
he made a “numbering” error when he
changed the oral certification from 694
to 682. As admitted, no one actually
counted the ballots!
Not only are the numbers
inconsistent, the recording of ballots
received did not match with the actual
voters. Some who voted are not
recorded in the poll book and some who
did not vote are recorded as having
voted. Tribal members had ballots
sent back to them for signatures,
yet some were accepted without
proper signatures.
This is the first year that tribal
members were allowed to view the poll
book, or any record for that matter.
With the innumerable inconsistencies
in the records, past elections must be
called into question.
Lori Johnson, a candidate in the last
election, has filed a complaint in Tribal
Court to void the election and call for a
new election - an election that would
be fair to each and every General
Council member. Lori requested that
the court consider the case as a class
action, including every eligible voter.
The judge’s response was that, in
essence, she already is representing
the membership.
Incidentally, Lori filed against the
election director, who was contracted
by the Tribal Council to conduct the
election. His contract (available from
the Tribal Council secretary) clearly
states that he is an independent
contractor, responsible for conducting
the election and responsible for his own
legal representation. The membership
should know that the Tribal Council
directed the tribal attorney to represent
an independent contractor against
the membership.
If the Tribal Court makes another
political decision that erodes the rights
of the membership (as it has in the
past), then it is up to us to exercise
our constitutionally protected right to
fair elections.
If you would like further
information, please contact me.
Sincerely,
Pat Duncan
P.O. Box 16238
Portland, OR 97292-0238
503-257-6232
Pat_Duncan@att.net
Tribal Election Issue
Chairman Delores Pigsley
As of mid-March, the controversy
over the recent tribal election had not
been resolved. I’m sure that by the time
you read this, however, the Tribal Court
will have obtained sufficient informa
tion to make a final ruling. And once
again, we will have survived another
election controversy with the Siletz
constitutional, judicial, and electoral
processes very much intact.
Whatever decision the court makes
will not satisfy everyone but we, the
Siletz Tribe, have the capacity - the
strength - to resolve such issues and
move on.
About My Mother,
Maude Lane
with you my thoughts about my
mother, who died on March 12 after
celebrating her 100th birthday nearly a
year ago.
She passed away peacefully, having
lived a full, productive life, leaving
behind a large, loving, extended family
and a legacy for the Siletz Tribe - for
all of us - of strength and dignity.
It’s hard to believe, but it was just
35 years before my mother was bom
that vast changes had taken place in the
history of the Confederated Tribes of
Siletz Indians. It was at a time when
the Rogue River War was just coming
to an end, when massacres of Siletz
Indians had taken place.
Our tribes, my forefathers among
them, were compelled to cede their
aboriginal homelands and be moved to
the Coast or Siletz Reservation which,
by ratified treaties, was promised as
their permanent reservation.
It was during this period, 1865 to
be exact, that our Coast Reservation
was arbitrarily reduced by 200,000
acres and just 10 years later, further
drastically reduced by another
executive order.
To put all this in perspective, the
Vietnam War happened 35 years ago
and Pearl Harbor 60 years ago. Yet, we
are constantly reminded of those
terrible historical events. The fact is,
what happened to the Siletz Tribe isn’t
ancient history. It wasn’t as long ago
as the Crusades or Revolutionary War.
What happened to the Siletz Tribe
took place just 35 years before my
mother was bom. She, her descendents,
and the Siletz people have felt the
full brunt of what happened in the
1850s, 1860s, and 1870s, and the events
that followed.
But through it all, good times and
bad, my mother maintained her dignity
and faith in the future. She instilled in
all her Siletz offspring the pride of the
Siletz Tribe, of our Indian heritage, and
in being Indian.
I am proud of the fact that her spirit
- her zest for living and the dignity with
which she lived life - was infectious. I
and a multitude of others who knew her,
Indians and non-Indians alike, were
enriched by that spirit.
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