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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2009)
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT Hearing: Expulsion of Council Member As chairman of the Siletz Tribe. I have always taken seriously my obligation to govern with high standards of honesty, integrity, fairness and impartiality. As elected officials, all council members have this obligation, which is why 1 have been deeply troubled over the severe mis conduct of one of our own recently elected council members. Lisa Brown. Her conduct was so severe that it resulted in her expulsion from the Tribal Council. Except for one council member who was expelled from the council many years ago, we have never had another situation this severe until today, in which the Tribal Council was compelled to deal with a fellow council member for gross misconduct leading to expulsion. As outlined below, newly elected Siletz Council member Lisa Brown was expelled from the Siletz Tribal Council on March 28, 2009, for violating Tribal laws and policies. The expulsion was based on hearings that began on March 19 and ended with the Tribal Council’s decision on March 28, which substantiated the fol lowing charges of gross misconduct: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Improper supervision of a Tribal employee Making racist comments Jeopardizing the assets of the Tribe Interfering with the day-to-day opera tions of the gaming operation Abuse of authority The process of expelling a council member has been an extremely difficult, demanding and time consuming one for the council to go through. Expulsion is defined in Article VII, Section 4 of the Siletz Tribal Constitution, which states: The Tribal Council may, by a two-thirds vote of the total members of the Tribal Coun cil, after due notice and an opportunity to be heard, expel any Tribal Council member for neglect of duty or gross misconduct. Section 4 states further that: Any member so expelled shall have the right to appeal the expulsion to the For the reasons explained below, the commission exercised this independent authority and on March 16, 2009, con cluded that Lisa had engaged in miscon duct warranting a significant sanction - she is banned from the casino properties for one year. If another violation occurs, the commission can impose an additional penalty or penalties. Delores Pigsley Tribal Court with complete review of all matters at issue. On April 2, 2009, Lisa’s spokesper son, Kenneth Blacketer, filed an appeal to “grant a stay of the Siletz Tribal Council's expulsion until the Tribal Court issues a decision based on plaintiff’s appeal of 1. Provisions of the Tribe’s settlement respondent’s decision to expel Lisa from agreement with the National Indian the council.” Gaming Commission by repeatedly The Tribal Council has filed a re intruding into the day-to-day affairs sponse to that motion with the court. of casino operations and employee The Tribal Court heard Lisa’s motion matters despite the Tribal attorney’s for a stay on April 22, 2009. directive Of major significance in justifying 2. Provisions of the council’s gaming the council’s decision to expel Lisa were oversight role by repeatedly attempt the findings of the Siletz Tribal Gaming ing to interject her influence over Commission (STGC or commission), casino operations and employees an independent body of the Siletz Tribe 3. The Tribe’s gaming charter by at responsible for regulating the Tribe’s tempting to interject herself into gaming operations to ensure compliance day-to-day operations of the casino with Tribal, federal and applicable state through engaging casino employees regulations. for the purpose of meetings, thereby The STGC has independent author circumventing established protocols ity to investigate any activity implicating 4. The Tribal gaming charter by attempt regulation of Chinook Winds Casino, ing to meddle in casino personnel including the authority to investiga e the matters by requesting personal salary actions of Siletz Tribal Council members and wage information in their gaming oversight role under the 5. The Tribe's gaming charter by inter Siletz Tribal Gaming Enterprise Charter. fering with an official ongoing com If the STGC determines that a council mission investigation by requesting member has violated regulatory provi information, reports, etc., directly sions of Tribal or federal law, the com from employees and others who may mission has the authority to sanction that have provided information to the Tribal Council member. commission Siletz News Letters Policy Siletz News, a publication of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, is published once a month. Our editorial policy encourages input from readers about stories printed in Siletz News and other tribal issues. All letters must include the author s signature, address, and phone number in order to be considered for publication. Siletz News reserves the right to edit any letter for clarity and length, and to refuse publication of any letter or any part of a letter that may contain profane language, libelous statements, personal attacks, or unsubstantiated statements. Not all letters are guaranteed publication upon submission. Published let ters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Siletz News, Tribal employees, or Tribal Council. Please type or write legibly. Letters longer than 450 words may be edited for length as approved by Tribal Council Resolution #96-142. Please note: The general manager of the Siletz Tribe is the editor-in-chief of Siletz News. 2 Siletz News • May 2009 Lisa's misconduct first came to the Tribal Council’s attention because of a posting she made on the siletz.net website after she was elected. The posting was racially derogatory and deemed offensive, inappropriate and unprofessional to nu merous employees, Tribal members and the general population. Also immediately upon her election to office, Lisa engaged in inappropriate interference with Chinook Winds Casino and casino employees, which led to the independent investigation by the com mission that found Lisa had violated the Tribes’ gaming charter and other policies. Specifically, the commission found that Lisa violated: Editor-in-Chief: Brenda Bremner Editor: Diane Rodriquez Assistant: Natasha Kavanaugh Send letters to: Siletz News P.O. Box 549 Siletz, OR 97380-0549 541-444-8291 or 800-922-1399, ext. 1291 Fax: 541-444-2307 E-mail: pias@ctsi.nsn.us 6. Improperly met with casino employ ees without prior approval and in violation of established policies On the charge of racism, there's no need to remind our members that the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians endured more than 100 years of ruthless racism during our own long and tragic Tribal history. It was ironic, therefore, that a member was elected to our council who apparently had no recollection of, or even if she knew cared less about, that history and had no compunction in expressing racist views to others, namely to an important Tribal employee, Jim Kikumoto, an American of Japanese descent. Kikumoto was, for eight years until his recent resignation, a highly competent and valuable general manager of the Siletz Tribe’s Chinook Winds Casino Resort. Lisa could just as easily have made the same kind of discriminatory and racist com ments to revered Sen. Daniel Inouye if she had been present at a meeting with him in her role as council member, since it appears she had no understanding or sensitivity of how her comments were offensive to Ameri can citizens of Japanese ancestry. Inouye, a strong advocate of Tribal rights and sovereignty, happens to be a wounded veteran and recipient of the Medal of Honor, a member of the famed 100,h Battalion/442nd Infantry Regiments composed entirely of Japanese American GIs. Lisa disdained Kikumoto and explic itly sought his eviction from his Siletz job immediately upon her election. The only communication she had with him was to criticize his racial heritage. The charges against Lisa were very serious, not taken lightly by the council and were made in a resolution passed by six council members on Feb. 21, 2009. Lisa agreed at that time to the sched uled hearing date of March 19, 2009, at which time the offenses, along with backup documents, were laid out by Tribal attorney Craig Dorsay. Lisa was represented by Ken Blacketer and some Tribal members who testified on her behalf. See Chairman on next page. Siletz News is free to enrolled | Siletz Tribal members. For all others, | a $12 annual subscription fee applies, i Please make checks payable to CTSI and mail to Siletz News. Name: I Address: ____ Deadline for the June issue is May 11. Submission of articles and photos is encouraged. Please see the Passages Policy on page 24 when sub mitting items for Passages. - Member of the Native American Journalists Association Phone: Change of address: Tribal mem bers - call the Enrollment Department at 541-444-8258 or 800-922-1399, ext. 1258; all others — call the newspa per office.
