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
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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
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Siletz, OR 97380-0549
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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.
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