Friday, February 13, 2009

Santa Ysabel Chairman Johnny Hernandez rebuked by Inter-Tribal Court

Judge says Hernandez overstepped his authority. Reinstates Vice Chairman with back wages. Hernandez needs to inform all of those that he told that he had fired Brandie Taylor, that she in back. Good work Judge.

The chairman of the Santa Ysabel Band of Mission Indians cannot unilaterally remove the tribe's chairwoman from her elected post, an inter-tribal court judge ruled this week.

Chairman Johnny Hernandez and Vice Chairwoman Brandie Taylor are involved in a bitter, ongoing feud over the tribe's casino and other issues. Taylor has said that the chairman excluded her from casino businesses and that he has fired tribal government officials without due process.In a letter dated Dec. 29, 2008, Hernandez told Taylor that he had decided to remove her from her duties for "blatant insubordination."

Taylor sued Hernandez for reinstatement in the Inter-Tribal Court in Rincon. The court's judge, Anthony Brandenburg, ruled Wednesday in Taylor's favor."The court concludes that Chairman Hernandez's act of dismissing the vice chairwoman was beyond his scope of his constitutional authority and far exceeds his powers as chairman," Brandenburg wrote in his decision

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i bet you johnny hernandez will still recall her and claim soveriegn immunity even from the tribal courts, because the tribal court only interprets their own tribal constitution. he'll say he interprets its differently.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't be surprised that he may try to have her disenrolled and even if the intertribal court has juridiction, he will say that sovereignty trumps it.

Some may say we have a bad attitude towards the sovereignty of Indian tribes but sovereignty seems more and more to be wielded like a club against any kind of descent.

I do hope I am wrong about still another possible unjust disenrollment situation.

But even if disenrollment doesn't happen, will the chairman yield to the intertribal court's decision?

just do it said...

The SOVEREIGNTY word allows these Tribes to do their dirty and corrupt work, highly overused word,but it works.

Anonymous said...

I am A sy Tribal member, who lives on the rez, it is unfortunate that our dirty laundry is aired for all to see, unfortunate, but neccesary.
we are a very poor tribe, our roads are crap, and many of us live without many things that we should have....
we see our chairmen removing the one voice who lets all the tribal whats going on with our tribe.
our vice chair has been through a great deal of struggles,besides being unjustly fired, to havig bheart problems, yet still manages to keep us tribal members informed.
My hat is of to brandie, for having the strength to stand up to a currupt administration, to battle her own health issues, raising her kid, and for being a warrior. I watch our elders struggle without heat, or a real home, while our tribal administraters spend there days driving ther New cars and suvs back and forth on the rez.
it must be nice to have so much money that you can affored to switch cars 5 times a day when they live a block away, I counted six times one day that our office administrater drove home, changed vheicles, and returned to the office one block away.
maybe it might be in m y tribes best intrests to care for our elders before pampering our government, 60,000 a year to do almost nothing ha......

Thank you for your strength Brandie, you have my vote if you run for chairwoman...
respectfully,

Spirithorse