Chukchansi Disenrolls More, Has Manipulated Election

A tribal council election Dec. 1 at the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians in Coarsegold voted in
two new members -- Charles "Charlie" Sargosa and Carl "Buzz" Bushman -- and re-elected Nancy Ayala,
who's been serving as the tribe's chairperson since this fall.

The new election comes about a month after more disenrollments at the rancheria -- 43 tribal members
ousted from a Chukchansi allotment near Hensley Lake. The disenrollments were made even though the
tribe's constitution protects the enrollment of individuals from the Chukchansi allotments -- awarded by the
government in the late 1800s through the early 1900s.

A phrase in the constitution about needing a "special relationship" to remain in the tribe is being
manipulated, putting all Chukchansi people in jeopardy of disenrollment, many tribal members have said.
A new election ordinance was also created in September by tribal council.

The ordinance prohibited at least two candidates from running in the Dec. 1 election, and goes against
Chukchansi's constitution that outlines criteria needed to be a candidate, said Dora Jones, who was elected
last year as the tribe's new vice chair but was never allowed to be seated -- along with the three other
winners of that election -- who are all opposed to recent Chukchansi disenrollments.

The new Chukchansi election ordinance increased the minimum candidate age to 25 -- what is 18 in their
constitution -- and requires all candidates to have attended eight tribal council meetings throughout the
previous election year. The Chukchansi constitution only requires eight meetings for those running for a
tribal council office, not for those running for a "member at large" position.

Other new election ordinance requirements are more vague, including phrases like needing to be in "good
standing" with the tribe to run for office, and demonstrating "active involvement in the affairs of the tribe."
The new Chukchansi tribal council will include the newly-elected Sargosa and Bushman, re-elected Ayala;
Reggie Lewis, who was not up for re-election this year; Karen Wynn and Tracey Brechbuehl, who were
appointed in May to fill the council seats of Jones and Morris Reid, who were suspended from council
shortly after winning last year's election; and Chance Alberta, who lost last year's election and the
subsequent March election for the seat of Harold Hammond's seat (who was also not allowed to be seated
after winning last year's election). Alberta now fills the seventh seat, won by Dixie Jackson last year, who
was also not allowed to be seated on council by others in power.

No charges for February violence -- casino trespassing in March now prosecuted
Many Chukchansi people have expressed frustration that while no arrests have been made regarding a
stabbing and other acts of violence that occurred outside the tribal offices in February, a casino
trespassing charge is now being prosecuted by the district attorney's office.

Read more:
Sierra Star News story on Chukchansi Disenrollment

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT LAUGHER: Honoring the Civil Rights of Native Americans

Dear Justice, you forgot to mention how you stand idly by while civil and human rights are abused by tribes such as PALA, Chukchansi, Redding and Pechanga.   We are pointing at you and LAUGHING...through our tears.


Last week the Department of Justice formally recognized Native American Heritage Month with a program based on this year’s theme “Serving Our People, Serving Our Nation: Native Visions for Future Generations.”  As this month of special recognition of American Indian and Alaska Native peoples comes to a close, it is important to remember that the best way we can honor the contributions of tribal communities is through ongoing collaboration and effective enforcement of the civil rights of Native Americans throughout the country.  The department’s work in this area is a year-round effort, with the active engagement of the Civil Rights Division’s Indian Working Group.

For too long, Native Americans have experienced discrimination and injustice, and the federal government can and must stop such discrimination.  The Indian Working Group, with representatives from every section of the division, is a critical tool in that work.  This collaborative effort elevates enforcement, outreach, and educational opportunities concerning Native American issues within the division, within the department, and throughout the country.

The Indian Working Group is just one tool within the Civil Rights Division when it comes to reducing crime and advancing public safety in Native American communities and the Division continues to increase the number of cases affecting Native Americans.

The department confronts daily challenges to the civil rights of Native Americans, including vicious assaults born of hatred, and threats used to drive Native Americans out of their homes. In parts of Indian country, rates of violent crime are two times, four times, even ten times what they are in other communities.  One in three Indian women reports having been raped.  This is profoundly disturbing, and completely unacceptable.

A core part of safe communities is an effective, accountable police department that reduces crime, ensures respect for the Constitution, and earns the trust of the public it is charged with protecting.  This summer, the department  reached a comprehensive agreement with the City of Seattle regarding the Seattle Police Department’s use of excessive force and concerns about discriminatory policing. Seattle must create a Community Police Commission and invite Native American community input on the Seattle Police Department’s training requirements and policies.

The Civil Rights Division’s first case under the 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was in New Mexico, where the department successfully prosecuted a group of men who assaulted a 22-year-old Navajo man with a developmental disability and defaced his body with white supremacist and anti-Native American symbols.

The division enforces laws that protect the freedom to practice one’s religion, free from discrimination or persecution while incarcerated. In September, the District Court in South Dakota agreed with us that Native American inmates must be permitted to use tobacco in religious ceremonies in prison, without second-guessing whether tobacco is traditional to Native American religious practices.

In 2010, when minorities were hit particularly hard by the housing crisis, we created a Fair Lending Unit to address credit discrimination.  Particularly in communities where unemployment rates were already high, as with many Native American communities, it is critical that we remain vigilant in enforcing fair housing and fair lending laws to ensure they do not suffer even further.

Using our authority under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, we work to ensure state courts and other federally funded programs are free of discrimination and accessible to everyone, regardless of language – including Native Americans.

Finally, the division continues to enforce and defend the laws that enable access to the paramount expression of our democracy – the equal right to vote. The division enforces federal voting laws that protect Native Americans from discrimination based on race or membership in a language minority group.  We have been active in enforcing and defending voting laws in Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, and Alaska.

We do this work, not only because it is our legal responsibility as a government, but because it is our moral responsibility as members of a broader community.  We have the rule of  law and the will of the federal government behind us and we will continue to protect the civil rights of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

BIA's Larry Echohawk, After Destroying Lives at San Pascual, RESIGNS.

Screw the Alito Family, then resign. Good to see you GO, Mr. Echo Hawk. You have left a legacy of destruction of Indians, congratulations.

The top official for the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs is resigning to accept a full-time leadership position with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ending three years with the department that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says "opened a new chapter" in U.S. relationships with American Indian tribes.

Larry Echo Hawk, the assistant secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, is being appointed to the Quorum of the Seventy, which is the Mormon Church's third-highest governing body. The announcement from the church came Saturday during its semi-annual general conference in Salt Lake City.

President Barack Obama appointed Echo Hawk, 63, to oversee the BIA in 2009.

"With Larry Echo Hawk's leadership, we have opened a new chapter in our nation to nation relationships with American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments, accelerated the restoration of tribal homelands, improved safety in tribal communities, resolved century-old water disputes, invested in education, and reached many more milestones that are helping Indian nations pursue the future of their choosing," Salazar said in a statement.

During Echo Hawk's tenure, the Interior Department settled a $3.4 billion class-action lawsuit with Native American landowners over mismanaged royalties. The settlement reached in late 2009 is under appeal.

Salazar said he would work with Echo Hawk to ensure a smooth transition within the BIA. It was not clear who would be appointed to oversee the BIA after Echo Hawk's departure.

Echo Hawk, a member of the Pawnee Nation, was elected Idaho attorney general in 1990, the first Native American to be elected to the position in any state. He ran unsuccessfully in 1994 for Idaho governor as a Democrat.

Related Links:

http://www.originalpechanga.com/2011/01/dept-of-interiors-larry-echo-hawk-rules.html

http://www.originalpechanga.com/2010/03/larry-echo-hawk-to-decide-san-pascual.html

http://www.originalpechanga.com/2009/04/mormon-to-head-bureau-of-indian-affairs.html

Feds or State Justice DO not enforce the rules in CA Indian Country.

The last in a series of articles by Jim Marino. It qualified for a Moron Alert on the website of Pechanga Chairman Mark Macarro's COUSIN. That usually means it touched a nerve.

The DOJ needs to take a closer look at California.

I thought it was an opportune time to talk about its origins, the failures and inadequacy of Congress in enacting the Indian Gaming and Regulatory Act in 1988, and the political process and corruption involved in the negotiation and execution of the 59 original compacts, negotiated in California by now deposed governor Gray Davis who received massive contributions for his 1998 election from the illegal Indian casinos operating here before March 2000.

Once Indian gambling was introduced into California I went on to discuss the impacts on communities where they are located and some of the irony of tiny recognized “tribes” of one or two people, or perhaps a handful of members, often tracing only fractional descent [if any] to a real California Native Indian Band and claiming they were sovereign governments because they have been “recognized” by bureaucrats in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. These tiny “sovereign governments” pay no taxes and provide no services or infrastructure to their “tribe”. Rather they depend on the public services and infrastructure paid for by non-Indian taxpayers and the federal government for their welfare. I discussed how these claims of “sovereignty” were not only used to evade paying the taxes needed to fund local public services and infrastructure, but also used to evade all the many laws enacted for the protection of the public, customers in Indian casinos and businesses, their workers and the environment and quality of life in the host communities. I discussed the false economy of Indian gambling casinos that promise “jobs” and claim to be a destination “resort” bringing in tourist dollars when, in actuality these are unprotected, transient and generally low paying “jobs” that are created. This job creation is far-outweighed by the fact that the many gamblers losing money at an Indian casino, come from nearby communities where they are not spending those discretionary dollars in non-Indian businesses. These nearby non-Indian businesses often cannot compete with an Indian casino or business that pays no taxes, operates above the laws and which cannot be sued by customers, workers (or anyone else) for their misdeeds because of an outdated court-created legal doctrine giving Indian tribes, their casinos, businesses, agents and employees complete immunity from lawsuit no matter how outrageous their actions or conduct may be.

That in addition to siphoning millions of dollars in discretionary money from gamblers drawn to these casinos from nearby communities these patrons are gambling with money they often cannot afford to lose. That produces increases in crimes of theft, robbery and embezzlement, divorce and family neglect, financial problems, foreclosures and bankruptcies, gambling addictions, substance abuses, even increased suicides that are an inevitable result of the introduction of Indian casino gambling. I quoted Warren Buffet who astutely pointed out a few years ago that there has always been gambling activities. The problem with Indian gambling casinos is that they have made gambling much more convenient so those losing vast amounts of money do not have to travel great distances to places like Las Vegas to do READ MORE

Department of Justice Creates 30 new Prosecutors to Indian Country, OMITS California, where crime runs RAMPANT

The U.S. Department of Justice is dispatching 30 new prosecutors to jurisdictions that serve Indian Country. The new hires represent the department's first specific increase in Indian Country prosecutors in almost a decade, and they will target violent crime.

Smith is hopeful it will pay off.

"This is a big improvement, and if they follow through, it will be even better," he said. "A lot of times they say they're going to do things and they don't. This time it looks like they're really serious."

In announcing the $6 million initiative, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said that violent crimes, particularly against women and children, continue to devastate tribal communities at rates much higher than the national average.

The new prosecutors, along with a law enforcement grant program and the promise of an even bigger effort in fiscal 2011, are seen as a part of a new government commitment to fulfilling trust responsibility to the tribes.

Pine Ridge will also benefit from a pilot program pairing prosecutors with a victims' advocate. The Navajo Nation in New Mexico and the Menominee Tribe in Wisconsin are also getting the new two-person teams.

South Dakota U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson said his office wants to work more closely with tribal prosecutors, and has offered technical assistance to the Oglala Sioux to ease the overburdened court system.

"They have such a high volume of cases," he said. "Obviously at the tribal court level, if you're not addressing the simple assaults the concern is that, over time, those simple assaults become aggravated assaults."

Smith said that with gangs, officers often concentrate on minor crimes and aren't able to keep repeat and violent offenders off the street.

"We can't keep records on them, (so) we can't get the more serious crimes prosecuted," said Smith, estimating the tribe's police department is at least 25 years behind others in the country.

Arizona received the highest number of the 30 new prosecutors with five, followed by Montana with three, and New Mexico, Wyoming and South Dakota with two. Sixteen other districts (Alaska, Colorado, eastern Michigan, western Michigan, Minnesota, southern Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, northern New York, North Dakota, northern Oklahoma, western Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, eastern Washington and western Washington) received one prosecutor each.

The Justice Department's 2011 budget request includes an additional $22 million for a grant program to be used to hire and train tribal police officers, and purchase equipment.

Temecula Indians and AIRRO to Host Forum on Human and Civil Rights Issues in Indian Country

Temecula Indians and AIRRO to Host Forum
on Human and Civil Rights Issues

Temecula, CA- Temecula Indians and the American Indian Rights and Resources Organization ("AIRRO"), a Native American civil rights group, will host a forum regarding human and civil rights issues in Indian Country. The forum is scheduled for April 24, 2010 in Temecula, California.

The forum will include an open discussion on the growing number of human and civil rights violations that have impacted Indian Country within the last decade. Forum attendees will be invited to provide testimony regarding the impact such violations have had on their lives.
Those who testify will also be asked to provide feedback regarding the United States' handling of rights violations in Indian Country and offer recommendations as to what actions tribes and the federal government can take to protect individuals from further infringements on their rights and liberties.

"We expect that the Temecula forum will provide insight to the growing number of human and civil rights violations committed by tribal officials, as well as the United States' failure to uphold and enforce treaties and laws enacted to protect individual Indians from such gross and egregious acts," stated Temecula Indian and AIRRO President John Gomez, Jr.

The testimony and recommendations provided will be compiled for submission to the Department of State, the Department of Justice, the Interior Department and the United Nations Human Rights Council which has begun a year-long review of the United States’ human rights record, with particular attention to be paid to the United States' treatment of its indigenous American Indian population.

For more information on the April 24th forum, as well as the April 17th session in Sacramento, California, please visit www.airro.org or send an email to mail@airro.org .

You may also submit testimony or provide recommendations by sending an electronic version to mail@airro.org. Hard copies may be sent to the AIRRO address provided at the organizations website.