I'm putting the BULLSHIT money quote up top so you can see what crap the Chukchansi Tribal Council spews:
"We hope that our neighboring communities understand the complexities of a sovereign nation and the democratic process," wrote the group led by Lewis in a prepared statement. "As a sovereign nation, we have to take tribal membership and the leadership of the tribe very seriously. The actions of the tribal council are according to our laws and regulations and essential to ensuring the historical integrity of our membership."
OP: Bear in mind that Chuckchansi has been pressuring the "neighboring communities to side with them against North Fork Rancheria.
If they as a sovereign nation took membership OR leadership seriously, they wouldn't have terminated 70% of their citizens, and they would have accepted the tribes decision to seat Reid and Jones. And they wouldn't have had to pay people to come vote.
The actions of their council CAN'T be according to the laws and regs because some people would be out.
Chukchansi tribal members Karen Wynn and Tracey Brechbuehl were appointed to fill the council seats of Morris Reid and Dora Jones during a meeting held May 17 at the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians.
The appointments were made after Reid and Jones were removed from council earlier this month for "neglect of duty" and "gross misconduct," according to the group led by Reggie Lewis, tribal council chairman seated at the Rancheria.
"They removed us, but they never sat us," Jones said, a winner of the Dec. 3 election whose swear-in for the new term, along with the other three winners, was not recognized by the Lewis group. "My question would be, 'How do they appoint someone to serve the remainder of my term then? ... Because there was such controversy over this election (Dec. 3), why wouldn't you put it back out to the tribal membership (to decide who will serve on council)?"
Of the 11 candidates that ran for four seats in the Dec. 3 election, Wynn and Brechbuehl were among the bottom vote-getters. Brechbuehl received 86 votes and Wynn got 110, far behind the winners: Reid (276 votes), Jones (262), Harold Hammond (228) and Dixie Jackson (175). These four winners, who have not been allowed to be seated at the rancheria, are against recent tribal disenrollments led by the Lewis group.
In 2008, Wynn and Brechbuehl were removed from the tribe's enrollment committee for ethics and enrollment ordinance violations, according to removal letters sent to them after tribal council hearings, signed by Reid, tribal council chairman at the time, and Joe Alberta, former tribal council secretary.
According to the removal letters, Brechbuehl's violations included inappropriate conversation involving sexuality with employees of the tribal enrollment department during work and sharing inappropriate pictures with employees of the enrollment department; collecting a stipend for meetings of the enrollment committee in which she was the only committee member present and permitting non-committee staff access to confidential enrollment information.
Wynn's violations included "participating in enrollment committee votes concerning the enrollment status of immediate family members," "falsifying enrollment records of family members" and placing enrollment files "without open disclosure and decisions on the record by the enrollment committee."
In 2008, both were barred for two years from holding a leadership position with the tribe and not allowed to attend tribal meetings for one year.
Last year, an appointment was also made to a fill a seat won in the 2010 election by Patrick Hammond, who was removed shortly after winning and replaced by appointee Nokomis Hernandez.
Although Reid and Jones have been holding separate meetings with the other Dec. 3 winners, they were "removed" from council because the group led by Lewis believed the council in place prior to the Dec. 3 election -- which included Reid and Jones -- should remain seated until a new election could be held for Hammond's contested seat -- won March 10 by Lewis.
Chance Alberta, who lost the Dec. 3 and March 10 election, has remained as treasurer and head of Chukchansi Inc.
The fate of the seat won Dec. 3 by Jackson, who was not on council during the prior term, remains in question. OP: Uh, it's almost JUNE, how STUPID is the Chuckchansi council?
