Monthly Archives: November 2011

Genting denied association with Mashpee

A lawyer for Genting told a Florida lawmaker recently, that the  controversial  gambling giant had ” nothing to do with the Mashpee.” How interesting.

The Boston Magazine article that talks about how Genting would not waste the ($17 million) investment in Mashpee in a wide open lucrative market like Massachusetts. Really? Another inaccuracy in the article is that the interest rate on that loan is listed on the few documents released as %16.5, not %15.  That means it’s probably higher than that in light of  the hundreds of thousands of dollars supposedly charged for wire transfers that ended 3 months ago. The article did say that Cedric Cromwell would not comment on the  actual amount of the debt. Meaning the debt is  at at least $24 million. The reporter also forgot to mention that this incredible debt, that has produced nothing but embarrassment, was acquired over the course of 2 years.  Two years!

Cedric Cromwell with Fall River Mayor and the whereabouts of $3.4 million deposit on the Fall River boondoggle, is still a mystery.

He also forgot to mention that the Marshall administration ( that included Cedric Tobey  Cromwell who had to be told to get on the tribal rolls ) finalized recognition at a cost of  $15 million over 10 years.  The money was used to hire professionals to get the job done.  That’s how White corporations do it in the USA. After 30 years of rebuke, the Mashpee got wise.  Course we’re not supposed to do that.

Jack Abramoff

Another inaccuracy…the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe never hired Jack Abramoff. He mentioned the tribe in an email.  By then the work was all done by pros hired by the tribe during that 10 years prior to recognition. And if campaign contributions to congressman were illegal, everyone would be in jail.

While the Carcieri Supreme Court decision dealt a decisive blow to the tribe’s ability to complete it’s sovereignty and get land into trust,  Cedric Tobey Cromwell was clueless about the devastating  February 2009 decision and  failed to act  quickly to shore up the tribe’s position. Treasurer Mark Harding, who is amazingly silent these days, and Cedric busied themselves firing the very lawyers who knew what to do.  Then, they never contacted our number one advocate, US Senator Ted Kennedy, who would of cleared the way for us. They had no idea how serious the Supreme Court decision was.  Almost 3 years later, Cromwell is running around Washington making silly speeches, running up the charge card, chatting about the need to correct the law…when the bill has no companion in the ( republican) US House.  That means the Carcieri fix is dead on arrival. Can’t you see Cedric working the bill in the US House? And there’s no way to get land into trust as mandated by the new state law.

Here we are basically destitute, because of a gross malfeasance and misfeasance by the current administration and not a single economic development program in place to put our people to work. We have digressed dramatically,  actually loosing numerous grants put in place by the previous administration, because this administrators can’t refile the damned things or miss deadlines.

The Mashpee Wampanoag is now experiencing a recurring nightmare. Because there’s no way the tribe benefits from a commercial casino, even if it could meet the new laws requirements,  which it cannot. That is mentioned in every newspaper article and television news story.  No land in in trust, no casino license.

The bill is what Reel Wamps said it would be months ago.  A bad deal for the tribal members, because there is no guarantee  that members would share in the profits….because it’s commercial.  And the chairman must promise not to build a casino under the federal protection. No tribe does this, for obvious reasons.  This kind of exploitation is so bad the Congress passed a FEDERAL LAW protecting vulnerable Indian nations from this pattern of abuse that popped up all over the place.

You cannot blame the state for protecting the interests of the Commonwealth, they have waged that war against us for centuries.  But when the tribal leader is a party to the assault…that’s an atrocity we cannot fault the White man or the Black man for.

The deal with the previous South African investors  involving Middleboro, that included a large group of folks brought together  by Herb Strather, was a good deal.  That $15 million spent over that 10 year period paid for lawyers, lobbyists, to get recognition and grants and the environmental clearance necessary to build a resort casino and allow the land in Mashpee and Middleboro to be placed into trust.  Carcieri stopped all that, again, Cedric had no strategy for a ” fix”. They were too busy trying to seek revenge against Marshall. That’s why  we do not have a  ” principle” reservation in Mashpee and have a ” fake ” Tribal Court, and have to go to court in Barnstable or the federal court for any redress.

The deal also called for the tribe to pay for infrastructure in Middleboro, which is standard for any kind of huge project like this.  The entity  bringing hundreds of thousands of people into a community has to pay for the stress it places on roads, law enforcement etc….So that $250 k to Middleboro was a small price to pay for a casino where roughly 75 -80 % of the profits would go to the tribe.    And the investors who would build the resort casino would get only 6% of the profits over 20 years.  The interest on the loans by Strather’s group and the South Africans was %6.   How about the math on that?  That was an interesting piece of information left out of the equation as the article talked about Cedric being saddled with cleaning up the Glenn Marshall ” mess .”

Glenn Marshall left the tribe in good shape. Whatever he did wrong in the eyes of the US Government, he will have paid for .

Cedric however…that’s something else.  The article accurately talked about the bags under Cedric’s eyes and how he can’t sleep more than a few hours a night. No doubt it’s contributing to his other serious health problems.

But with a record like this, who would feel sorry for him?

 

 

 

Where has John gone ?

Slow Turtle (John Peters)

Commissioned by the Mashantucket Pequots (Foxwoods Casino), this life size bust is of the late John Peters, Supreme Medicine Man of the Wampanoag Nation as well as past head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs for Massachusetts. Two busts were cast. One is in the Pequot Museum and Research Center at Foxwoods. The other was a gift to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. 

Slow Turtle is holding a child, symbolizing his life-long devotion to his people.

The above is the official explanation and designated placement of the extraordinary bust cast of Mashpee Wampanaog John Peters. It has been a source of pride for the tribe because Peters like so many others, loved his people and made a serious contribution to the well being of all Native people …but his people came first. Tribal members ask,” Where is John?”

The bust was recently taken by his daughter Anita.  Once again, she took from

John "Slow Turtle" Peters, and daughter Aquaya

the tribe and claimed it as her personal property.  And the damned fools let her walk out of the office with it,   without explanation. The last thing we need right now is one of our inspirational leaders stolen, erasing another part of our important history. There’s no end the complete deterioration of our ways.

Knit one, pearl two, Anita.

Are you kidding ?

Mashpee–It’s hard to know where to start.

Okay let’s start with the fact that the Tribal Council has not met in 5 weeks.  You can look at it two ways.  It saved the tribe about $6,000, or it’s $6,000 the Council didn’t have to pay itself  to have closed executive sessions where they do for themselves instead of the members of the tribe.

And guess what? They don’t intend to meet until November 22.  Two months without meetings. A Constitutional violation of high order. They just keep racking up the violations, and believe it or not Cedric has about 2 supporters left.  We’ll tell you about them later.

Okay, how about they don’t want to have meetings because they fired Noni …they don’t want to answer any questions.  How about they don’t answer any questions anyway.

Or how about what does  it matter… when  for a tribe of 1700 legitimate members, the debt is so enormous that $6,000 is miniscule compared to the $25 million of debt to Genting, accrued over the last 2 years by the Cromwell administration. And Genting has walked away. Other than their salaries and about $8,000 a month to Gordon Harris to produce that propaganda rag called the Mittark filled with picture after picture of Cedric on glossy paper  “so Not Mashpee” written by a White PR person.  It is awful. It has nothing in it about our people. Just a whole bunch of made up cultural events that the true Elders know nothing about….because the current administration has to make up events to make them Mashpee.   The Mittark  does not uplift our members.  It is a misleading and disgraceful piece of propaganda designed to prop up and cover up  an administration that that cannot produce one shred of  evidence of progress or expenditure of the millions it has received and spent in our names. How about two months of garbage in the Mittark about the $12 million government building USDA grant , that the previous administration is responsible for.

Also, the very nice White man who is the contractor at the water treatment facility  on Meeting House Road, funded by the US Department of Energy for the tribe,  proudly admits that Mark Harding is the subcontractor on that contract thinking that’s a good thing.  Never mind that people are going to jail all over the country, because you cannot sit on a governing body and take federal revenues that benefit you, your family or your  company. Sigh…

How about the Council  should mandate that all workers are Native on the contract.  Novel idea eh?  Now it would have been automatic with the previous administration.

But then again, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is the employment agency for Wampworx don’t you know. Not  that the many men and women who need work and are fully qualified to work on projects for the tribe are actually encouraged to participate.  It is a disgrace.

Okay, what’s new you say. What is the state or the Federal government doing? Well, somethings going on because the money has dried up.  Genting is sending nothing to Mashpee and spending millions in New York and Florida.

Meanwhile people who have been hired are being fired because there is no cash flow.  Wow, what a surprise. So Winnie is out and so is Gail ( Hendricks) Hill is out . You best believe the kids are happy Gail Hill is gonezo.

Joanne Frye is supposedly being fired after years of   covering up the Cromwell (Tobey) nightmare and actually bringing them to power with the help of her sisters Ca and Yvonne. Joanne does have a conscience because her last stand was against the non-Mashpee in charge of programs impacting tribal members very intimately, and the non-Mashpee tribal  Tribal Administrator who is going along with the non-tribal member who is unable to serve the tribe or its children. Too  much talking, on sensitive information leaking out concerning tribal families.  There are no secrets in Mashpee. None. And lawsuits are eminent.

Mashpee know each other and handle things their way.

What the hell is Cedric doing in Mississippi with the Choctaw?  Begging for money? Who would loan us money to pay off 85 million that the Cromwell administration has racked up….especially when we have no way to pay it back.  No casino, no businesses. Outsiders run their mouths and cause problems. Joanne couldn’t take it.  Now that Noni’s gone.  She’s the last one left. Who would think it would have come to this.  Well it’s here.

Not a single officer is in the office to talk with tribal members. Course they don’t work, ever.  They’re trolling across the country spending what’s left of the Genting money, looking for revenues to keep the pay checks coming without LIT.

And we’re still waiting for Laura Tobey’s investigative report. Stop laughing.

Minnie Ah Hah will finish this investigation.