Beginning May 1, enrolled Tribal members will be able to go online or fill out a paper application to receive the disbursements from the American Rescue Plan Act. Allocations of $750 for youth up to 17and $1,750 for adults 18 and over. The only no vote was Councilman David Weeden.
An Interesting discussion was the report of statehouse lobbying efforts by the Hickey firm. The firm gets a flat fee of $12,500 a month which is a good deal for the Tribe. Because hourly billing is brutal. But most who know the process know that lobbyists rarely bill hourly. Nonetheless, we were raped by Genting law firms under the Cromwell administration so thankfully we are not going through that nightmare. Hickey has been working for 6 months. Their report was about sports betting and how we’re ” doing really well” with that. The marijuana opportunity, likewise. Aboriginal fishing rights were a little more detailed but there was no discussion of a means of enforcement of punishment for harassing and assaulting Natives while lawfully fishing. Councilman Aaron Tobey found a number of areas where the Mashpee Wampanoag were excluded and had been excluded from participating in projects (for 5 years) where we would receive major benefits.
So the lobbyist opened his presentation with the statement that he knew the Council was “unfamiliar” with the legislative process. That was telling, but also dangerous because there’s always someone in the room who is familiar. He praised Councilman David Weeden for finding “15” instances where the Mashpee Wampanoag or Native Americans were not mentioned in legislation….an intern could have done that in10 minutes. Left out were the tangibles. Where is the legislation or the amendments? Who are the sponsors in the House and the Senate? Where is the legislation in the committee process in the House and Senate ( some bills have 3-4 committee references which is a killer). Is your amendment attached to a bunch of bills? When is it coming to the floor for a vote? Which reading is it on… Who’s trying to kill your bills? When is the conference committee if needed? Which council member or staff is tracking the progress of everything? And there are many more things to watch. When you don’t know…it’s a boon for the lobbyist who tell you, this will take longer than we thought.
Don’t worry about the activity report attached to the invoice if you don’t understand what the hell is going on.
By the way, getting on calls with senators is an old trick. That’s what lobbyists do. They let you chat it up with a Senator or Rep but how long are you on the hook before you realize ain’t nothing happening? Another thing, they dumped the #3 rated congressional lobbying firm in the country with 120 lobbyists because they said they were not delivering. Well, no one told the people what to do. Course Genting was in charge. They are in charge again…in DC. Genting. In 12 years they never got our land in trust. They got us nothing. Geting is not our friend. The $850m debt looms waiting to gobble up anything we would make on the lucrative sports betting unless things change.
If you don’t know what to ask, it sounds glorious.
But Councilman Carlton Hendrick, Jr.asked the question. “How long is this going to take?” He got no answer. They hired Hickey for another 6 months.
Some good news was the CDC is incorporated..again. The Tribe can get down to business.
Lotta movement on the Council agenda. That’s a good thing.
