You know, our political history is a barometer of how things go south. It’s pretty remarkable. Here’s where the problem began. By the early 70’s, the White people started moving into Mashpee. They already stole and developed New Seabury, heretofore known as South Mashpee, and things started sliding. They never wanted to come around the rotary down Great Neck Road. But when they ventured in, they took over politically, outnumbered us and began erasing us culturally and politically. Those of us who say they don’t like politics apparently aren’t living because everything we do is political. Our relationship with the Creator is the only instance where there is no compromise.
Anyway they never knew what to do or think about us. Thier deference toward us was short lived. And the racism crept in as usual and never left. So here we are. And any respect for our people or our government has diminished beyond recognition, and we can attribute much of it to The Child King.
We have a Tribal Chairman, who is charged with felonies (sound familiar?) and rumored to be testifying
Popular Mashpee Selectman Steve Peters offers commitment by way of the time-honored handshake with Selectman Leo “Benny” Peters as Selectman Harrison Frye looks on. In our political culture, your word was (is) your bond. It is the only certainty anywhere in the world of politics.
against his cousin in July as part of his plea deal. Philly doesn’t deserve that, and we all know that if that’s the case it could be devastating. It’s so outrageous, and the way The Child King carried on when he was threatened with council removal was even more disgraceful. Anyone else would have had the decency to resign to spare us the humiliation. But just like that “other guy,” it’s all about him.
Another quick rewind about our past politics. In the mid ’30’s a Harvard sociologist was researching the governing dynamics of small towns in Massachusetts. Of course, “The Old Indian Towne of Mashpee” received prominence in the report for its remarkable sophistication and foresight. The sociologist said the “Tribal Council hashed out issue differences before the required Town Hall meeting and provided a united front.” They did it that way because state house legislators frequently showed up to spy during the town meetings. That’s called walking in two worlds. We used it for centuries as the primary survival mechanism. And one of our renowned leaders was Steve Peters who leveraged his relationships with Joe Kennedy, the Roosevelt administration and the statehouse power brokers to benefit his people. That’s how it’s supposed to work for tribal leaders who walk in both worlds.
A rare moment. The chairman in his office. Notice the clean desk. No one ever takes a picture with a desk so immaculate. (sigh…)
Unfortunately, we have none of that with Brian Weeden. The only thing you can count on is that he will be absent from even the most basic events and responsibilities. That is the easiest part of the job. He has no interest is visiting with members. The Walk of Honor for Mashpee High School graduates for one. An important milestone for Tribal families. The chairman was somewhere else and assigned no one to the ceremony. Now you will recall during his Peter Pan days on the Youth Council he kept extending the age limit, until he qualified to run for Council. We thought he was gunning for life membership. Everything is a steppingstone for his personal gain.
And once again, serious accusations of racism continue to bubble up at the Mashpee School. As a tribal chairman, and a school committee member, he does nothing. No investigation nothing. He chimed in via zoom for the horrible, videoed bullying of the young girl who went missing. That zoom appearance was on point. But he screwed that up too because he kept talking about himself. Saying ” I’m not hiding, I’m at NCAI.” Obviously, nothing about next steps and preventive measures came out of his mouth. He was hiding or somewhere he shouldn’t have been. Apparently CK ghosted the NCAI conference for days! Much more telling was that the chief of the host tribe for the NCAI conference had an invite only reception. All the players including Aquinnah and Pequot Chairs were there. The Child King was not invited.
So CK and his bestie Lovely Winona were partying down at NCAI while the Tribe burns. We still don’t understand why she was out there. Still in charge of Operations, Brian has failed miserably at running the government. He is oblivious to the need to hire and replace essential managers. How can you run something you don’t understand? So we haven’t had a Tribal Administrator since October 2023. But we never had one. Cuno, Brian’s partner in —–, was on paid vacation for 2 years managing nothing. We have a Comptroller, John Larson, who is Cuno’s boy, collecting $150k a year and can’t produce a budget or the audits needed to keep most of our grants going. If it weren’t for Nelson Andrews, cranking grants we would be on the side of the road with a tin cup. So, for all practical purposes, the comptroller position is vacant. Andrews resigned as Emergency Management Director accepting an important appointment as FEMA liaison to 10 (eastern) tribal nations. Nelson has set a high bar nationally and continues to bring credibility to our tribal brand. The scary thing is that Brian has assigned liaisons Lovely Winona and Bobby to take over Emergency Management, the most self-sufficient department in the Tribe. Can you imagine those two in charge of millions of dollars in
They’re jealousy of Nelson Andrews is so over the top they dispatched Ellen Frye Sharp to spew nonsense about reimbursements. How about finding that $60k that disappeared on your watch “Little Miss Do Not Hire.”
equipment? Boats, generators, trucks and lots of inventory. Ya… nightmarish! We’re still looking for the Pow Wow money Bobby was last seen with. Marita Scott quit to go on to bigger and better things shortly after she tried to fire an incompetent pal of the Child King’s. So, the HR post is vacant. The Housing Director position is vacant, but thankfully, Corine has done a serious heavy lift serving as Interim Director. Rita Pocknett’s departure, though a BIA position, was another blow because she is a well-liked tribal member who headed Indian Health Services. But more importantly, she was a council member who often voted against the Child King regime and CK gleefully expedited her replacement with you know who …ahem. Whatta ya expect? He has no plan, no agenda, he has never helped Tribal members, and has no regrets. It empowered his regime reinforced by his Lady in Waiting, Tribal Attorney Rebeka. The tribal attorney tile is dubious to say the least. She works for the Regime. To review her work ethic warrants a separate post. We will say one thing. When the Genting was paying the tab, she hired more outside counsel than Donald Trump. Again, what does she do for $20K a month? Write resolutions? Advise Brian? Once again it was about him not us.
So, we have 6 Department head vacancies, and The Child King continues to show his disinterest in doing his job..
More signs of government collapse is the ransom and hacking of the tribal internet/email system. So damned ridiculous. Lotta money wasted there when internal IT had it worked out. Brian’s pal Alex is suspected of having his sticky little hands all over this and paying the bill for his boutique law firm. The irony is that the zoom Council meeting calls had just been restored with heightened security. That was a good move toward transparency. But when Winnie’s meeting came up…The Iron Curtain came down. Tribal members could not access the Zoom meeting. Only the lawyers. Again, why all these lawyers? Well, they had a lot to hide. And a lot of misinformation was spewed.
The Tribe’s right to know is at stake and THE ELDERS HAVE MADE CLEAR THAT THEY FEEL THE TRIBE’S RIGHT TO VOTE IS IN JEPROADY. The Elders are hard to fool and for that reason Brian plans to try to move the 2025 election to May, in violation of the Constitution. Wellsa boy! Lookin’ for three extra months’ pay hu? That $35k should go to someone who will work for us.
THE GOOD NEWS!!!
US Senators Warren and Marky serve us and confirm our government-to-government relationship. CK needs to learn from his fellow officers and get to work so his vision extends beyond nonsensical “deer farm” budget requests.
We saved the best for last. Secretary Cassie Jackson and Vice Chairman Carlton Hendricks, Jr continue to do the work. They secured $1million federal appropriations for the Tribal homeless shelter. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Marky worked with Jackson and Hendricks to get it done. This is the second successful collaboration by the Secretary and Vice Chairman. The first was securing the $1.6 million to renovate the Parsonage.
Wednesdays Council meeting should be very interesting. If you can attend in person, you probably should.
Who knows when the Iron Curtain will come down again. Who knows.
