Stop circling us Alex. You’re making us dizzy.
So the Tribal Council has been planning to overhaul the website and server among other IT tasks. And guess who is eyeing that? That’s right Alex Rodriguez ! Busy little fellow isn’t he? The guy would have access to everything wouldn’t he? All that sensative stuff.
Information Technology is well, the most influencial thing is our lives. If you control IT, you’re all powerful. Just what we need.
Alex ….you devil you!
We see you Alex !
So Alex Rodriquez (and a Black lady) showed up at the government center in a black suburban and headed to the second floor of the Tribal Council government center today probably to see his friend David Greendeer the Tribal Administrator. Or maybe to meet with others…we don’t know…so we are not going to spread “misinformation.” Rodriguez, a consultant who brokers tribal businesses, was central to the controversy over the Tribal 8a effort put forward by Greendeer at the council meeting in early March. Essentially, Super 8a status establishes contract preferences for businesses owned by a tribe. It’s a lucrative game because big businesses can partner with tribal-owned businesses and oftentimes get gargantuan no-bid contracts. Of course, if you’re a broker like Rodriquez, it’s a cash cow. But it’s like being an insurance agent. You have to keep getting new clients.
Anyway, the Council agreed to “allow Greendeer to accept 8A contracts on behalf of the tribe.” They met Friday and discussed the Super8a. Greendeer was explaining it. He’s worried about ” misinformation.” So Winnie questioned the TA asking why he and Alex originally said they would put up the $200 K for the 8a but when the Tribe got “all this money” all of a sudden we are paying Alex $200 k. The TA said that there would be no payout of the budget on anything without Council authorization. That’s what he said but we don’t wanna spread any “misinformation.” Of course, that was an appropriation in the budget for the CDC. Nelson, a Council member and a member of the CDC said he did not ask for that. So you may be wondering why the mysterious Alex showed up. We are too. They probably think the coast is clear, maybe not.
Message to Alex, we are not yahoos ripe for the taking. But we don’t want to spread any “misinformation.”
More importantly, the comptroller is helping to pull together a real budget for Council review very soon. Let’s see what is in the plan. Sorry, we dropped the ball about Comptroller John who has been on board for two or three weeks. The poor guy was already having difficulty with Marie which comes as no surprise.
The most important thing to many tribal members is financial assistance from federal funds.VC Carlton Hendricks, Jr increased the total payout ESTIMATE for ages 0-17 $750, 18 + $1,750 TO BE FINALIZED AFTER COUNCIL REVIEW OF THE BUDGET balance.
You know, the Council members, even the ones you don’t agree with are doing their best. They are trying to get along and doing a lot of clean-up. It won’t hurt to call them or staff members and say thank you before complaining. We are all relations. No one cares about us but us ( especially the outsiders). Thank them for their work. Maybe you can help. It feels really good to help.
High Anxiety
To be honest, Marie Stone dominated all of last week as the Tribe and the Tribal Council staff awaited the Council’s decision on her future as a treasurer. Well, as you know, Marie is complicated. The circumstances surrounding her “final straw moment” brought things to a head.
Marie’s downfall is of her own making.
Here’s the short version of what happened: The TA asked for the audit needed to facilitate the housing grant that she had been holding up for 10 months. The finance staff and the accountant completed it but Marie never gave it to the TA. He found out. Asked her for it, she went off in a scathing email to the TA. The header: RESIGNATION. It was laced with curses…the most potent was “mother fucker.” Marie finally went too far. We won’t go into detail, but let’s just say the majority of the Council said
” She’s gut ta go.”
The Wednesday meeting (Marie was absent) was the start of the effort and after the meeting, the Council went into executive session. Thursday morning she was locked out of the building. She was let in, got into her office. Grabbed some papers and left. Friday (she was absent again despite a demand that she show up) was the day to decide next steps.
Thank God It was Friday
So on Friday, the Tribal Council went through a lengthy strategic planning session which we will discuss later….and we have to say the council conducted itself like a deliberative body. Absent were the nasty snide remarks and unnecessary comments that dominate the meetings. Instead, they actually collaborated and joked even when they disagreed. You can guess why.
Marie was put on administrative leave without pay for two weeks but that does not appear to be the end of the story.
Stay tuned.
Alright people….time to go on the offensive
So lotta dangerous stuff happening. Literally.
The Tribe put Elders first by giving them preferential access to the new homes. Now, it must be proactive by protecting them.
At tribal housing, there were two troubling incidents.
The Shooting.
Course nothing happened, no investigation by the Tribe or Mashpee Police Department. The talk on the street was pretty hostile and the blame for inaction went to Kevin Frye…for his typical “do nothing say nothing response”. The lack of security in the community dominated by elders has been a long-standing concern. Nothing happens. Not Good.
Carbon monoxide leak This is another emergency that could have killed an elder. Poor plumbing, septic, and construction overall are the culprits. Another close call that should never have happened.
So the Tribal Council is aware of the shoddy work done by the Cromwell administration and is going through the homes assessing and repairing. The big task is finishing the remaining homes with the quality and care worthy of their occupants.
ICWA the silent beast. Huge huge problems here that are consistent. We will not detail them because it only hurts the kids who are not being properly served. We all know who they are and can blame no one but ourselves because it keeps on happening over and over. Again we have to be proactive before the worst happens.
Hail Hail the TA
More substance Mr. Greendeer. No more magic acts…. Ta-dah!
Ok, so David Greendeer has been here three months. He finally had a staff meeting Tuesday and it was different no doubt. He also had a strategic planning meeting with the Council members the day before. Absent from that meeting was Rita Pocknett (on sick leave), Tah Tah ( she called in sick saying she had a headache) Winnie, and Yvonne (who was out of town). There isn’t much to report according to three sources. Other than the app that he wanted council members to plug into it was rather vague without much of a framework to fill in. The staff meeting appeared to be a last-minute thing.
We all know that a new TA would normally hold a staff meeting within a month of getting on board. It was ” ceremonial,” he said. During a presentation, he used the Ho Chunk language on flip cards. Ta daaah!
Lot of confused looks at that meeting.
He promised a more “formal” meeting soon. Sigh.
So as we said a month ago, the April 8 meeting will allow tribal members to talk about their priorities. In an all-day meeting, let’s hope the council has the agenda organized for discussion so we are talking about issues in some order.
We need to be proactive to avoid crisis.
No meeting tonight because
One of many renditions of the casino that never was.
Some Council members are meeting in Taunton tonight ( Wednesday) with, guess who? Genting. We would like to think the Gaming Authority is negotiating down the horrendous $850 million dollar debt. But that might be too good to be true. You may recall we are being sued again about land in trust.. We have “preservation of the reservation(s),” whatever doublespeak that is. Genting has to do better with the propaganda. You see whichever way it goes, we lose. Taunton is their land. Whatever is built there, a slot dump or some mishmash casino generates money that goes toward the debt. All the lawyers work for Genting. And they’re not going to tell us a damned thing. They’re about getting paid. We will never see a dime.
We seem to be back to one Tribal Council meeting a month to avoid facing the Tribal members.
On a good note, the Council meets on Monday to work on the strategic plan for the Tribe. Let’s hope we get something that makes sense.
The reminder about 2 weeks ago…..nothing has changed
We don’t have a budget, a comptroller, or land in trust. But as usual, we have a problem. Last night the council acting as what’s called an 8A voted to hire Alex Rodriquez (not the baseball player) to help broker the tribe for contracts. The effort began unraveling because all council members were not included in the decision to hire Rodriquez, a close business associate of the new TA, David Greendeer. Now, that in itself is not unusual, professionals bring people on who they have a good working relationship for obvious reasons. Trouble is the mysterious Rodriquez was never vetted nor were any of the usual hiring processes followed. His credentials, whatever they are, were never presented or validated.
Greendeer has done little to manage tribal operations during his 2 months on the job.
So…..the Tribe would pay Mr. Mist $200k to do what the CDC has been working on forever.. They are totally capable of doing 8A. Totally.
Greendeer’s presentation on the project last night was nonsensical and hard to follow. Of course, Mr. Mist talked of the urgency of getting on board and missed opportunities. For you Mr. Mist. For You!
Councilwoman Rita Gonsalves raised a number of red flags. And thankfully her business and administrative experience made her challenge the lack of transparency.
Please bow your heads
The only Council member missing was Rita Pocknett. The rest sat in there with their heads bowed throughout.
Tribal members walked away from the Sunday meeting more confused than when they came in. There were a lot of members at this in-person meeting. More than have attended in a long long time.
So let’s start with our favorite villain. Tah Tah. Tah Tah was supposed to present a draft budget. Course she didn’t present anything. White man presented an audit that we already knew about. It covered our $750 m (and a few million) debt to Genting (via the three Genting subsidiaries) through June 2021. Right. It was not current or relevant to what we needed to know. On to the budget ” draft.” Very convoluted for anyone who knew about budgets let alone those who don’t. So we all know one damned thing. When that $15 million is gone, the Tribe has no cash flow. So when they reviewed the strange categories for payout, a tribal member asked how did they know the Feds would allow them to spend it that way. Tah Tah Deja Vu said, ” Treasury said we could.” Actually, that’s not true. Treasury is the enforcement arm of this process. You know, like when you don’t pay your taxes. Treasury comes for you.
It’s vintage Tah Tah. She don’t know. The statute has specific guidelines for the expenditures. You can look at them online. More proof that she cannot do the most basic aspects of her job. This is why we are taken advantage of on a lot of levels. A lot of levels. Being too embarrassed to admit you’ve been scammed is worse than the scam, know what I mean?
Anyway Tribal members were also having flashbacks of what they thought was a bygone era with the Cromwell regime. The old “stall forever” tactic. Or “run out the clock” during meetings is still being used. Not good. Know what you’re doing then explain it to your people. Honesty is the best policy. Tell them why you’re doing what you’re doing, or don’t do it at all.
Promises made but never kept….
Tah Tah Deja Vu is supposed to present a draft budget at the Sunday meeting….ahem.That’s after ten months of stalling, lying, going off on staff, colleagues, and producing nothing but pain and embarrassment to the Tribe. So she will probably take 2 hours to review the audit we already know about. And no one will stop her.The federal money is still on lockdown.
So the other problem is that the Sunday meeting is designed to allow Tribal members to raise questions and concerns. And they have a lot of them. LIke why are we hiring people who don’t do anything.
Adding Insult to Injury
Genting paid a visit to the Tribe. Talk about weird. Ya. The overseers checking in after 13 years of abuse!. And they have the nerve to tour the Old Indian Church. It’s like….blasphemous!
Genting was touring its casino properties around the country. So why were they pretending to be interested in us? It was so sad because WE AIN’T GOT A CASINO.
They made sure of it! So instead of putting on a show, (13 years later) why don’t they take all of us (Tribal members) out to that Duplicate Copy Cat Casino in Las Vegas, for a tour of the casino we built?
Little has changed, the lawyers, the PR, the emails you get, and the lobbyists are all controled by Genting. They do what they want to do, and they tell you what they want you to know.
More torture.
A couple more things
There was some positive activity generated from the Wednesday meeting. We are moving forward with a badly needed tribal drug rehab/recovery house. The sadness of repeated death caused by drug addiction has risen to crisis proportions.The house should help us help our people.
It’s early but so far Greendeer has been slow on delivering everything but the MIttark back to Paula Peters and a big contract to his friend.
Another positive was the “strategic planning” session with TA David Greendeer set for April 8-9th from 8:30 am – 4:30 pm. Tribal members have complained that the government has no direction or priorities. Hopefully, after 3 months on the job, Greendeer’s plan will be more decernable than the bungled 8A plan involving mystery man Alex Rodriquez.
TAH TAH DEJA VU’S ENCORE PERFORMANCES
Tah Tah promised to deliver the tribal budget 2 weeks ago at the Sunday meeting. Not only did she fail to produce a budget, she didn’t even show up for the meeting. Well, it’s been 9 months coming on her watch and three years under her predecessor “Knees Knocking” Gordon Harris without a tribal budget. Well, Tah Tah was bumping around right after the Sunday meeting trying to conjure up something to justify her big fat check…..so she decided to implement a paperless deposit system. Well, she revives Gordon’s outdated program and then hires some consultants out of New Mexico to train staff on it. The trainers accents were so strong no one could understand what they were saying. Her incompetence is played out every day with stupid stuff like this.
True story.
But not funny at all is Tah Tah’s promise Wednesday to have a “draft budget” in two weeks. A draft budget. So 10 months and $80k later, Tah Tah has no tribal budget and still lying her behind off. She is such a tyrant, the entire Council is numbed into silence by her outrageous rambling and disruptions.
We’re paying for comedy that ain’t funny at all.
Tah Tah Deja Vu staring in the new reality show “Weirdness in Indian Country”
If you were a stranger, you would have thought it was a promo for an upcoming reality show because there is no explanation for Marie Tah Tah Deja Vu’s eerie presence at the last council meeting. Clearly, under pressure, she decided to appear in person (without the black screen) on the zoom call. Tribal members complain that you can never see her during the meetings…..that she’s hiding. Ok, so it was in-person kinda.
She shared a screen with the chairman. He was leaning to the right of the screen, while she would occasionally lean in from the left to speak. Most of the time she never moved into the frame, but you heard her distinctive voice carping out some ridiculousness from the great beyond like the WIZ. Half of her face would appear then disappear like a vampire. It was extremely funny until you realized how sad it was. The lack of propriety and respect for the process means nothing to her. It wasn’t about the people’s business it was all about babying Tah Tah. And the irony is rich.
Tah Tah is like a child. They can’t give her a laptop because she breaks them. Why would we believe she can present a budget.Jezzzzzus.
Why doesn’t Tah Tah use her own laptop? IT refuses to give her one. She breaks them left and right. When they see her coming their way they turn and take off.
Now I ask you. Is that what you want in your Treasurer? Academy Award-winning performances in madness?
HOW ABOUT A DAMNED B U D G E T ?
So during that last meeting, she promised A BUDGET at the “2ND SUNDAY IN FEBRUARY” that is this coming Sunday. What’s your bet on that happening?
We could lose that $15 million because Tah Tah is tah tah and doesn’t know how to spend it.
Tell you what to do…. every time Tah Tah starts in, especially if you’re an employee, whip out your phone and let it roll. Actually, you all could collaborate put your videos together and make millions…create your own reality show! Tah Tah’s misadventures No editing is necessary.
