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Y

api - www.earthskyweb.com/sota.htm - Anpetu Iyamni, Oct. 3, 2018

 

 

Page 11

“Myself and ... Dustina Gill 

wasn’t working at the Tribe, but she 

popped in at the Tribe, and I said, 

‘Did you read what it says?’ And 

we started putting together a plan 

of, how are we going to make the 

budget cuts if they make these big 

budget cuts? What are we going to 

do? Where are we going to get the 

money?”

“And it’s happening now. 

Trump is threatening our Tribal 

sovereignty in so many ways, and I 

think that we need to be proactive 

in that area.”

Lisa: “Real quick, I support 

the Chairman when he talks about 

compacting of our IHS services.”

“I feel like we could ... if we 

had the ability to do that, I feel like 

we could tailor our healthcare to 

meet our needs.”

“Right now we don’t have that, 

so our hands are tied there in many 

cases.”

“And not only with healthcare, 

but just the way the administrative 

part of IHS is carried out.”

“I agree with Ella that we need 

to be proactive when it comes to 

good jobs.”

“I feel like we have good jobs.”

“We have a lot of high 

turnover; I believe we can have more 

revenue streams. We can bring in 

new programs, but to me, I feel 

like some of these projects that 

have been talked about here at the 

table tonight are going to take some 

time.”

“But I think while we’re 

developing revenue streams and 

we’re moving in that direction, we 

also need to be building leadership. 

We can have a new program 

tomorrow, but we need the right 

skill set, and management, and 

oversight of these programs.”

“It’s a collective effort of having 

vision for a revenue stream and how 

we’re going to do that. Healthcare, 

getting it back and trying to take 

that back into our hands. But also, 

we need to build leadership, and 

that’s ... being at the casino, I’ve had 

a ... I’ve been very fortunate to have 

had leadership development training 

at different reservations, and some 

reservations are doing very well with 

that.”

“I feel that’s something that 

we can do. And we can start that 

by revisiting our HR departments 

within each of our programs. And 

let’s re-evaluate our HR programs, 

because our HR sets the temperature 

for our workplace, whether it be 

a Tribal program, whether it be a 

casino entity.”

“We need to take a look at 

what we have, evaluate our HR 

services, and see how we can turn 

them into leadership development 

resources. Human resources should 

be developing leaders; we should be 

giving our employees the skill sets 

that we need. And unfortunately, I 

don’t feel we’re very strong at that. 

So that would be something that I 

would like to take a look at first.”

Myrna: “Okay, so we do have 

job availability, but the problem, 

the reality of it all is that a lot of the 

people were set up to fail.”

“Because a lot of the people 

do not have transportation; they 

do not have daycare, and I’ve had 

many clients that would like to 

succeed, but because of lack of 

daycare and lack of transportation 

they go for a little while, and 

then it gets hard and it gets tough 

and then they drop off. And so I 

think as far as that goes, we need 

to be realistic and maybe possibly 

get a 24-hour daycare center, get 

some transportation to the casinos 

where they work. I mean, there is 

transportation, but it’s the daycare 

problem more than that because of 

the swing shifts.”

“And as far as the healthcare, 

three states already applied for them 

to do the workforce thing under 

Medicaid where they have to work 

to get Medicaid. And ten more 

states applied for that status through 

the Trump administration, so the 

Trump administration right now 

wants this to happen, and already 

600,000 Native Americans are being 

affected by it.”

“And so because our people 

... they gave their land, they gave 

their life through the massacres, 

I think we need leadership that is 

going to stand up to the Trump 

administration and fight for that 

healthcare.”

“And along with that 

healthcare, we need an advocacy 

program where we have a health 

advocate, a medical advocate, to 

go in with these patients and speak 

for them to demand that adequate 

healthcare. Because we can get that 

adequate healthcare right now. We 

have to demand it, and people don’t 

speak up well for themselves, but if 

they had an advocate to do that, I 

think that would be workable.”

Eddie: “Being the Tribal 

Secretary, putting jobs in healthcare 

together, one way I was trying to do 

that is through our grants.”

“As I mentioned before, the 

three grants that we got, that gave us 

11 new positions for our Tribe.”

“As for healthcare, other than 

just social services, I’ve been an 

advocate for Medicaid expansion 

ever since it was brought up.”

“I know it’s been tough and the 

Trump administration doesn’t like it, 

but as I’ve been in office, I’ve been 

working on the Medicaid, trying to 

get our Tribal programs Medicaid-

eligible.”

“That will help us with our 

healthcare, where it will bring back 

money to support the program and 

sustain the program. I really want 

to focus on the grant programs that 

are eligible for Medicaid so that it 

will help sustain when ... if the grant 

ever ends, or ... not renewed.”

Martha: “These two questions 

are kind of similar. If the current US 

government was to strip recognition, 

what are your hopes in creating 

and sustaining a structured model 

of operation? How do you plan to 

help us survive as a sovereign nation 

in each respective office? And this 

second question with that is are you 

prepared to fight for sovereignty for 

the SWO?”

Dave: “So, respectively to the 

position I’m holding now, Trump is 

wanting to reorganize our regions. 

Coming down from Trump to the 

Secretary of Interior and we’ve been 

asked as a Tribe, being directed by 

Council, and supported by Council 

and a lot of the districts to be a part 

of the testimony process, what they 

call Meaningful Consultation.”

“We have issues with that first.”

“As tribes in the Great Plains 

region, as United Tribes of North 

Dakota, defining that process is the 

start to answering this question, and 

how we address it.”

“So I just wanted to set 

some context there that, what is 

Meaningful Consultation?”

“We’re being told by the other 

tribes not to sign in.”

“But yet, when you’re being 

asked to testify, you’ve got to give 

your name, you’ve got to give 

your position, what tribe you’re 

representing, so there’s some pros 

and cons to all that.”

“Without being there at the 

table, without being in front of 

the different Congressional leaders 

and federal agencies to make the 

arguments defending your position 

why you don’t want to be separated 

from the Great Plains region and 

put into the Minnesota region, what 

they’re calling the Upper Mississippi 

Basin, that’s how we need to sustain 

our sovereignty.”

“You’ve got to be there, you’ve 

got to be able to get up, you’ve got 

to be able to speak, you’ve got to 

be able to know what you’re talking 

about; you can’t just wave the treaty 

around and say you’re a treaty 

Tribe.”

“You’ve got to be able to 

understand what the conversation is 

about, and how you’re applying your 

treaty. And you as being a treaty 

Tribe; what does that mean? We 

could talk all day about that.”

“So, how do you plan to help 

us survive as a sovereign nation 

in each respective office? For the 

Office of Chairman, we’re expected 

to be able to speak in front of these 

agencies.”

“You need to be able to testify 

in front of people that are taking 

down your comments and what 

you are saying as you are speaking 

on behalf of your Tribe, so you’ve 

got to be able to display a level of 

confidence, and you’ve got to be 

able to display accurate information; 

you’ve got to be able to show them 

that you know what you’re talking 

about.”

“So, right now the Department 

of Interior has verbally told us, 

but we know not to trust the 

government, there will more news 

that will come out here later about 

that, but they’ve told us based on 

our testimony, based on the support 

we have from the sister tribes within 

the Great Plains region, based on the 

support we got from United Tribes 

of North Dakota, they are not going 

to separate us from this region.”

“We are going to remain in 

the region of the Great Plains; not 

just us, but Flandreau and Santee as 

well. So, that’s how I would answer 

that question. We’ve already proven 

as a government, as a body, that 

we’re able to represent the Tribe in 

that way against those challenges.”

Ella: “So, like Dave stated, the 

Trump administration poses a lot of 

threats to Tribes.”

“Not only with the potential 

reorganization of the Indian Affairs, 

also with his want to privatize Tribal 

lands to gain access to our natural 

resources: our oil, our coal, our gas.”

“The Medicaid issue is a threat 

to Tribes.”

“I think that our leadership 

needs to be well-versed in federal 

law; understanding our treaties.”

“We are one of ... like Dave 

said, we’re 167 treaty tribes in the 

United States, and we sacrificed our 

land and lives for those treaties.”

“And I think at some point in 

time, having experienced lawyers 

that have that federal experience and 

have done time in federal court, that 

can defend us if it should come to 

that in federal court. Because it is a 

threat to our sovereignty.”

“Even just the move with 

the workforce requirement for 

Medicaid; it’s a move to show tribes, 

not as a sovereign nation, but just as 

another ethnic group, that we don’t 

have a government-to-government 

relationship, which we do have.”

“It hasn’t happened yet, but I’m 

sure that down the road there will 

be a threat to our gaming facilities, 

our gaming entities, because that 

happened after the 90s.”

“They tried to discredit 

Indian gaming. And at this point, 

that’s where a majority of our 

revenue comes from. And if that is 

threatened, then what are we going 

to do? And that’s why we need to be 

looking at sustainable revenues, and 

how we can keep our Tribe moving 

forward.”

Michael: “The way I 

understand this question is what 

would we do if the United States 

Congress decided to not renew the 

trust responsibility for Tribes?”

“And we became similar to 

county governments, other local 

governments.”

“That our lands became 

taxable, and we had to function 

without that protection or 

recognition as a sovereign entity.”

“That’s a very bleak situation.”

“Yet, with this Republican 

Congress and president, it could 

happen.”

“Are we prepared for that 

eventuality?”

“Our lands would become 

taxable. We’d have to become taxed.”

“Would we be able to survive 

and govern ourselves?”

“As Dakota people, are we 

really Indians?”

“Are we really Sissetonwan or 

Wahpetonwan?”

“We’re going to have to respect 

and treat each other in a way that 

we’re going to have to trust that 

we’re going to be doing the right 

things for the children yet to be 

born.”

“That’s a tough question when 

you really look really deep into what 

they’re asking.”

“My experience as Tribal 

Chairman: We encountered a 

situation where the Bureau of Indian 

Affairs wanted to take away our 

Agency.”

“Wanted our agent placed in 

a regional office, and we’d all go to 

regional offices.”

“The Great Plains Tribal 

Chairman’s Association meeting ... 

met with the leadership with the 

Bureau of Indian Affairs down at 

Watertown.”

“And at that meeting, we made 

a motion that we’re not going to 

speak to any department heads.”

“We want to talk to the 

Assistant Secretary. The head of the 

Bureau of Indian Affairs.”

“And until he comes out here, 

we’re not going to mail it to you.”

“Those BIA leaders that were 

there were (inaudible) at us.”

“They turned down their 

programs, they stopped ... one 

month later, the Assistant Secretary 

of the Department of Interior came 

and met with the Great Plains Tribal 

Chairmen at, of all places, Standing 

Rock Sioux Tribe.”

“Out in the middle of 

nowhere; he had to fly in.”

“And we talked to him, and 

he made a commitment that that 

wouldn’t happen. Our agents would 

stay here.”

“And that whole nation 

followed suit. Refused to meet 

except on their land.”

“We as Indian people have to 

stand up at some time and unite on 

some of these issues.”

“We’ve done it before; we’ll do 

it again.”

Martha: “The other candidates 

decided that that was mainly a 

Chairman candidate question in 

regards to some of the things that 

they do. Okay. This one is for 

the Chairman candidates as well. 

Studies have shown that successful 

leaders hire people who know 

more than them. For the sake of 

a successful organization, do you 

believe this to be true?”

Dave: “Yes.”

Ella: “Ditto.”

Michael: “Yes.”

(Uncertain of woman 

speaking): “Okay, I’ll be any one of 

you’s aide. No.”

Laughter.

Dave: “I just want to say that 

the pool out there is very small. The 

pool out there is very small.”

“And so there’s some times that 

I’ll speak for myself, that you have 

to entrust in a person that has room 

to grow and be nurtured into that 

position.”

 “I myself have been mentored 

and nurtured by Mike, and even 

other people up here that I’ve had, 

maybe some issues with, but it’s 

helped me grow.”

“And so I’ve given other people 

chances working for me in the 

last three years, an opportunity to 

grow, given them a chance to see if 

they can contribute to the office of 

Chairman.”

“That’s a difficult challenge … 

because, the pool out there is very 

small and we need to ... I do agree 

with everybody up here, I’ve heard 

uniting and not being so critical 

all the time. And that’s tough itself 

too. I’m one of the worst ones. 

I’ll admit it. But we need to try 

and find younger generations. We 

started a youth council this past 

administration.”

“Hopefully, looking for 

somebody that’s going to grow 

into a position so that they can 

become, maybe the next Executive, 

maybe a Council person or even an 

Executive’s assistant. I think it’s very 

important that we all understand 

the pool out there is very small.”

Martha: “Okay, this one’s for 

all candidates. I’ll tell you again 

that we’re kind of getting pressed 

for time so, try to hurry along. 

What is your legislative agenda for 

strengthening our government-to 

government relationship with the 

federal government?”

Floyd: “Okay, my plan for 

keeping on strengthening the 

relationship between government 

to-government is, I believe this 

administration has already done 

it. Keeping in contact with our 

state representatives, and our 

Congressionals, doing consultation 

with our federal government. The 

tough thing is, I believe the word 

meaningful consultation. I think we 

need to really address that.”

“Of course when it comes to 

our culture ... anytime we talk about 

a issue, that’s consultation.”

“And I think we need to 

get past that with the federal 

government, when they come in and 

they say, ‘This isn’t consultation.’ 

‘Well, what are you here for?’”

“So I think that’s part where 

they need to understand that 

anytime we meet that’s when we’re 

bringing our issues, not just one 

certain time because it’s tough when 

you have consultation.”

“Their consultation usually 

is with everybody in our area, and 

they’re not really addressing just our 

concerns that we need to address for 

our Tribe.”

Eddie: “I do believe that we do 

have a good relationship with the 

government.”

“I know myself and the 

Chairman have gone out and 

lobbied for a few things.”

“And for the most part, they’re 

very receptive, polite, and everything 

else.”

“But … we were told we we’re 

going to get $2-4 million for our 

justice center … ‘hurry up and write 

the grant.’”

“They were pretty much 

guaranteeing us that $2-4 million.”

“Well, we found out last week, 

we did not get it.”

“So that’s the type of 

relationship that it can turn into 

sometimes.”

“Can you trust the government 

at all times? No.”

“But do you go to the table and 

sit down and talk with them, lobby 

with them. Yes.”

“We do that as much as we 

can.”

“But in the same light, they 

could lie to your face and tell you 

one thing and now we got $4 

million less than what we thought.”

“So, is the relationship good? 

Yes. Very good, sometimes.”

“But when they turn around 

and do actions like this, then it’s 

kind of a slap in the face. It can get 

better, and I think it will.”

Dave: “The caveat … is, we did 

get $4.8 million. I’ll let the cat out 

of the bag.”

“We did get $4.8 million 

from BIA. We put a lot of work 

into the CTAS grant that didn’t get 

approved, but we’re expected to go 

back to Congress. We’re expected to 

go back to the BIA, with the new 

Assistant Secretary of Interior, and 

there’s a good possibility we’re going 

to get some year-end funding.”

“So ... building a new 

detention facility, it’s going to 

happen.”

“It’s already happening, but the 

legislative agenda, I think we need to 

sustain it, and I’ve mentioned that 

openly, respectively that whoever 

gets elected up here ... very proud 

that we’ve established a good line of 

communication, a good foundation 

with both North Dakota, South 

Dakota Congressional leaders, both 

Governors of the state, our Tribal 

relations officer. We’ve even met 

with the county here a few times.”

“We don’t see eye to eye 

with them and we wish they’d be 

a little more cooperative on some 

of the things we’re asking, but I 

would hope whoever gets elected 

up here continues to build on this 

relationship we’ve established.”

“If it wasn’t for Senator Thune, 

or for Senator Hoevan, we wouldn’t 

have got this $4.8 million and that 

did come because we just went there 

and said, ‘Hey we need some money 

to build a new detention.’”

“It takes a lot of work. I do 

agree with Mike that we did make 

the Secretary of Interior, Zinke 

come to us here in The Great 

Plains.”

“We didn’t want to meet with 

his staff.”

“We met with him. We met 

with him a couple times directly, 

shared with him our Tribal concerns, 

but there are sometimes you have to 

go to D.C. and just a little side joke, 

I was just laughing to myself that 

there … sometimes a government 

does shut down in D.C. too, so but 

they give their people some time 

off.”

 “In all seriousness, please, 

whoever’s elected, continue to work. 

I put my money on Noem to be 

the next governor in the state. We 

worked well with Daugaard. I think 

we’re close to amending that gaming 

compact where we’re not having 

to give the state as much money 

because the casinos aren’t making as 

much money as they had predicted 

we were going to make.”

“So that’s a good thing for the 

Tribe.”

“The tax agreement that we 

worked on is really big so whoever 

gets elected here, whether it be 

myself, whoever, just continue to 

build on that relationship that we’ve 

established, and I think things will 

work out good for the Tribe.”

Martha: “This next question 

says, ‘What do you think about the 

Tribal Council and Executives … 

‘ I guess that says ‘mediation’? The 

proposed initiative that was voted 

on in 2012?”

Michael: “Oh, this is a touchy 

one. Initiative One that was passed 

and detailed in 2012, if I remember 

correctly, required the seven districts 

to adopt or approve the wages 

and salaries and benefits of Tribal 

Council.”

“This was the Executives and 

Council members.”

“Since that time the Council 

has continued setting their own 

salaries and benefits without 

benefit of the consensus of all seven 

districts.”

“I think that’s the situation and 

what the question is.”

“Now, how would I address 

that issue if I was elected and sworn 

into office in January?”

“You know, I would have 

to say that Initiative One is a 

Constitutional act that requires us to 

follow it.”

“We take that oath of office 

and say we’re going to uphold the 

Constitution of our Tribe.”

“In other words, we would 

have sit there until we can find a 

way that the seven districts arrive 

at consensus on the wages and the 

salaries and benefits of Council.”

“That’s Initiative One. If we’re 

going to uphold the Constitution, I 

think that’s what we’re going to have 

to do.”

Dave: “I’ll try to keep this 

brief. You know it’s one thing I am 

proud of that it’s a personal choice 

that I’ve never cashed out leave, 

never taken a FICA payment, never 

taken a bonus of any type, and that 

was being a part of that push before 

I went to Afghanistan.”

“There were issues with how 

Council was able to cash out leave.”

“They’re on salary. They’re 

going to get paid whether they’re 

working at the Tribe.”

“They’re on the clock 24/7 and 

we as elected leaders know coming 

into office that that FICA doesn’t 

get paid because you’re an elected 

office.”

“Now new legislation has 

come out from Congress that that’s 

changing for Tribal leadership, so 

that’s a good ... it’s a good change 

for whoever’s going to be elected 

up here … that’ll be a part of the 

solution to the FICA payment 

problem.:”

“Council members from here 

forward once that law is passed 

down to the Tribe, and almost 

positive it’s been ratified, it’s 

going to be enacted … that those 

payments will go into that person’s 

... into the federal ... What’s FICA? 

Social Security? So ... I don’t ever 

cash out FICA so I don’t know what 

it is, but I don’t take the leave.”

“That’s a personal choice of 

mine.”

“Mike is right. All seven 

districts needed to come in.”

“I was part of the Lake Traverse 

District when we made a motion 

to drop the salary of $45,000. It 

passed. The next month it went back 

to $65,000.”

“I (saw) a motion in Old 

Agency District that it should go up 

to $90,000. That’s in their district 

minutes.”

“That was a couple years back. 

It was before my administration, so 

just wanted to say that that is a ... an 

important issue.”

“I know that people voted 

on it and according to some of 

the legal and a few of the Council 

members that the legislative policy 

did change. It did change for the 

Exec candidates forum

Continued on Page 12

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