Available here.
Little Traverse Tribal Court Opinions in Election Disputes
Available here.
tribal election
GTB Election Postponed; Three Candidates Removed from Ballot
From the Traverse City Record-Eagle:
PESHAWBESTOWN — Three candidates for Tribal Council were booted from the ballot, and the election is postponed until next week.
Three council positions are open for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, those held by incumbents Rebecca Woods, Connie TwoCrow and Sandra Anderson. Tribal election officials removed Woods from the ballot, along with candidates Gail Diaz and Angela Shinos, for election rules violations.
Tribal documents show the Election Board removed Woods from the ballot because she didn’t sign the bottom of her absentee ballot application. The board removed Diaz and Shinos for not submitting absentee ballot applications at all, as election rules require.
Little Traverse Election Board Denies Entrance to Nonmembers in Recall Petition Certification
From the Petoskey News-Review via Pechanga:
The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Election Board denied the Petoskey News-Review and other non-tribal members access to its meeting Tuesday at which it chose to certify petitions for a recall election of the tribal chairman and vice-chairman.
Prior to Tuesday’s meeting, election board chairwoman Denise Petoskey said a News-Review reporter would not be allowed to attend the meeting because the meeting would be closed to non-tribal members.
She said the board’s standard procedure is to exclude non-tribal members from its meetings.
Petoskey provided the News-Review with an opinion authored by tribal attorney James Bransky on Feb. 25 in which Bransky writes, “Election Board meetings, with the possible exception of ballot counting, are not open to non-LTBB citizens.”
In his opinion, Bransky points first to the tribal constitution’s open meetings provision that reads, “The Tribal Council shall adopt an Open Meetings Statute to ensure that all meetings of the Tribal Council … are open to Tribal members and Tribal members shall have a reasonable opportunity to be heard, under such rules as the Council may prescribe in the Statute.” The wording cited does not discuss the openness of such meetings to non-tribal members except for language regarding tribal council meetings that reads, “The Tribal Council may by motion exclude non-LTBB members from all or part of a regular or special meeting.” Continue reading
Little Traverse Recall Election to Proceed
From Indianz:
Recall petitions against the top two leaders of the the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians of Michigan have been approved.
Chairman Ken Harrington and vice chairman Dexter McNamara will face a recall election within the next 90 days. But Harrington is apparently going to file a challenge in tribal court.
Harrington and McNamara are newcomers to the tribal council and have been in office for just six months. But in that short time, critics say Harrington has overstepped his authority numerous times.
Get the Story:
Tribal recall petitions approved (The Petoskey News-Review 3/3)
Independent Investigative Report in the White Mountain Apache Election Controversy
White Mountain Invalidates Votes in Apparent Voting Fraud Case
Here is yesterday’s resolution: WM Resol 3.3.10
More materials, including (hopefully) the investigative report on the voting scheme, to come.
News article about the investigation here.
White Mountain Apache Tribal Council to Meet Today re: 2010 Election Violence
Here is the resolution favoring the meeting, which will apparently be in closed session before a public meeting: Request for Executive meeting.
Will keep posting if we receiving any updates.
Michigan Supreme Court Denies Leave for Sault Tribe to Appeal Bouschor Case
The appeal focused on the Michigan court of appeal’s decision to drop Miller Canfield from the suit. It sounds like the suit against Bouschor and some of the other co-defendants will go to trial next.
The materials are here:
Sault Tribe Motion for Leave to Appeal
Lower court materials are here.
Federal Court Dismisses Long-Running Jamul Election and Land Disputes
Here is the opinion in Rosales v. United States (Ct. Cl.) — Rosales DCT Order Dismissing Complaints
Navajo Council to Repeal Dine Fundamental Law?!?!
From the Navajo-Hopi Observer:
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – Last Thursday, the 21st Navajo Nation Council tabled a measure that would have repealed the Diné Fundamental Laws – a codified set of laws based on centuries-old Navajo traditional values and customs. The measure was tabled until the fall session with a vote of 48-21.
Council Delegate Raymond Joe (Tachee/Blue Gap/Whippoorwill) introduced the measure during the final day of the council’s summer session. He and others cited that these laws, which are primarily meant to govern the upbringing of Navajo youth and promote balance and harmony among Navajo people, are being abused and misinterpreted by Navajo lawmakers in order to promote their own political agendas.
The laws, codified in 2002, provide no guidance on how they should be used or applied.
Turtle Talk 
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