Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians

News Coverage of GTB Election Delays (and Copies of GTB Election Board Decisions)

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Election Board decisions: Election Board Opinion Russell McClellan 7 13 10 and Election Board Supplemental Opinion.

From the Leelanau Enterprise:

A General Election to seat three members of the seven-member Tribal Council of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians has been delayed yet again.

The election was slated to occur today, July 15, but has been postponed for a third time. A new date had not been determined as of press time this week.

The tribe’s appointed Election Board met in special sessions on Monday and Tuesday to hear testimony, review evidence and discuss a complaint that one of the six candidates in the election failed to comply with election regulations by campaigning during working hours and taking other actions that threatened the integrity of the election process.

Former Tribal Councilor and current candidate Thurlow “Sam” McClellan was accused of campaigning during working hours by having phone conversations with incumbent Tribal Councilor Brian Napont, whose term does not expire until 2012. During the conversation, McClellan and Napont were heard in a recorded conversation disparaging other candidates and incumbent tribal leaders.

The phone conversations had been recorded, apparently inadvertently, through a voice mail system in a tribal office. The recordings were subsequently copied and distributed among tribal members by third parties.

“While it is clear that McClellan did not intend for his phone conversation with Napont to be recorded, or for it to be circulated among members of the tribe, the fact remains that the message was recorded, and that the message has been circulating among Tribal voters,” according to an opinion and determination issued by the Election Board on Tuesday evening.

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Grand Traverse Band Election Postponed Again

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the news coverage: Election Delayed Again July 14 2010

And the Election Board decision: Election Board Opinion Russell McClellan 7 13 10

GTB Primary Election Certified

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Leelanau Enterprise:

The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians on June 10 completed a successful Primary Election process after experiencing delays earlier this spring.

“No challenges were filed and we certified the Primary Election,” reported Desmond Berry, chairman of the tribal Election Board. “We are moving forward with our schedule of events and look forward to a July 15, 2010 General Election,” he said.

The primary was originally scheduled for April with the General Election slated for last month. Election challenges delayed the process, however. The names of three candidates were removed from the original Primary Election ballot after the Election Board determined the three had violated campaign rules.

One of the candidates, incumbent tribal councilor Rebecca Woods, appealed the Election Board’s determination to the Tribal Judiciary. But the Election Board’s determination was upheld by the panel of Tribal Court judges.

Woods has since resigned from the Tribal Council and accepted a position as the tribe’s chief financial officer. The names of candidates Gail Diaz and Angela Shinos were also removed from the Primary Election ballot.

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30th Anniversary of Grand Traverse Band Federal Recognition!!!!

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here’s a pic of the Michigan Indian Defense Association headed by Ben Peshawbe:

And the government offices in Peshawbestown:

GTB Chair Derek Bailey Appointed to American Indian Education Advisory Council

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Great news!!!!!

From Indianz:

President Barack Obama has appointed six people to the National Advisory Council on Indian Education.

The council advises the Department of Education about Indian education issues. It has 16 members.

The new appointees are:

• Thomas R. Acevedo, a member of the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut
• Derek J. Bailey, the chairman of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan
• Robin A. Butterfield, a member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska
• Robert B. Cook, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota
• Deborah Jackson-Dennison, a member of the Navajo Nation
• Alyce Spotted Bear, a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation of North Dakota

Get the Story:

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts (White House 5/13)

GTB Member — Dwaun Anderson — Commits to Play Basketball for MSU in Two Years

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

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From the T.C. Record Eagle:

It was the moment Dwaun Anderson has been waiting for.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo called and the Suttons Bay standout answered.

Anderson traveled to Michigan State on Wednesday and was offered a basketball scholarship to join the Class of 2011.

“This is it,” Anderson said. “We got there, got a tour and watched a couple of videos in the conference room.”

When Izzo offered Anderson a scholarship, he didn’t hesitate. He talked to his family for about 10 minutes and then verbally committed.

“I had no doubts at all,” Anderson said. “This is it. I watched a lot of college basketball when I was younger, but I always thought they were the one I liked the most.”

Anderson had previous offers from Central Michigan, Oakland and Utah, but was being patient waiting to see if he could get an offer out of East Lansing.

“I was comfortable waiting because I still had another year,” he said.

Only a junior, Anderson has been named a Class C All-Stater twice.

This season, the 6-foot-3 Anderson led Suttons Bay to a 25-2 record and a run to the Class C state title game at Michigan State’s Breslin Center. He averaged 20 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocks a game.

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UM Law Quad Profiles on Three Indian Law Alums

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here: Michigan Law Quad Article on Indian Law Prof Alums

The three are Allie Maldonado, Beth Kronk, and me.

GTB Election Postponed; Three Candidates Removed from Ballot

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

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.

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Michigan Indian Law Day Agenda (UPDATED) — April 2

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

University of Michigan NALSA

2010 Indian Law Day Schedule

Looking Inward: Tribal Governance

Blessing

1:00 – 1:10

Joseph Brave-Heart

Keynote Speaker

1:10 -1:40

Frank Ettawageshik

Former Tribal Chairman, Little Traverse Bay

Bands of Odawa Indians

Tribal Constitutions

1:45 – 2:25

Allie Maldonado, Assistant General Counsel,

Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians

Mike Phelan, Office of the General Counsel

Pokagon Band Potawatomi Indians

Tribal Courts

2:30 – 3:10

Prof. Matthew Fletcher, Michigan State University College of Law

Amy Kullenberg, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians

Break/Refreshments

3:10 – 3:25

Tribal Economic Diversification

3:25 – 4:05

Zeke Fletcher, Associate, Rosette & Associates

Prof. Matthew Fletcher, Michigan State University College of Law

Asian Carp Op/Ed from GTB Chair Derek Bailey

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Traverse City Record-Eagle:

Three decades ago many thought that the Great Lakes fisheries resources would be ruined by American Indian tribes exercising “treaty-fishing” rights. After the federal courts confirmed these treaty-reserved rights, the tribes demonstrated their primary concern is protection of the Great Lakes fisheries.

Ironically, these “treaty-fishing” rights now might prove crucial in protecting fisheries resources for all of Michigan’s citizens against the Asian carp invasion.

The United States Supreme Court has denied Michigan’s request for an injunction closing the shipping locks outside of Chicago to prevent any further migration of Asian carp into the Great Lakes. In the midst of the competing claims debating the economic losses of closing shipping to the Mississippi River system compared to potential harm to Great Lakes fisheries, all parties — Attorney General Cox, Gov. Granholm, the Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies — agree that the damage to the Great Lakes fisheries will be profound.

It has been almost six years since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that “Asian carp could have a devastating effect on the Great Lakes ecosystem and a significant impact on the $7 billion fishery.” During this time the Army Corps of Engineers failed to act promptly, in effect fiddling while Rome burned. To the extent the Army Corps is responsible for the impending disaster, the tribes may be better situated than the state to challenge the federal government.

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