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News you can use
The election committee of Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation is scheduling an election to fill the chairman and another seat on the Chippewa Cree Business Committee.
The Feb. 3 election will replace elected chairman Kenneth Blatt St. Marks and John “Chance” Houle’s former positions on the committee.
“Those two position are crucial to everyday government activity decision making,” said Dustin Whitford, who sits on the normally nine-person Business Committee.
The chairman seat has been in contention since St. Marks was elected to the position in November 2012 and won a special election July 2013 that was held after the committee removed him from office, which they have done several times. After being removed from office once, he was re-elected by a larger margin.
St. Marks said he think that eventually the federal government will step in to smooth things out in his favor, and he is going to leave it up the feds.
He said, if the election board is able to and goes through with the special election, he will not run again.
“Why the hell should I keep running?” St. Marks said Tuesday. “This council, they’re such a bunch of cowards. Apparently, they have something to hide.”
St. Marks was most recently removed from office after committee members presented him with allegations that include the misappropriation of funds, sexual harassment and breaking committee policies. St. Marks said he has challenged them “a million times” to get him indicted.
St. Marks said he was removed because he is working with the Guardians Project, a program in the U.S. attorney’s office, to track down corruption at Rocky Boy.
The committee held a special meeting regarding the allegations and decided to remove St. Marks. They do not need formal charges against St. Marks to impeach him.
“Whoever fills those positions, they need to be somebody who is willing to fill them with a respectful mind,” Whitford said this morning. “Someone who is willing to help this current council to follow policies and procedures that will benefit the tribe as a whole. … They need to know that it’s business; it’s not something personal.”
He said whoever takes the chairman position needs to learn and be willing to follow the four most important documents for the Business Committee: the constitution, the code of ethics, personnel policies and procedure and the law and order code.
“None of them have any idea about what direction they’re going to go,” St. Marks said of the council. “They’re just a bunch of stupid idiots.”
Lynn Fagen, the election board’s attorney, said that the election board began accepting petitions for candidates Monday and will continue to accept them until Jan. 14.
Whitford said if St. Marks decides to submit his name before the deadline, he has the right to.
“There is nothing in the constitution that keeps him from running again, even though he’s been impeached twice,” Whitford said. “ … Good luck to whoever runs.”
The current terms the election will fill will be finished in 2016, but, Whitford said, those elected officials may run for those position again when the time comes.
Acting Chairman Ricky Morsette did not answer calls or return messages by printing deadline this morning.
Reader Comments(1)
rbcitizen writes:
Fraud and embezzlement are two main reasons behind this special elections that's been going on here, they have a lot at stake here. Facing indictments and prison time, that's scary. They are going to great lengths to get the people they need in to listen to them to continue to make fraudulent decisions on there behalf. They don't even care about the financial situation that this Tribe is in. Something needs to happen here, for the future of this Tribe.
01/08/2015, 6:22 am