The following opinion by Jeffrey Whalen, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, appears in this week's issue of the Native Sun News. All content © Native Sun News.

The Oglala Tribal Council did it again. They made yet another bad decision in their long and endless series of bad decisions.

In the beginning they all swore an oath of office to uphold the tribal constitution, but right out of the starting gates they violated that constitution for the next 108 days by not seating their officers correctly. The officers are basically the members of the executive committee which includes the position of tribal treasurer.

On Monday, March 21, 2011, the tribal council finally came into compliance with its own constitution. An interview process was re-held for the position of treasurer. There were some pretty well qualified persons applying for that position but in the end the tribal council selected a treasurer who was basically in my own observation, the least qualified.

To make matters worse, the selected treasurer was not a tribal member in the beginning and was disqualified by the election commission because of this. This disqualification should have prevailed but did not because of tribal council manipulation of the rules.

The tribe’s constitution indicates that officers must be tribal members, period. Instead the tribal council allowed this person to have time to change his membership from another tribe to the Oglala’s tribe. Thus contributing to part of the 108 day delay.

Several tribal council members disputed allowing Mr. Mason Big Crow to be interviewed because he was not a tribal member when petitions for this position were submitted. Yet, someone said we have to be fair and allow him an interview because he is the son of a tribal member. But in all fairness, what about the people who were tribal members at the time they submitted their petitions and who were not disqualified in the process?

The interview was made public and broadcast on KILI radio. Apparently, a few days prior to the council meeting, the Judiciary Committee passed a resolution that disqualified Mason Big Crow from running for the position of the tribe’s treasurer due to his non-membership.

There was confusion on the council floor because the Judiciary Committee secretary did not get the resolution to the council. The tribe’s attorney confirmed the contents of the resolution but in the end the council allowed Mason to run anyway and ignored the Judiciary Committee resolution.

During the interview Councilwoman Deb Rooks caught Mr. Big Crow in a lie concerning his enrollment issue. Councilwoman Rooks very strongly objected to allowing Mr. Big Crow an interview due to his official disqualification concerning his non-member status.

Mr. Big Crow was allowed to continue “in all fairness” and was asked more questions by other council members. During that process and what sticks in my mind the most is, some of the answers included body language where after a shoulder shrug and a look down towards the floor, Mason said; “I don’t know, I will do whatever you want me to do.”

Any reasonable monitor would have immediately stopped questioning and would have passed the applicant over after an answer like that. But no, not the Oglalas, they proceeded by listening to other fairly well qualified applicants who had extensive backgrounds in the financial field and ultimately passed them all up in favor of the least qualified and least experienced because in my own opinion he stated that “he will do what they want him to do.”

Mr. Lloyd “Luff” Goings was an applicant for the position of treasurer. He has corporate financial experience, he is a former commercial airlines pilot, he is a successful business owner, and he is just shy of his Master’s in Business Administration and a two time Viet Nam Combat War Veteran.

If selected, Luff was ready to place a “financial noose” around tribal spending. As the custodian of all tribal funds, he was going to cut travel and comply with all financial laws. He was going to stop all the disallowed costs, stop the write offs, stop payroll advances, stop unnecessary borrowing, make the banks give us better interest rates, he was going to get the tribe out of debt and back on its feet again.

He was going to say “NO” to tribal council members and their frivolous requests to spend money. He was going to bring financial order back into the tribe and insure that our children’s children have better lives in the future. He was going to trim all the fat and get down to bare bones operational spending.

The tribe needs a treasurer who can be strong and who can tell the council like it is. Being a war veteran and having extreme financial experience, Luff does not have a problem doing the right thing and kicking council members down a proverbial “flight of steps” to get his financial point across. With all the historical and illegal spending going on within the tribe, a person like Luff is exactly who is needed in the treasurers position.

Now, the Oyate has lost a good opportunity to become financially responsible and are stuck with someone who lied about his enrollment, someone who will “do what they want him to do” as a treasurer. Even Mason’s uncle who is Gerald “Jump” Big Crow who is more experienced in tribal government and has more college accounting courses was passed by as the tribe’s treasurer. How can the council justify this?

Today, with the exception of James “Toby” Big Boy, the rest of the tribal council went to a strategic financial learning session at the Holiday Inn in Rapid City. In Toby’s opinion, the meeting should have been held on the reservation and he elected to stay here to take care of business.

Why are they all in Rapid City? Don’t they realize that as a tribe, we are in unbelievably deep debt? Don’t they realize that we cannot afford to spend wildly going on trips to the city to learn about finances? Don’t they realize that they have a treasurer who is supposed to know all of this stuff and who is supposed to provide positive financial direction to the tribe? Even worse, only two council members showed up at the strategic financial meeting, yet they all (except for Toby) received travel advances. So the travel money spending saga continues.

If elected treasure, Luff would have immediately said “NO” to this type of travel and would have said; “restructure your meeting to be held on the reservation. I am the custodian of all funds and I will give the presentations that are needed to educate you in financial situations.”

We estimate that this meeting is costing the Oyate somewhere around $50,000. Do you think the tribe can afford this type of spending? Do you feel good about the council going to the Holiday Inn while you are still living in poverty here at home? To Mr. Apa, Sempi Fi buddy, your words of wisdom inspire me.

(Contact Jeffrey Whalen at Jeffrey.whalen@gmail.com)