Jeffrey Whalen: Oglala Sioux in the dark about our tribal finances

Friday, July 15, 2011  

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

While hanging around at Menards in Rapid City I ran into an Oglala Sioux Tribal Council member who told me that the leadership is attempting to obtain a $13 million dollar loan from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community to fund the Pine Ridge Nursing Home.

I asked how the tribe intended on paying the money back and the council representative responded by saying, “the tribe is going to use its land lease income.” The council rep also said they brought the loan issue to tribal council where it got voted down, but it is being brought back to council for another round of voting.

The conversation only lasted around three minutes and I didn’t get enough information or details on the issue. However it still proves that the leadership is not paying any attention to details of how to get out of debt permanently.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the percentages of educated leadership we have on the tribal council and executive committee combined. I came up with 24 percent of them being educated with bachelor’s degrees or more and which obviously means that 76 percent of them are uneducated. As it turns out, the educated group of council members understood the loan terms, stuck together and voted “No” on the Shakopee loan.

I have also been writing about the economy and the unemployment rate here (89 percent according to 2005 BIA Labor Work Force figures), the lack of sustainable businesses, etc., on this rez. I even wrote about using debt to make money rather than using debt just to be poor.

The Oglala leadership nominated and elected a treasurer for the tribe late in this administration. We all know this particular person only has around two finance classes under his belt and nothing more in terms of formal education.

What most Oglala Oyate members don’t know is that the treasurer is responsible for monitoring and executing all of the tribe’s investments and is supposed to provide financial advice to the leaders. Most Oyate also probably don’t know in the President’s office resides a person who is politically appointed to provide financial advice to the president himself.

It doesn’t make much sense to me to have two persons doing the same job, but that is what is happening. So, with these two people providing financial advice to the tribe, who is watching them? Or does the tribal leadership just assume they are getting good financial advice and not questioning anything?

Personally, I think getting a loan from Shakopee in any amount and using land lease income for a pay back is wrong. These “Leaders” have to quit thinking “inside the box” and should start looking for innovative solutions to our financial issues. Our existing financial resources are depleted and should never be used as payback for any loan, period. What happened to the financial accountability, the transparency and the honestly this administration promised to bring to the Oyate? Where the %$#@## is it?

Don’t get me wrong, the Nursing Home is a much needed service for our elderly. But how long has the tribe been trying to establish this service? Most of the folks doing the planning are politicians.

This is the main reason why this project has been stalled out for years. Remember, only 24 percent of them are actually educated? They should let the more educated and experienced program directors take the lead on this project, then it will get done.

The tribe had more than eight years to get their act together on this project and now they still don’t have the money to build the facility. So what do they do? They go beg Mr. Stanley Crooks of the Shakopee for the money and promise to pay it back. What a crock. If Mr. Crooks falls for this one, the tribe will only approach him in a few years and ask for debt forgiveness on the loan.

Why doesn’t the tribe put money aside and let it build up, then use the money for the purpose it was intended to be used for once enough has been accumulated? After all, they already had eight years to do this. Where is the tribe’s savings account and how much is in it?

Guess what? The tribe’s savings account is very close to zero.

The tribe has an annual budget of somewhere around $50 million dollars. We have $1 million coming from the AT&T agreement and around $5 million coming from the Ramah Navajo settlement. Why can’t a portion of this money be leveraged to build the nursing home?

The Nursing Home can never be a free service and the financials must be constructed to charge the occupants for the stay and for services provided. When the manager builds the budget he/she must set aside funds for debt service and must set aside savings for future expansion. This debt service money should be used to pay back any loans that were accessed and the tribe should not use existing depleted resources to pay anything back. Mortgage the Nursing Home itself, rather than our land.

This deal is only putting the tribe in deeper debt. And I for one, do not like it one bit. We are only leaving our children and grandchildren holding the bag and putting them into deeper poverty than they already experience! What if the Oglalas can’t make the payments and the Shakopee calls in on their loan?

Understanding we are obligating only the lease income and not the actual land, that still could mean the Oglalas could lose a portion of their land base! I thought we were supposed to protect our land base, not discretely mortgage it off and risk losing it altogether. This is terrible, encourage your council reps to vote NO on this bad deal during its next round of voting.

Why on earth hasn’t the tribal council told the Oyate about this Shakopee loan? Why have they not given us any documents on the financials for this project? Why have they not allowed its own tribal members to voice their concerns on this loan?

This reminds me of all tribes across the nation being frustrated with the federal government when the government makes decisions without informing tribes of what they are doing. The tribes demand that the government provide consultation to tribes before they enact any rules, regulations or law. The tribes collectively even got a United States Presidential Executive Order (13175) to ensure the federal government does not make any rules without first consulting with tribes.

So what does the Oglalas do to their people? They make laws, rules, and regulations and enter into agreements without first consulting with their own members! Isn’t this exactly what they accused the federal government of doing? But yet, just like a bunch of back stabbers, they turn and do the same thing to their own Oyate. This is wrong on too many levels and this practice needs to stop immediately.

You tribal council members need to start taking all the issues back to the districts and to the Oyate to get their input and to provide consultation to them, just like you want the federal government to do for you. Why are you attempting to mortgage the future of our children and grandchildren for their entire lifetime without consulting us first? Vote NO and restructure your financial package. Be safe, stay strong and kick your council representative right in the rear if they are a part of this.

(Contact Jeffrey Whalen at jeffrey.waylon2@gmail.com)