A new He Sapa Voting District for Rapid City?
By Jeffrey WhalenNative Sun News Today Columnist
nativesunnews.today The Oglala Sioux Tribal Constitutional Reform Task Force has been very active in gathering information from tribal members concerning suggested changes in its Constitution. The last amendments were made in 2008 which was supposed to include a complete Separation of Powers and the election of the Chief Judge at large. After the vote in 2008, the tribal leaders arranged to have language inserted that only partially separated the powers and allowed them to terminate the Chief Judge and replace that person at the will of the tribal council. These two actions by the council took away the authority that the Oyate voted for. This time will be different. The Task Force is being led by a group of ladies who are well versed in constitutional changes. This week I’m writing about some of the draft suggested changes. These are the results of all the surveys, and community gatherings of the Oyate. After collecting the surveys and hearing the comments from the general public; the Task Force met with their attorney, pulled all of the information together and identified the most numerous suggested changes that are being proposed by the Oyate. A person might think that there were not enough surveys collected but if we look at the actual number of surveys that were collected, a person will find that when they apply a ratio analysis to those surveys, that number will be representative of the masses rather than representative of a few hundred folks. Nielson surveying routinely uses a small amount of the masses in a diversified setting to accomplish this same goal and are always right on target with their results. That said, I have a draft copy of the suggested changes to the Constitution and the Task Force reported on this same thing on Sunday, May 29, 2018 while at KILI Radio. Article III contains Separation of Powers. The draft suggests a complete separation between the Executive (now called Business Council), Legislative and Judicial branches of tribal government, but it takes another step and includes a new branch which is called the Elders Council. To me, this is an outstanding representation of Separation of Powers. The Elders Council will have ethical oversight of the Tribal Council and the Business Council and Judicial branches will no longer experience interference from the Tribal Council. The structure of the Tribal Council in Article IV contains a twist where they will not longer have a President chairing the meetings. Rather, an Eyapaha will chair the meetings who will be elected from within the tribal council. It goes further and allows the tribal council to be seated in four (4) year terms, but it also places limitations on them by not allowing them to be in tribal council for more than two (2) consecutive terms. The terms are also staggered to allow for continuity of the tribal government. The age limit for tribal council members is reduced from 30 years of age to 25 years of age AND there are educational requirements where all council will be required to have at a minimum, a College Associates Degree or equivalent before they take office. Outstanding. I really like those suggested changes. These are exactly some of the changes that Mr. Lance Morgan who is the CEO of Ho-Chunk, Inc., had suggested to the Oglala Tribal Council as a basis for developing the economy on Pine Ridge.
This amendment places a greater emphasis on our youth who can start getting into public service earlier in their career and allows others who have gone off to war to come home and get involved in public service as well. Some youth have received they’re Bachelor Degree but have not been able to run for office. That wasn’t fair to them, so I’m really glad that this amendment might be added to the voting process. Here is a really good part in Art. IV, Sec. 3 (B), “A proportionate amount of salary and other pay shall be withheld form any Tribal Council member who does not attend a constitutionally required meeting.” So, this basically means that if they miss a council meeting, they will be fined. We are all a little upset when the Tribal Council members “walk out” of a meeting to avoid a vote or they just don’t show up to the meeting because they are off on some travel adventure. With this amendment, they will be fined for missing a meeting for any reason. I like that. The new proposed draft amendments contain language where the Tribal Council may be removed by the voters of their respective districts by recall or they can be removed by the Ethics Commission for failure to fulfill the roles and responsibilities of their office. Again, this proposal is outstanding. The Oyate had no voice in removing rogue council reps and usually had to wait until the end of their terms to “get rid of them.” This is a game changer if it is adopted. Highlights of Article V, Judicial Branch include voting at large for all of the Judges and the Attorney General. The Chief Judge, Supreme Court Justices and Attorney General must all have Juris Doctorate Degrees. When a vacancy occurs within the courts, the Supreme Court can appoint someone pending an election for a replacement. Again, very good language. This puts the nomination and election of the Judiciary branch back into the hands of the Oyate and doesn’t allow the tribal council to manipulate the wishes of the masses after the fact. Currently, the tribal council can remove the Chief Judge for any ridiculous reason simply by a majority vote from the council floor. This action just reeks-havoc on the justice system and keeps them in a defunct status.
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