Changing A Nation, A Front Porch Approach
Friday June 25, 2010 - Consumer cost has grown, while the value of the American Dollar has
depleted. The unknown variable of when the next paycheck will be coming is an enduring reality
many of our Nation’s families are faced with. Nowadays its far too easy to analyze the news and
get lost in the broad economic collapse of America and raise our arms in surrender. But before
we succumb to national defeat and rely blindly on our puppet-strung politicians in Washington
and big bank funded governance, we must look internally and raise awareness on a more local
level.
For far too long our tribal government has been operating on cruise control. Our zombie-esque
approach has steered us woefully into an ice burg of endless debt. Our Nation’s past has finally
caught up to our present day. We are now faced with big decisions with ramifications that will
affect us for years to come. With our hull finally submerged, our leaders find themselves
scrambling for solutions to correct the seemingly impossible. But what they fail to recognize is
these solutions have already been formulated and written. Unfortunately even with these
revelations, our government still operates under the misguided perception of spending more than
we make. We continue to spend our Casino revenue without any direction from our Corporate
Charter, leaving nothing for our next generation of Anishinabe. Our Nation has been rocked to
the core with misspending and the unfruitful dream of an off-reservation gaming facility, which we
continually throw our much needed money and resources into (the money spent on the Beloit
Casino Project last month could have been enough to fund 8 minimum wage jobs).
We can all certainly agree the premise of our fiscal survival centers on budgeting revenue and
expenditure. But how do we budget the essential necessities of our Nation? How do we budget
which of our Nation’s children go to bed without dinner? How do we budget which of them get
clothing, shoes, haircuts, supplies for school, or even the new ‘Sponge Bob DVD’? Certainly
these things fall within the scope of parental responsibilities and do not call for government
strategizing, or can it?
One of the most vocal of our citizen concerns voiced at our council meetings, raised even
before the birth of our new administration, is the current hiring practices of our Casino and it’s
various departments and entities, which have been labeled ’inherently flawed’ by Chairman
Wiggins. Even with this acknowledgement, eight long months later, unemployment continues to
plague the Bad River Nation and our ‘inherently flawed’ hiring practices remain, in fact our
Chairman commends our Human Resource Manager publicly, for a job well done. Our leaders’
focus has blurred while the needs of our Nation have become clouded in a haze of political
agenda, nepotism, and the reminiscent ‘good ‘ole boy syndrome’.
We have seemingly forgotten our casino was founded and built with the ideology of initializing
government program independence and financial empowerment to our Nation’s people through
employment opportunity. The main premise of our citizens’ argument is the hiring of non-
members, while our qualified people seeking employment remain overlooked. Recently during a
public meeting, a member of our casino management went on record to contend some of these
members seeking employment are “recycled” and “undesirable“. Recently this same manager
was involved in an employee grievance involving sexual harassment, to date there has been no
known corrective action taken.
It is quite apparent our management’s stance is abhorrently distorted and their approach is
counter-productive to the growth and development of our Nation. However broken this system
may be, there are definitive remedies which can be easily employed. Ideally the hiring process
should be handled through our Personnel Department. The approved hired Membership should
be chosen by a random lottery system (with strong oversight by our Gaming Board). There
should also be an immediate ‘freeze’ on all non-member applicants until this national crisis is
over. Our people should come before anyone else, including those who have been employed
previously. The Human Resource Manager should take initiative in working proactively to assist
these so called “recycled undesirables” through programs and workshops designed specifically
for employment re-entry (as this is generally the duties of human resources anyway). Political
blacklisting should be immediately replaced with equal opportunity for all our Nation’s people,
regardless of their political stance (this is a Democracy). These cures are all no-brainers and
should already be general practice.
Getting back to our Assistant Human Resource Manager, this position was never posted. This
was a job created by the new administration and labeled an ‘Executive decision’. However, this
decision is in severe conflict with our current policies and procedures. Currently the Asst. Human
Resource Manager has the supreme word in the hiring process. In his supremacy, our Asst. HR
Manager even goes so far as to take some of these ‘black sheep Members’ off the casino hire list
entirely. This pick and choose method has been confirmed by various department heads within
the casino who have gone on record, but wish to remain anonymous at this time. Other Members
that have unsuccessfully attempted to gain employment, have stated their job applications
‘mysteriously disappear’ and there is no record of their applications or resumes having ever
been received. Presently
there is a lacking in Council oversight of our casino management. These managers seem to have
free reign to do things their own way and at their own discretion, regardless of our written policies
and procedures. At the last Gaming Commission Meeting our Casino Manager presented the
monthly financial report. In his report there was question raised as to a four thousand dollar
anomaly in our monthly Casino expenditures. Management stated ‘these were old bills which
needed to be paid.‘ This statement seemed to raise several eyebrows, as it is normal business
practice to pay bills as they become due.
The citizens' cry for more diligent enforcement of our casino management continues to go
unheard. Political agendas aside, our Nation remains plagued by an unemployment epidemic.
Our casino management continually oversteps their job scope and at times, crosses the definite
ethical line. The deficiencies have been addressed and the remedies are simple, now it is up to
our leaders to put their best moccasins forward and get to work.
Friday June 25, 2010 - Consumer cost has grown, while the value of the American Dollar has
depleted. The unknown variable of when the next paycheck will be coming is an enduring reality
many of our Nation’s families are faced with. Nowadays its far too easy to analyze the news and
get lost in the broad economic collapse of America and raise our arms in surrender. But before
we succumb to national defeat and rely blindly on our puppet-strung politicians in Washington
and big bank funded governance, we must look internally and raise awareness on a more local
level.
For far too long our tribal government has been operating on cruise control. Our zombie-esque
approach has steered us woefully into an ice burg of endless debt. Our Nation’s past has finally
caught up to our present day. We are now faced with big decisions with ramifications that will
affect us for years to come. With our hull finally submerged, our leaders find themselves
scrambling for solutions to correct the seemingly impossible. But what they fail to recognize is
these solutions have already been formulated and written. Unfortunately even with these
revelations, our government still operates under the misguided perception of spending more than
we make. We continue to spend our Casino revenue without any direction from our Corporate
Charter, leaving nothing for our next generation of Anishinabe. Our Nation has been rocked to
the core with misspending and the unfruitful dream of an off-reservation gaming facility, which we
continually throw our much needed money and resources into (the money spent on the Beloit
Casino Project last month could have been enough to fund 8 minimum wage jobs).
We can all certainly agree the premise of our fiscal survival centers on budgeting revenue and
expenditure. But how do we budget the essential necessities of our Nation? How do we budget
which of our Nation’s children go to bed without dinner? How do we budget which of them get
clothing, shoes, haircuts, supplies for school, or even the new ‘Sponge Bob DVD’? Certainly
these things fall within the scope of parental responsibilities and do not call for government
strategizing, or can it?
One of the most vocal of our citizen concerns voiced at our council meetings, raised even
before the birth of our new administration, is the current hiring practices of our Casino and it’s
various departments and entities, which have been labeled ’inherently flawed’ by Chairman
Wiggins. Even with this acknowledgement, eight long months later, unemployment continues to
plague the Bad River Nation and our ‘inherently flawed’ hiring practices remain, in fact our
Chairman commends our Human Resource Manager publicly, for a job well done. Our leaders’
focus has blurred while the needs of our Nation have become clouded in a haze of political
agenda, nepotism, and the reminiscent ‘good ‘ole boy syndrome’.
We have seemingly forgotten our casino was founded and built with the ideology of initializing
government program independence and financial empowerment to our Nation’s people through
employment opportunity. The main premise of our citizens’ argument is the hiring of non-
members, while our qualified people seeking employment remain overlooked. Recently during a
public meeting, a member of our casino management went on record to contend some of these
members seeking employment are “recycled” and “undesirable“. Recently this same manager
was involved in an employee grievance involving sexual harassment, to date there has been no
known corrective action taken.
It is quite apparent our management’s stance is abhorrently distorted and their approach is
counter-productive to the growth and development of our Nation. However broken this system
may be, there are definitive remedies which can be easily employed. Ideally the hiring process
should be handled through our Personnel Department. The approved hired Membership should
be chosen by a random lottery system (with strong oversight by our Gaming Board). There
should also be an immediate ‘freeze’ on all non-member applicants until this national crisis is
over. Our people should come before anyone else, including those who have been employed
previously. The Human Resource Manager should take initiative in working proactively to assist
these so called “recycled undesirables” through programs and workshops designed specifically
for employment re-entry (as this is generally the duties of human resources anyway). Political
blacklisting should be immediately replaced with equal opportunity for all our Nation’s people,
regardless of their political stance (this is a Democracy). These cures are all no-brainers and
should already be general practice.
Getting back to our Assistant Human Resource Manager, this position was never posted. This
was a job created by the new administration and labeled an ‘Executive decision’. However, this
decision is in severe conflict with our current policies and procedures. Currently the Asst. Human
Resource Manager has the supreme word in the hiring process. In his supremacy, our Asst. HR
Manager even goes so far as to take some of these ‘black sheep Members’ off the casino hire list
entirely. This pick and choose method has been confirmed by various department heads within
the casino who have gone on record, but wish to remain anonymous at this time. Other Members
that have unsuccessfully attempted to gain employment, have stated their job applications
‘mysteriously disappear’ and there is no record of their applications or resumes having ever
been received. Presently
there is a lacking in Council oversight of our casino management. These managers seem to have
free reign to do things their own way and at their own discretion, regardless of our written policies
and procedures. At the last Gaming Commission Meeting our Casino Manager presented the
monthly financial report. In his report there was question raised as to a four thousand dollar
anomaly in our monthly Casino expenditures. Management stated ‘these were old bills which
needed to be paid.‘ This statement seemed to raise several eyebrows, as it is normal business
practice to pay bills as they become due.
The citizens' cry for more diligent enforcement of our casino management continues to go
unheard. Political agendas aside, our Nation remains plagued by an unemployment epidemic.
Our casino management continually oversteps their job scope and at times, crosses the definite
ethical line. The deficiencies have been addressed and the remedies are simple, now it is up to
our leaders to put their best moccasins forward and get to work.
