Misconceptions Of Correcting The Ship
Sunday May 23, 2010 - This past week you may have noticed the "Recall Mike
Jr." signs in front of the Chief Blackbird Center. These signs of propaganda
come at a very awkward time. A time of righting the wrongful misguidance and
woeful spending of our previous Administration. There are several rumors
circulating amongst the Community in regard to pay cuts and hour reductions.
One story afloat is workers paid directly from the Tribe's General Account (IDC),
are the ones who will be directly affected. The wage cuts have been rumored to
be anywhere from 10% - 25% or workers may opt to take an hour decrease to 32
hours per week. It is rumored this will be discussed at the next regularly
scheduled Tribal Council Meeting, but nothing is official at this time.
In speaking with several workers, it is the common general consensus that
before any wage/hour cuts are considered for the common worker, they should
be implememented on an Executive and Administrative level. With the heavy
burden of the Economy resting on the already over encumbered shoulders of
our citizens, this kind of strategy would inflict an even geater hardship on the
working class of our Nation. These concerns do raise some valid points, points
that can be all too easily agreed with.
But before we put our Chairman out to pasture, we must ask ourselves, How did
it come to this? Obviously we did not go broke overnight, this is in fact the
culmination of years of inapropriate accounting practices and the neglectful
adherence of our Corporate Charter. In retrospect, the monies we have wasted
on an off-reservation gaming venture have proven to be a disasterous failure, a
failure we ultimately continue to sink our money into. There is also the Amnicon
Bay scandal and the "hop-scotching" and "vampiring" of program funds which
have also attributed to our financial devastation. We can also rack up the lack of
an official budget for the past five years as an additional failure. I can assure
you, these problems don't even begin to scratch the surface of our inadequecies
as a Government.
We ask ourselves, where do we begin? How do we steer a sinking ship? Most
assuredly, we must start with the formulation of an official Budget (which this
Administration has achieved), and adhere to it stringently, this is no trivial task by
any means ($2.5 million has been saved between Apr. 30 and May 5). We must
begin to implemement our Corporate Charter into our Tribal Enterprises. We
must hold our Accounting Department accountable and ensure the "historically
accepted" ways of Accounting cease and desist. We must also revise and
update our Space Cost Allocations for our buildings, as the maintenance
demand has gone up. To combat the aggressive and all too often unpredictable
economy, we must seek other non-gaming ventures (the dental clinic and
wireless broadband are a good start).
Instead of bickering amongst each other, we must unite as a Nation and
collaborate new workable solutions to regain the foothold of our once Proud
Nation. In fairness to our new Chairman, he has indeed inherited a sinking ship.
Yet so much has been gained in a relatively short amount of time. Do we really
need to take a step back into the cold realm of dark politics and closed-door
tyranny? Whether we like it or not, this will be a long difficult journey. It will not
happen over night. We will get mud on our moccasins and their will be strife, but I
believe with hard work and perserverance, as a Nation united, we can rise above
the failures of the past and achieve a more successful citizen-serving
government. Hang in there, I'm with you all.
Sunday May 23, 2010 - This past week you may have noticed the "Recall Mike
Jr." signs in front of the Chief Blackbird Center. These signs of propaganda
come at a very awkward time. A time of righting the wrongful misguidance and
woeful spending of our previous Administration. There are several rumors
circulating amongst the Community in regard to pay cuts and hour reductions.
One story afloat is workers paid directly from the Tribe's General Account (IDC),
are the ones who will be directly affected. The wage cuts have been rumored to
be anywhere from 10% - 25% or workers may opt to take an hour decrease to 32
hours per week. It is rumored this will be discussed at the next regularly
scheduled Tribal Council Meeting, but nothing is official at this time.
In speaking with several workers, it is the common general consensus that
before any wage/hour cuts are considered for the common worker, they should
be implememented on an Executive and Administrative level. With the heavy
burden of the Economy resting on the already over encumbered shoulders of
our citizens, this kind of strategy would inflict an even geater hardship on the
working class of our Nation. These concerns do raise some valid points, points
that can be all too easily agreed with.
But before we put our Chairman out to pasture, we must ask ourselves, How did
it come to this? Obviously we did not go broke overnight, this is in fact the
culmination of years of inapropriate accounting practices and the neglectful
adherence of our Corporate Charter. In retrospect, the monies we have wasted
on an off-reservation gaming venture have proven to be a disasterous failure, a
failure we ultimately continue to sink our money into. There is also the Amnicon
Bay scandal and the "hop-scotching" and "vampiring" of program funds which
have also attributed to our financial devastation. We can also rack up the lack of
an official budget for the past five years as an additional failure. I can assure
you, these problems don't even begin to scratch the surface of our inadequecies
as a Government.
We ask ourselves, where do we begin? How do we steer a sinking ship? Most
assuredly, we must start with the formulation of an official Budget (which this
Administration has achieved), and adhere to it stringently, this is no trivial task by
any means ($2.5 million has been saved between Apr. 30 and May 5). We must
begin to implemement our Corporate Charter into our Tribal Enterprises. We
must hold our Accounting Department accountable and ensure the "historically
accepted" ways of Accounting cease and desist. We must also revise and
update our Space Cost Allocations for our buildings, as the maintenance
demand has gone up. To combat the aggressive and all too often unpredictable
economy, we must seek other non-gaming ventures (the dental clinic and
wireless broadband are a good start).
Instead of bickering amongst each other, we must unite as a Nation and
collaborate new workable solutions to regain the foothold of our once Proud
Nation. In fairness to our new Chairman, he has indeed inherited a sinking ship.
Yet so much has been gained in a relatively short amount of time. Do we really
need to take a step back into the cold realm of dark politics and closed-door
tyranny? Whether we like it or not, this will be a long difficult journey. It will not
happen over night. We will get mud on our moccasins and their will be strife, but I
believe with hard work and perserverance, as a Nation united, we can rise above
the failures of the past and achieve a more successful citizen-serving
government. Hang in there, I'm with you all.