Strange Beds & Empty Pockets
- Tuesday March 9, 2010 - This past meeting (March 3, 2010) our
Council was asked when the people of Bad River will receive another
Beloit Casino informational meeting. Tribal Membership also inquired
about the expenditure sheet (which showed a raw breakdown of the
monies vested on the project) the shareholders were presented (and
later informed were wrong). Membership was told that Bonnie Greene
only had one day to prepare this expenditure sheet and entered what
our accounting had in the system.
The accounting question also initiated another set of inquiries
pertaining to our use of lobbyists (J. Taylor and A. Martin). Membership
questioned if the Tribe is still contracting these lobbyist services (prior
to the new administration, we had been paying them each $5,000 per
month). These were some good questions brought up by our
Membership, so after doing a little investigative research BRANews
uncovered some interesting facts regarding one of our lobbyist
contracts.
You know Bill Broydrick don't you, the heavy-hitting fat cat lobbyist
who has been dubbed one of the most powerful, politically connected
insiders in Wisconsin? Okay, I agree Bill Broydrick isn’t necessarily a
household name, but anyone who watches CNN might recall the
infamous “D.C. Madam Scandal." Well it turns out Bill Broydrick has
been directly linked to our famous “D.C. Madam.” Yes, that Madam;
money laundering, racketeering, prostitution, extortion, mysterious
suicide.. all the things that we have come to know and expect in
American politics. But what I bet you didn’t know is that Bill Broydrick
has been listed as one of our players. Its true, our slugger Bill Broydrick
has gone to bat for Bad River several times with hard hitting issues
such as; the Beloit Casino Project, Indian gaming, tribal law
enforcement funding, tourism, treaty rights, etc.
The point I’m trying to make is the vitality in the knowledge of who our
associates are, who we have contracts with, and how much money we
are spending on them. Without doubt, had proper accounting
procedures been followed, we would have an expenditure sheet with
correct figures that truly reflect our money spent on the Beloit Casino
Project and we would definitely know the names of the pockets we’ve
been stuffing to make it all happen. But I guess that’s just my take on it,
then again my pockets are empty, so what do I know?