At the Monday December 9, 2013 Community Discussion Tribal Chairperson Ed Delgado confirmed that Oneida Seven Generations Corporation President & Board Chair William ‘Bill’ Cornelius (who’s also Oneida Gaming Commission Counsel) had resigned from OSGC, along with acting CEO & CFO Bruce King and his nephew, Tribal Legislative Affairs Director Nate King, bringing the total number of remaining OSGC Board members to four out of nine slots: Tribal Tourism Events Manager Mike Metoxen; Casino Internal Security Director Owen Somers; Todd Van Den Heuvel; and Tsyosha?aht Caterina Delgado (sister of Tribal Treasurer Tina Danforth and sister-in-law of Tribal Vice-Chair Greg Matson).
Chairperson Delgado also said that OSGC is no longer leasing the facility at 1201 O’Hare Boulevard, Hobart, WI to Generation Clean Fuels, LLC, and that neither the Tribe, nor OSGC, nor its affiliates were shareholders in Generation Clean Fuels, LLC.
When asked who owned Generation Clean Fuels, Ed Delgado said that they didn’t know and the question was then raised: So, OSGC was leasing a facility to a company that appears to have illegaly engaged in open flame incineration activities against the wishes of GTC and neither the BC nor OSGC knows who actually owns it? The question was met with silence from Delgado and incredulous bemusement from attendees.
The primary concern regarding dissolving OSGC seems to be that such an action might cause a downgrade in the Oneida Tribe’s credit rating, but it was pointed out that not dissolving OSGC doesn’t guarantee that the Tribe wouldn’t face a downgrade and that it’s better to have a downgrade and be rid of OSGC than have a downgrade and be stuck with them.
Tribal CFO Larry Barton and Sec. Patty Hoeft said that the Business Committee had a “spirited discussion” earlier on Monday regarding what might happen at the Sunday December 15, 2013 GTC Meeting which would seem to indicate that there are still some dead-enders on the BC who don’t realize or don’t want to accept the fact that the fate of OSGC is out of their hands at this point, and instead they want GTC to keep drinking & dancing while the band plays on and the ship goes down.
Another question raised was: How is General Tribal Council supposed to have confidence in OSGC if its leaders would rather jump ship than try to defend OSGC’s actions?
The aspect of dealing with the fallout of OSGC that wasn’t adequately addressed at either Community Discussion was the personal liabilities of Board members & executives if they’ve engaged in misconduct, negligence or law breaking and whether the GTC will need to hire its own legal representative to pursue legal action against those who may have violated GTC’s trust and/or the law. In other words, what are the applicable policies regarding indemnity?
Lastly, it was pointed out that the BC and OSGC have predicated their ability to establish all sorts of subsidiaries on the basis of the 2005 BC Resolution 7-13-05-P:
That BC Resolution says:
WHEREAS, the Oneida Business Committee has been delegated by the authority of Article IV of the Oneida Tribal Consitution by General Tribal Council; and
WHEREAS, Article IV. Section 1(h) authorizes the Oneida Business Committee to “charter subordinate organizations for economic purposes”; and
WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of the Tribe to amend the charter of the Oneida Seven Generations Corporation to promote and enhance the business and economic development of the Tribe.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the charter of the Oneida Seven Generations Corporation is hereby amended as follows:
Article VI. (A) To promote and enhance the business and economic diversification directly or as a holding company for real estate and other business ventures of the Nation.
First, the amendment to the OSGC Corporate Charter becomes moot as soon as they are dissolved.
Second, the Oneida Constitution Article IV. Section 1(h) says this:
Article IV – Powers of the General Tribal Council
Section 1. Enumerated Powers. – The General Tribal Council of the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin shall exercise the following powers, subject to any limitations imposed by the statutes or the Constitution of the Unied States:
(h) To charter subordinate organizations for economic purposes and to delegate to such organizations, or to any subordinate boards or officials of the Tribe, any of the foregoing powers, reserving the right to review any such action taken by virtue of such delegated power.
Obviously it’s time for General Tribal Council to take back the reins and insist that from now on the creation of any Tribally-chartered organizations or subsidiaries designed for economic purposes must first be approved by GTC, because if the BC can’t explain to GTC what Tribally-chartered corporations are up to it’s probably no good.
Think about it like this: General Tribal Council is the ‘parent’ in the Tribal structure; organizations established for economic purposes are the ‘children’ of GTC; and the Business Committee are the ‘nannies/babysitters’ that GTC hires to look after the children and make sure they do their homework and chores. It doesn’t give the BC the right to take the kids out for crewcuts or beers or tattoos, and it certainly doesn’t mean that the BC can allow the children & their friends to wreck the house with horseplay or to play with matches in “open flame activities” while the parents are busy. It means the BC and the economic development organizations must be held accountable by GTC for what goes on, and that GTC must take decisive disciplinary action when the house rules have been violated.
GTC set the house rules about incineration schemes on the Oneida reservation at the May 5, 2013 GTC Meeting and OSGC has violated the spirit of those rules with the blessing of some members of the BC who were supposedly told by Chief Counsel Jo Anne House that the BC had already agreed to let the kids and their friends ignore the rules and play with matches despite what GTC had said, and seems to have argued against attempting to clarify the rules that GTC established if there was any confusion about GTC’s intentions.
Now it’s time for GTC to clean house and reassert their right to not only “review action taken” by the BC & OSGC over the past few years but to take meaningful action to hold people personally accountable for allowing or engaging in the destruction of valuables and heirlooms in violation of the GTC’s rules and wishes, as well as demand that going forward any establishment of an organization for economic development must first be approved by GTC.
If it’s not GTC’s business, whose business is it?
