In the ‘Open Session’ portion of the Agenda for Wednesday’s 9 a.m. Business Committee Emergency Meeting is one item:
Treasurer Tina Danforth Notice of Recusal from work to carry out Oneida Seven Generations Corporation dissolution
Sponsor: Tina Danforth
Strangely enough, the Emergency Meeting Agenda lists Tina Danforth’s self-recusal in Open Session as taking place after the BC discusses the ‘Dissolution Plan for Seven Generations Corporation per GTC directive’ in Executive Session. Shouldn’t the order of events be the other way around?
Is Tina Danforth just now recusing herself from OSGC matters because her sister Cathy Delgado became acting Chair of OSGC following the sudden and unexplained resignation of Atty. William ‘Bill’ Cornelius on Tuesday December 3, 2013?
Shouldn’t Tina Danforth have recused herself from any BC votes or work regarding OSGC as soon as her sister Cathy became an OSGC Board member in the first place? (Not to mention other conflicts of interest.)
And if Tina Danforth is recusing herself on the grounds of her familial relationship with OSGC Board member Cathy Delgado, doesn’t that mean that it would also be appropriate for OBC Vice-Chair Greg Matson to recuse himself since Cathy Delgado is his sister-in-law?
Could there be another reason that Tina Danforth is recusing herself?
- Is she an employee of any of OSGC’s subsidiaries?
- Is she a board member of any of OSGC’s subsidiaries?
- Is she a private investor in any of OSGC’s subsidiaries?
The primary Shareholder of OSGC and its subsidiaries – the Oneida Tribe, including the General Tribal Council – deserves to know who all of the employees, executives, board members, and investors are and have been in OSGC and all of its subsidiaries.
And speaking of subsidiaries, the Kalihwisaks article on the GTC’s vote to dissolve OSGC states:
OSGC fully owned and operated seven limited liability companies (LLC) and had partial ownership of five others.
Yet the chart of OSGC’s ‘Corporate Structure’ included in the McGladrey & Pullen audit report listed only eight of those twelve LLC’s (click to enlarge image):
Corporate Structure of Oneida Seven Generations Corporation
Even among those eight, McGladdrey & Pullen did absolutely no analysis of one listed: Oneida-Kodiak Construction, LLC.
At the December 5, 2013 Community Discussion regarding the December 15 GTC Special Meeting, Tribal CFO Larry Barton claimed that the reason that no analysis was done was due to the fact that Alliance Construction & Design (the 49% shareholder in Oneida-Kodiak Construction) is withholding financial records from OSGC (the 51% shareholder in Oneida-Kodiak Construction).
Wouldn’t such an action by Alliance Construction & Design be the basis for legal action against them by the Oneida Tribe given that Oneida-Kodiak Construction’s financial records are the property of the Oneida Tribe and thus the property of the General Tribal Council?
Have elected officials of the Oneida Tribe decided not to pursue legal action against Alliance Construction & Design because they know that could open not just a can but an entire cannery of worms regarding possible illegal actions and activities by executives and board members of OSGC and its subsidiaries?
The Business Committee allowed OSGC & its subsidiaries to act in violation of the Oneida Constitution Article IV. Section 1(h):
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.
Even though the BC long denied GTC it’s constitutional right to review actions by OSGC & its subsidiaries before GTC voted to dissolve OSGC, they should not be allowed to continue to do so.
In other words: The BC wrongly prevented GTC from having access to OSGC’s routine checkup reports but they must not be allowed to prevent GTC from having access to autopsy reports, and a forensic autopsy is exactly what is called for in this situation.
Some have asked, “Won’t the BC just create a new corporation and move the LLC’s and assets over to the new organization?”
Even if that is the BC’s aim, GTC must not be denied the right to review any such action, and Oneida Eye contends that going forward the formation of any Tribally-chartered organization for economic purposes should be created only by an act of GTC.
Moreover, the BC must be made aware that any attempts by them to ignore or to try to cover-up violations of law by executives and board members of OSGC and its subsidiaries will result in GTC members – as shareholders who have a right to review actions taken – contacting external authorities, such as the Wisconsin Attorney General, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Justice.
In fact, GTC members may very well need to contact those authorities on the basis of the Oneida-Kodiak Construction financial records ownership and access issues alone.
As the saying goes: The cover-up is worse than the crime.
Speaking of which: Rumors are that the BC member who’s going to try to rescue OSGC from the December 15, 2013 decision of General Tribal Council is none other OSGC Liaison, felonious burglar and habitual criminal Brandon Yellowbird Stevens.
Hide your wallets & purses and grab some popcorn.
UPDATE, 9:15 a.m.: Sh¡t just got weird.
12-17-2013 Memo by Ed Delgado
In other words: the Oneida Business Committee via its hapless and perhaps hopeless Chairperson Ed Delgado now wants to usurp the power of the supreme governing body of the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin which is the General Tribal Council which made its decision about OSGC known at the December 15, 2013 GTC Meeting via its legitimate vote.
Is Ed Delgado so delusional that he thinks this will stand? Maybe he’s been huffing too many fumes from his car.
Or maybe his actions indicate that the GTC’s December 15, 2013 decision was the corporate equivalent of this:
