Here is a copy of the Action Report for the 2014 GTC Annual Meeting held on Sunday February 16, 2014:
Highlights include a successful motion by Madelyn Genskow to bring GTC Meeting Minutes to GTC for approval in a timely fashion which Oneida Eye has previously advocated:
Motion by Madelyn Genskow that in the future all minutes must be submitted for approval at the next annual or semi- annual meeting that takes place and that the dialogue that took place during the meeting be included, seconded by Vince DelaRosa. Motion approved by a show of hands
Trust & Enrollment Committee Chair Carole Liggins made two motions that failed.
The first was supposedly regarding concerns that the January 7, 2013 GTC Resolution to adopt a Tribal Judiciary Law had conflicting or inconsistent regulations between the qualifications required to be elected as a Judge with existing regulations for being merely a Judicial Officer:
WHEREAS, on January 2, 2012, the Oneida General Tribal Council deferred the proposed Judiciary for revision to include law school training as a qualification for all Judges.
Oneida Eye is of the opinion that candidates should not only be required to have a Wisconsin State Bar license but should also be required to have at least 5 years of successful practice as an attorney.
Nevertheless, Carole Liggins’ motion failed:
Motion by Carole Liggins to deny approval of the Jan. 7, 2013 annual meeting minutes, seconded by Don McLester. Motion failed by a show of hands
Carole Liggins’ next failed motion was as follows:
Motion by Carole Liggins to table all minutes until they are brought back in compliance with Madelyn’s motion, seconded by Scharlene Kasee. Motion failed by a hand count: 407 yes, 467 no, 39 abstained, 913 total votes
It’s unclear to Oneida Eye how it could make any sense to claim that you are tryting to speed up the process of bringing GTC Meeting Minutes to GTC for approval by tabling all of the 2013 GTC Meeting Minutes, but thankfully Carole Liggins’ motion to table all 2013 GTC Meeting Minutes failed and the GTC Meeting Minutes for January 7; July 1; July 8; September 21; and October 27, 2013 were approved:
[Motion by] Terry Cornelius to accept all the minutes presented in the packet, seconded by Vince DelaRosa. Motion approved by a show of hands
Again, Oneida Eye would hope that the December 15, 2013 GTC Meeting Minutes regarding Frank Cornelius’ successful call for dissolving Oneida Seven Generations Corporation will be available for GTC to approve no later than the July 7, 2014 Semi-Annual GTC Meeting, especially given the fact that the final draft has already been posted on the Tribe’s website.
Despite the fact that the 2014 Annual GTC Meeting Agenda included a presentation of the Tribal Treasurer’s report for 2013, Treasurer Tina Danforth did not attend the 2014 GTC Annual Meeting because she was on vacation.
Oneida Eye’s Publisher noted Treas. Tina Danforth’s absence and the fact that the Tina fails to attend 50% of Business Committee Regular Meetings due to her role as the Chair of the Native American Bancorporation, and that the Treasurer’s Report as printed in the 2014 Annual Report states that Oneida Tribe’s toal investment in the Native American Bank is $1,069,509 but that the ‘Decrease in Equity Value’ is $628,261, and that the ‘Total Return to Tribe’ from the million-plus investment was zero dollars.
The Treasurer’s Report also stated that the Native American Bank is trying to raise $5 million in capital and that the “intitiative is aimed at getting in good standing with the bank regulators and to grow the bank.”
As Oneida Eye has reported, NAB Chair & Tribal Treas. Tina Danforth has previously brought forward a proposal to GTC to invest even more of the Oneida Tribe’s money in the Native American Bank but GTC voted against any further investment.
Given the fact that the Oneida Tribe has lost over 60% of the million-plus dollars it invested in the Native American Bank, and that the bank appears to be distressed, and that the BC just voted at the February 12, 2014 BC Meeting to continue Emergency Cost Containment and Spending Restriction through the end of Fiscal Year 2014 due to the financial crisis created by OSGC, Oneida Eye’s Publisher made two motions at the 2014 GTC Annual Meeting to divest the Oneida Tribe from the Native American Bank but BC Chair Ed Delgado refused to recognize either motion, likely because he knows full well that GTC would vote to divest if given the opportunity.
At the December 9, 2013 Community Discussion BC Secretary Patty Hoeft told petitioner Frank Cornelius and the Oneida Eye’s Publisher that the effort to dissolve OSGC had ‘gotten the BC’s attention,’ but apparently the BC’s minds have wandered off again and it may require another GTC petition to divest the Oneida Tribe of the Native American Bank before the rest of the Oneida Tribe’s million-plus dollars vanishes into thin air.
One would think that Ed Delgado and the rest of the BC would be able to realize on their own that forcing GTC to petition for a Special GTC Meeting in order to save the $441,248 that’s (maybe) left of Tribe’s million-plus dollar investment is foolish on the BC’s part, but apparently some shiny bauble is distracting the BC from the job at hand, which is to wisely protect the Tribe’s money, rather than stupidly blow it on loser investments such as the Native American Bank.
Or GTC can simply vote the current BC out of office and vote for people dedicated to protecting the Oneida Tribe’s resources at the 2014 Tri-Annual General Tribal Primary and Election, the official dates for which GTC voted to adopt at the Annual Meeting:
Motion by Linda Mercier to accept the recommendation of option no. 2 – caucus Saturday, April 12, primary election Saturday, May 10, general election Saturday, July 12 – for 2014 dates for Tri-Annual Primary and Election, seconded by Matt Johnson. Motion approved by a show of hands
The future is in your hands, GTC.
UPDATE: Oneida Eye apologizes for not including in our post one of the more important moments of the 2014 GTC Annual Meeting.
Namely, BC Chair Ed Delgado’s admission that the Oneida Law Office and the Business Committee failed to abide by – or simply ignored – GTC Resolution 11-15-08-C when the Law Office reviewed and the BC signed a contract with Gene Keluche & Sagestone Management to act as the “Agent” for Oneida Seven Generations Corporation during its dissolution and passed BC Resolution 12-24-13-A.
In admitting that the contract with Keluche & Sagestone Mgmt. was not supposed to contain any confidentiality clauses, including the amount of money that the Oneida Tribe is paying Gene Keluche & Sagestone Mgmt., yet there is a confidentiality clause regarding fees in the contract, Ed Delgado demonstrates several important points:
1) The contract with Keluche & Sagestone Mgmt. is invalid because it is in clear violation of GTC Resolution 11-15-08-C which says, “that no ‘agent’ of the Tribe shall enter into any agreement with any corporation that prohibits full disclosure of all transactions (receipts and expenditures and the nature of such funds) and that such an agreement is not binding to the Tribe[.]”
2) Ed Delgado & the rest of the BC and Chief Counsel Jo Anne House & the Oneida Law Office cannot be trusted to uphold their Oaths of Office, to abide by the Code of Ethics, or to honor GTC Resolutions & Directives issued by the supreme governing body of the Tribe, which is grounds not only for their removal from office but sufficient reason to never vote for any of them for any office nor support them for any appointed position for at least 10 years.
3) GTC must elect honest representatives in 2014 who will uphold their Oaths of Office, who will abide by the Code of Ethics, who will honor GTC Resoulutions & Directives, and won’t hide behind claims of incompetency which are little more than a fig leaf for dishonorable dishonesty in political and legal matters.
When it comes to the current members of the Business Committee and the Oneida Law Office… Trust No One.
Tekantyohkwakanyehse: “I vote.”
