I attended the tribal general meeting on July 28 and at that meeting, the Growth Fund gave an update on the tribe’s investments. During a question and answer period, one tribal elder asked about the millions of dollars and the length of time tribal monies were lost on AKA Energy. Apparently, the Tribal Council has no expectations when it comes to our investments, profit and loss margins, and duration of “poor performing/losing” investments. And, they must not think that we tribal members are interested in, smart enough or concerned about our financial losses. Interestingly enough, none of this kind of information was on the agenda. Tribal members don’t know how long this investment was “going under” or the full amount of our losses.
Tribal Council is mostly young, naive and truthfully ... uneducated. Elder Council members should have known better. It’s always been said that the “Growth Fund makes all the decisions” because Tribal Council members do not understand business. Funny, it used to be said that “the tribal attorneys ran the tribe!”
Isn’t it about time that the qualifications to be on the Tribal Council got revised? It’s always been little more than a “popularity contest” to win a seat on the council! Think about it. We’re electing people who will be making the most important decisions on behalf of 1,500 tribal members, their reservation and their resources! These tribal leaders need to know how to manage our business affairs. Otherwise, we’ll lose what we have, including the bright futures of our young tribal members.
You have to vote on election day and I strongly encourage you to vote for the best educated candidate, not just your party friend or relative.
Think about the future of the tribe!
Roderick Grove,
Tribal elder and veteran
