Two Percent Rip-Off
TWO PERCENT IS BLOOD MONEY AND SHOULD BE PROHIBITED! WE ARE A SOVEREIGN NATION AND THAT MONEY IS OURS! IT IS THE MOST DANGEROUS WEAPON IN BOARD MEMBERS POLITICAL ARSENAL
CAVEAT: This article is one of a series of editorial articles that express personal opinions and views. They are written with no pretensions to be error free. I will gladly correct substantial errors of fact. My opinions can change, depending upon my awareness of changes in factual information. It is my intent to remain focused on specific public issues, regarding the personalities involved. For all I know, all the characters are saints, concerning their private lives and other public business...
02/12/07 The following letter, concerning the apparent corruption of Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians gaming 2% revenue distribution, was written with the intent of pursuing the subject as an agenda item at a future Manistique City Council meeting. Manistique City Manager Sheila Aldrich's reports and communications, at the Manistique City Council meeting of 02/12/07, changed my intentions, immediately. I will not waste my breath, or the Manistique City Council's time; rather, I will say what needs to be said, here.
12/12/06 Beware of Sault Tribe Indian Givers Bearing Gifts In 1996, as a Manistique City Councilman, I took exception to a great deal of misleading publicity that labelled, as a "gift", the $500,000 provided the City of Manistique, by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The money was used to complete the basic construction of Manistique's multi-purpose recreational building, and provide a usable ice rink. As city councilman, I voted for the terms of a written contract that purchased the use of the facility,
over a ten year period, for specific periods of time, and sold, to the Sault Tribe, the right to name the facility, and provided certain other specified consideration. I do not know if that "gift" was carried on the Sault Tribe's books as payments from the 2% of its net video slot machine revenue that it owed local governments, i.a.w. tribal gaming compacts with the State of Michigan. At the time I voted to accept the contract, beyond "gambling revenue", I knew nothing about where the 2% money came from, what it was supposed to be used for, what strings were attached beyond the contract, or if any State controls applied. Regarding those involved, putting the "deal" together, I assumed, at the time,that the project was, primarily, the consequence of the close business relationship between Sault Tribal Board Chairman Bernard "Bernie" Bouschor and First Northern Bank President, Ronald "Ronnie" Ford, with the encouragement of other community movers and shakers that stood to gain, in some fashion. At the time, I couldn't imagine that the Sault Tribe had nothing better to do with $500,000 of tribal money than to give it to the City of Manistique, for the recreational benefit of a few tribal members that might use the facility.
In the apparent context of a confidence game, it seemed, to me, that the obvious Manistique publicity value of the "gift" spin was a "no brainer", regardless of the truth of the matter, and City Manager Housler was anyone's ""yup-yup" man", and a required partner. It was an easy sell to Manistique. What I didn't understand was why a $500,000 "gift", that benefited so few Sault Tribe members, was acceptable to Bernie Bouschor's political rivals. What I didn't know was that the Sault Tribe, in general, benefited by the use of 2%funds to purchase benefits for Sault Tribe members. What I didn't know at the time, and still don't, was if the money used to purchase the use of the recreation building was represented, to the State of Michigan, as 2% money, to be distributed to local governments. What I do not know, is if the apparent, and likely, accounting slight of hand,allowed the skimming of $500,000 of Sault Tribe money, for other purposes. Over the following years, I came to understand the reason and purpose of what was referred to as "2% money". I learned to appreciate, first hand, the corrupting economic and political influence that is wielded by easy gambling money, when it is invested in a local bank presided over by the morally bankrupt. I learned what "2% money" buys, when the Sault Tribe chooses the government entities, or facilities, that it will support with discretionary "2%money", over which it has sole control to determine what "2% money grant" request is most deserving, or not. I learned that nothing in the Tribal Gaming compacts, with the State of Michigan, suggest or state that "2% money" is to be used by the Tribe to purchase goods and services for tribal members; quite the contrary, the money is to be allocated to government entities or non-profit organizations for them to spend, as they deem necessary. According to terms of the gaming compact, no additional "payback" or "kickback" or "benefits" for Native American casino owners is implied, suggested, or required. The gaming compacts hint nothing of bribery and blackmail, as a necessary part of qualification for 2% funds. With the progress of time, the consequences of the corrupt business dealings between Bernie and Ronnie severely crippled the bank, and cost Sault Tribe members, and other bank investors, a substantial fortune, that few people wish to acknowledge, or remember. So why should the financing of Manistique's multi- purpose recreational building be free of their corrupting influence? At the Manistique City Council meeting of December 11, 2006, an agenda item regarding the multi-purpose recreation building was introduced by City Manager Aldrich.
After a short discussion, Council voted, unanimously, to approve a $75,000 contract with the Sault Tribe, for the Tribe to purchase the use of the multi-purpose recreation building for specific periods of time, along with other consideration, for five years. At that televised meeting, the verbally stated source of the funding was the tribal-state gaming compact mandated 2% money. No part of the Council approved written contract indicated the origin of the funds, beyond the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Assuming that Manistique City Council members, and the City Manager, knew what they were talking about, AND, assuming my basic understanding of the origin, purpose and distribution of "2% money" is correct, why is the Sault Tribe buying services, by written contract, for tribal members, with the money bound by the state gaming compact to be distributed to
local governments, or non-profit organizations of its own choosing? Assuming my understanding is correct, why is the City of Manistique selling substantial value to receive a "2% money grant",that is, by the written terms of the contract, not a grant, but payment for the contracted use of recreational facilities, and more? Who are the current civic leaders and tribal leaders that are so brain-dead,from my perspective, that they choose to maintain a decade old perversion, into a confidence game, of a relatively benign term of the gaming compacts.
I never read that tribal members purchased the right to hunt with the new law enforcement pistols that 2% money purchased for the Schoolcraft County Sheriff Department. I never heard that the Sault Tribe purchased the right to use the county jail for a pow-wow, because they provided 2% money to help local law enforcement. I never read that the Tribe bought the right, with 2% money, to change the name of our "Bishop Baraga" park to Ronnie Ford or Bernie Bouscher Park. I have yet to read of a contract to time share the new public safety pumper truck, with 2% money. I have no reason to believe that the 2% money that has gone to LSSU,Habitat for Humanity or an animal shelter, purchased any entitlement, for any tribal members, to periods of free or contracted tuition, room and board, or pet care. So why do I see a process corrupted in 1996, in part due to my ignorance,continue to bare the legacy of Ronnie and Bernie's "Creative Accounting 101", that gored the community so deeply? Am I a blind ol' geezer, already, whose perception of the world is the consequence of little more than senile dementia?
I understand the Manistique City Council approved contract of December 11 as the spawn of the 1996 contract, the one I voted for, some 10 years ago. It was claimed, at the time, that the one half million dollars was "2% money". Needless to say, IF the $500,000 was 2% money, and my current understanding is correct,how did the Tribe get to write it off as 2% grant money, when they used it to purchase recreational benefits for Sault Tribal members? How will the Sault Tribe account for the recent $75,000 of 2% money that it used to purchase recreational benefits for Sault Tribe members, for the next five years? IF that 1996 $500,000 was not 2% money, then my concern is little more than knowing, for sure, that it was not credited to the gambling compact mandated 2% money allocations, and that $500,000 in real 2% money was distributed; in addition to the $500,000 the Sault Tribe used to purchase tribal recreational benefits. My same concerns apply to the $75,000 of the December 11, 2006, City Council approved contract. It should be apparent to all, from this rant, that I admit that I was, regarding the 1996 contract, too naive and ignorant to understand the details of what I consider now, a blatant public confidence game, that I was part of.
No other public official, in 1996, or later, has expressed any concern, that I am aware of, regarding the propriety of the 1996 contract, or the contract approved on December 11, 2006. To me, it is as if confidence games are a necessary and acceptable local government procedure to achieve political goals, or Manistique's elected officials are incapable of learning. In 1996, I would never have voted, knowingly, to sell, by written contract, the use of city recreational facilities for 2% grant money. I would never have been part of a confidence game that could enable the Tribe to claim, to the State,that it distributed $500,000 in 2% money, if it didn't. Do I know that the Sault Tribe did claim, to the State of Michigan, that the 1996 $500,000 contract purchase money was 2% grant money? No I do not. Do I "think" they did? Yes, with little doubt. I have waited 10 years for the appropriate opportunity to speak and I am more than willing to ask, now, the questions that may alleviate any ignorance and delusions I may have acquired during that period. I hope the answers I hear make more sense than those I heard 10 years ago, and that my speculated "con by compact" is nothing more than a figment of my imagination. To me, the 1996 contract looked like a scam, it smelled like a scam, and, in my mouth, it still tastes like a scam. To me, the 2006 contract is no better. There is a reason for the historical control, by organized crime, of the "vice" related businesses of drugs, prostitution and gambling. I have patronized all of them, in past lives, and I know of which I speak. Just in case the Manistique City Council, and City Manager Aldrich, fail to understand my concerns, or choose to ignore my concerns; from my perspective,the 2% money is legislated unconditional compensation for the local Kewadin Casino's impact upon the community's resources and infrastructure, under the guise of a "sovereign nation". In return, the Sault Tribe gains a government right to victimize local residents by preying upon a facet of basic human nature; the perpetual search for pleasure and thrill.
I do not like what I perceive to be the Sault Tribe equivalent of organized crime, conspiring with local leaders, to dictate to the non-tribal residents of Schoolcraft County what the Tribe will gain, additionally, in return for the 2% of net slot revenues that buys their State granted right to victimize local residents. The two written contracts are testimony to my claims. They stand as testimony to the fact that the Sault Tribe purchased substantial value for that which the Sault Tribe, and the City of Manistique, claimed to be 2% money grants, as required by the terms of the gaming compacts. If the purpose of the 2% grants is to provide the Sault Tribe a tax-free means to purchase goods and services, for tribal members, then you have my abject apology for this public tirade, but, before my apology becomes effective, I will need far more reason than the past self-serving and vague public proclamations of civic responsibility and Sault Tribe largess. Part of the gambling wealth generated by preying on productive members of society is used to purchase political influence to prey upon them, further. As far as I am concerned, the December 11th unanimous vote by Manistique City Council,along with the 1996 contract I voted for, were bought by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, acting as a criminal enterprise.
01/12/07 The following is quoted from the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians newspaper, "Win Awenen Nisitotung", dated 01/12/07, page 7, within the article titled "Saving Anishinabeg Artifacts". I read this, at the breakfast table, on the morning of 01/15/07, one month after writing the rest of this article. "Two percent funds are derived from the compact we signed with the State of Michigan to allow us the right to operate casinos in Michigan. The compact reads that two percent of the net revenue from the slot machines must be given to local units of governments. This money must be given freely and accounted for by the tribe as such. You have seen the photos in the paper before. It goes for roads, fire trucks,animal shelters, sports teams and numerous community improvement projects." I never thought, when I wrote my justified rant, that I would read a plain English statement of justification for my ire, from a Sault Tribe source, before the recent ill conceived agreement was signed by the Mayor of Manistique, Dave Peterson, and the Sault Tribe Chairman, Aaron Payment. Sincerely, Peter Markham"
Since I wrote the first part of the "letter", in 12/12/06, I sought a copy of the signed 12/11/06 contract from the Manistique City Clerk's office,and from Manistique City Manager Aldrich. Every time I asked, I was told that thecontract was not confirmed by personnel of the Sault Tribe. At the Manistique City Council meeting of 02/12/07, under the agenda catchall heading of "Reports and Communications", City Manager Aldrich announced, as a simple matter of fact, that the Sault Tribe approved the agreement. No details,or reference to a signed agreement; little more than might accompany a personal agreement, sealed with a hand shake, to complete a "done deal", with everyone's understanding of the terms. After the meeting was adjourned, I asked City Manager Aldrich where I might get a copy of the signed contract. With a guilty look on her face, she told me there was no written signed contract. Assuming I had misunderstood her, I rephrased the question. Same answer; no written contract. Paul Olson, wearing his Pioneer Tribune "Ace Reporter" hat, spoke up and asked if the City had the money. Aldrich said it had. While I was present, I heard no mention of an amount, at any time, during or after the council meeting, but was informed later that Aldrich had stated that the City had received $7,500. I haven't the slightest idea whether the money was a bag of cash, check, casino tokens, how much, for what, and for whom. The City now has an amount of money,acquired under mysterious circumstances, vouched for by nothing more than the empty and vague words of Manistique city officials; that I have learned to distrust. Regardless of whether new recreational benefits were purchased for Sault Tribe members, in 2007, by a verbal contract, with current two percent revenues, they were definitely purchased in 1996, by the terms of a written contract, with money that may have been for that purpose; or not. Still, 10 years later, the same old shell game.
03/12/07 During the "Reports and Communications" agenda item, of today's Manistique City Council meeting,City Manager Sheila Aldrich stated that there were "no strings" attached to the $75,000 two percent gambling revenue to be used to finish the kitchen of the multipurpose recreation building. There was no comment by any council member. I have no idea what happened to the consideration documented in the contract signed by Mayor Dave Peterson. Perhaps I imagined all that I wrote of and no explanation is due, regarding the most recent verbal agreement spoken of this evening. Why the sudden difference, compared to the last two written versions,that documented what the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians were purchasing with the two percent money, instead of distributing, freely? Would the State of Michigan care to fill in the details, so conveniently omitted at tonight's council meeting, that changed apparent fraud to appropriate compensation, by evading the responsibility to state the reasons for the changes from the documented agreement? Had I not spoken up, would the residents of Schoolcraft County have to submit to continued bribery, or blackmail, to get what was due? How easy it is to maintain the fiction of responsible, moral, ethical and law abiding officials, by ignoring the details of public responsibility.
