Corruption At All Levels
The following article was released on January 12th 2009
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0901/S00123.htm
One who claims to be our own was deeply engulfed in this issue. Read the following in italic written in the article.
• Steven Morello, the General Counsel of the Army, was long aware of and deeply concerned about what had been going on. He had in his office a DOD collection of pertinent documents, including, among other items in the DOD paper trail, Diane Beaver’s memo, a document by which Rumsfeld, upon Haynes’ recommendation, gave the green light to torture and abuse, and a memo from Jim Clemente of the FBI warning that the renditions could be considered a criminal conspiracy in violation of American law. When Mora came to him after learning what was taking place from Brant, Morello informed Mora that “‘We tried to stop it,’” but couldn’t. His concerns had been ignored. He had been “told to shut up.”
He was also told to shut up. He tried to stop it? Obviously his efforts to stop it, were minimal here.
When Mora went to speak to Morello about what he had learned from Brant, Morello showed Mora the DOD paper trail that was in his possession. But he was so nervous that he made Mora promise not to tell where he had seen the documents. The documents had, of course, been “closely held,” with numerous DOD personnel and lawyers being kept out of the process lest they learn about and object to what was being done. Such close holding and efforts to limit paper trails were a modus operandi of Haynes.
Why would Morello be so nervous? He certainly had a duty here to report this to the Congress and Senate.
• Mora was horrified by what he read in the paper trail in Morello’s office. He took his concerns to Gordon England , then Secretary of the Navy and later Deputy Secretary of Defense. Then, with England ’s approval, he met with Haynes on December 20th, three days after Brant had come to him.
I am sure he was horrified. Mora too had a duty to report this. Another one who failed the people.
The big question here is whether Morello and all those involved violated the Constitution and their Oath of Office (below). It appears that way.
The Oath of Office and the Constitution
Oath:I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.5 U.S.C. §3331As Federal civil servants, we take an oath of office by which we swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. The Constitution not only establishes our system of government, it actually defines the work role for Federal employees - "to establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty."The history of the Oath for Federal employees can be traced to the Constitution, where Article II includes the specific oath the President takes - to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." Article VI requires an oath by all other government officials from all three branches, the military, and the States. It simply states that they "shall be bound by oath of affirmation to support the Constitution." The very first law passed by the very first Congress implemented Article VI by setting out this simple oath in law: "I do solemnly swear or affirm (as the case may be) that I will support the Constitution of the United States."
The wording we use today as Executive Branch employees is now set out in chapter 33 of title 5, United States Code. The wording dates to the Civil War and what was called the Ironclad Test Oath. Starting in 1862, Congress required a two-part oath. The first part, referred to as a "background check," affirmed that you were not supporting and had not supported the Confederacy. The second part addressed future performance, that is, what you would swear to do in the future. It established a clear, publicly sworn accountability. In 1873, Congress dropped the first part of the Ironclad Test Oath, and in 1884 adopted the wording we use today.
Steven Morello's history of ignoring rules and guidelines set forth, were exhibited in his short tenure with the Sault Tribe Of Chippewa Indians. Part of Morello's stipulations to be employed as General Counsel of the Tribe, were to be approved by the BIA. The below documents confirm he was not approved.
Click On Documents
Steven Morello came riding into the Sault Tribe on a big white horse. He was an unknown until Election night of 2004. At least by the Membership. Bernard Bouschor and Aaron Payment knew him though. In a link below Bernard Bouschor had even referenced Morello for a position in the Dept. Of Army.
http://www.mcca.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewpage&pageid=1365
From the link:
Morello’s own story starts as the son of a Chippewa mother, who is a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of the Chippewa Indians. (When he applied for the post of Army general counsel, one of the letters of recommendation that Morello submitted was from the tribal chairman.) He earned degrees from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service and the University of Detroit Law School, as well as a Masters of Science in Business Administration (MSBA) from Boston University and a Pastoral Studies degree from Sacred Heart Major Seminary.
Morello once told the Board in a Meeting that he was the voice of the Tribe. He treated the Board and the Members like little kids. His inflated ego even wrote a deplorable article in the Tribal paper posted below.
Define the word
"Sex"
SUBMITTED BY STEVE MORELLO
TRIBAL GENERAL COUNSEL
This article
begins a series
of articles I
intend to write
in my capacity
as general
counsel, chief
ethics officer,
and director of
government relations for my
tribe. It is my way to communicate
with my client, the tribe, and
I will also use it to respond to
some of the comments made
elsewhere in this paper about
legal matters. It is also my hope
that these discussions, while on
the light side, might be informative
and always pointed. I intend
to discuss the plain meaning of
words like leadership, ethics,
demagoguery, truth, confidentiality
and fiduciary responsibility,
among others. Today, I begin
this series by discussing the plain
meaning of the word "vote."
Several years ago our entire
country was captivated by the discussions
surrounding the plain
meaning of the word "sex." It was
an embarrassing time because the
definition being offered by the
public official in question simply
didn't jive with the plain meaning
of the word as understood by
almost every American who
speaks English as a native language.
In the end, it just didn't
matter because the attempt to fool
the people with some inappropriate
definition of a well known
word didn't work.
Recently, we too, have had a
similar controversy over the plain
meaning of the word "vote." Our
discussions were actually much
more substantive because they
centered on our common understanding
of the exercise of
democracy by our people. And
my hunch is that each and every
one of you clearly understands the
meaning of the word "vote," as in
"make a choice or elect a person
to office of some kind." Well
then, I'm equally as certain that
our founders when they wrote the
Constitution also clearly understood
what they meant when they
said, "provided. . . at least 30 percent
of those eligible to vote,
vote."
The recent actions to reinvent
the meaning of the word "vote"
reminds me of a story I was told
about a teacher in her class on the
first day of school. As school was
about to be dismissed, teacher
told her elementary students that
they should form a line outside by
the yellow bus and wait for the
driver to allow them to board.
When she went outside to check
on her students, they were not by
the yellow bus. When she asked
them why they did not obey her,
one little girl spoke up, because
the big kids over there said this
bus is green and you told us to
stand by the yellow bus. The
teacher smiled and replied, "class,
just because someone bigger than
you tells you this school bus is
green doesn't make it green. We
all know school buses are yellow!"
Well the students learned a
valuable lesson that day and I'm
sure we can all learn a lesson as
well. We don't need anyone to tell
us the clear and plain meaning of
the word "vote." Just like we
don't need a public official to tell
us the clear and plain meaning of
the word "sex." We all know
what these words mean. And just
because some big kids are trying
to tell us the vote is green doesn't
make it so. We all know that
votes are yellow! Do we agree?
How disgraceful for Morello to speak this way in our Tribal paper. Just more of his ignorant arrogant self.
Morello's vacation with the Tribe was a short one. He was kindly asked to leave with pay. The case of another absentee employee enjoying the Tribes money.
So off Morello rides into the horizon to secure another Government job from his pal George W. Bush.
Now the investigation and Morello is full of excuses to why he did not uphold his Oath of Office. The Federal Government should be able to see through his smokescreen like the Sault Tribe did and uncover the trail he left.
All his career Morello managed to slide under the radar. Let's hope this time will be different.
Wizards In Their Own Minds
For years Bouschor, Teeple, and Diaz worked diligently on a plan to provide for future generations of the Sault Tribe. Not one of them were prepared to step into the real world of business. They were a heist waiting to happen. This article focuses on Allard Teeple who is being considered for employment by the Tribe or Greektown.
The VIP Packages
Allard Teeple was given wide discretion in his business deals on the behalf of the Tribe. Teeple, while the assistant to the Chairman would often be seen giving away top dollar VIP Gaming packages to all his friends. It would be quite common to see Allard and Bucko Teeple going back and forth down the rows of slots depositing free tribal funny money. They were there for the money only and couldn't get enough.
The Barge
Allard Teeple was involved in some major projects that were huge failures for the Tribe. Teeple along with Bouschor has a long history with the Greeks, dating back to the barge deal. Regardless of the huge failure of the barge, many of them on the barge list remained employed for the Tribe for years. Many were paid out when they exited the Tribe.
The Testimonial
The below was written by a longtime player in Greektown:
Allard Teeple and his brother Bucko came rolling into the Sault from Bay Mills in late 1989, and somehow (I don't know) got into Bernard's circle. In the spring of 1990, an office was built in the old Pepsi building on Ashmun that the Tribe had purchased, where the cleaning service was located. They had formed "Four Winds Development," and they were going to lead the Tribe into many many great economic ventures. We used to joke that Bernard bought them each a polyester suit and a pair of shiny shoes, and got them a multiple line phone.They never delivered one successful venture, but got the Tribe involved in a number of fiasco's, like Pontiac Plastics, according to sources.
Four Winds had been closed in, 1992; Bucko got religion and became a medicine man for the Sault Tribe, and Bernard sent Allard to Detroit as basically a lobbyist for Indian Casinos there. I suppose because this initiative had been hatched by Ted Gatzaros, Allard spent a lot of time with him. In August of 1998, the Indian Casino initiative had been voted down, but three privately held casinos had been approved, and Greektown had been selected as one of the developers. Bernard always believed the Greeks were essential to success in Detroit, because of their political connections with the city and state politicians, so I suppose Allard was allowed, or maybe instructed, to court their favor.
The whole time in Detroit, Allard wasn't effective at anything. A typical Allard move was to convince Bernard that a contractor out in Clinton Township was THE guy to build our Casino, so Bernard instructed personnel to go up there and meet with him. They did so, and were told he wasn't even interested in our Casino, but he would like to help the Tribe if he could. He also told them that he believed the only reason Allard sucked up to him was that he had lots of Red wing tickets! (which Allard gave away as political favors to himself). Allard did spend a lot of time with Ted. So, Allard was largely ineffective until mid 2002, when he took a stand on something contrary to Bernard's wishes, and they tangled. Bernard told him to resign, but Allard wanted a $100,000 separation settlement. Allard came in Bernard's Office demanding the $100K. Bernard told him that he (Bernard) was only authorized to transact up to $50K, and that Allard had better take it as he had no friends on the Tribal board. Shortly after, Allard did leave, and started a consulting company working out of the Greeks' building. I don't think he ever did anything in that business.
So, here's the spin on the Tribe today, with respect to Greektown:
When the Tribe partnered with the Greeks to propose on an Indian Casino. the Tribe was to own 80%, and the Greeks 20%. After that was shot down we partnered with them to propose on the non-Indian Casino; however, now the Tribe was to own 50%, and the Greeks 40%. the remaining 20% was owned to local politically correct individuals. The successful Greektown proposal called for a development costing $618 million; The Tribe's share of that would be $309MM! However, they bought out the Greeks and several partners, so while we don't know for sure, the Tribe's stake in Greektown Holdings was (until this week) at least 90%, which should be worth a minimum of $550mm, based on investment. They've sold 40% for $100mm ($79 + 21).That means if the hold 45%, it is worth about $112 million. That's a far cry from $550 million. ALSO, the Tribe has personally borrowed money to plow into Greektown, which hasn't been paid off. So what is the actual equity, anything at all?
In January of 2005, there was a strategic planning session at the Treetops Resort in Gaylord. The purpose was to develop the Tribe's strategy for going forward at Greektown. Representatives from Merril Lynch, the financing agent, offered a proposal to sell Greektown (there were buyers at that time), pay off all our debts, including the Greeks, and the Tribe would have $206 million left. Fred Paquin asked how much income that would produce, and the Merril guy (Tom Baldwin) told him about $16 million per year. Fred said "That's not enough. Our membership demands more than that." So Baldwin said: "Why don't you take the $206 million, and build an Indian Casino in Romulus?" Bear in mind, that we wouldn't need a hotel, or as much parking. We would not be subject to the Michigan Gaming Control Commission, or the 48% tax Greektown is now paying. Also, the most lucrative segment of Greektown's customer base, the Chaldean sector, lives in the Dearborn to Romulus area. By this time, Governor Engler had approved a Romulus Casino, and this was well known.They projected that this Casino would produce as much as $70 million per year, after debt service!! They sat down, and eyes turned toward Aaron. He said nothing, and did nothing, so after about 30 seconds, Marvin Beatty, one of the local partners, said that the current Greektown management also had a proposal, and would present it. So Craig Gelphi, Bruce Dall, and Cliff Vallier got up and proposed that Greektown stay where it was and expand, and they would buy the City parking structure, tear it down and rebuild it, and build a hotel on top of it - basically what they're now doing. This was really interesting, as Cliff took credit for coming up with the idea of moving to Romulus in 2002. In the meantime, he had transferred from the Tribe to Greektown, and had been appointed Director of finance, and now makes $380,000 per year. Craig Gelphi makes over $600,00. How long would they keep their jobs if the Casino were sold? Do you think that had something to do with them bucking the sale of Greektown?
End Of Testimonial
Two Different Plans
Teeple and the Tribe apparently had two different plans. This made it impossible to proceed successfully in a direction that would benefit the Members. Bouschor sat by idly while they destructed the tribe. Below is an article where Teeple and Hatch disagree on the plan.
Teeple also said that the Greektown casino should not be moved to the riverfront.
“That’s just my personal opinion,” he said.
We asked John Hatch, Chippewa tribe spokesman, what he made of Teeple’s comments.
“That’s not our position. Our position is that we look forward to moving to the riverfront.”
After all the failures by Allard Teeple with the Sault Tribe, Why would he even be considered for any position? There is only one logical explanation. That Teeple has the goods on his longtime friend Bouschor and Bouschor needs to deliver. On the night of the BOD induction of 2008, Teeple was seen mingling around with Bouschor in his polyester suit. He was not the only fly there that night.
The BOD needs to learn from their past mistakes. Making those mistakes over and over again is not the solution.
Keep the riff raff out for good !!!
Bad Cops Getting Worse???
Police misconduct is nothing new in Paquin's world. The 3 State Police reports along with the Ann Massey incident. It appears that Paquin and Severance were suspicious about one another back in 2000.Officer Severance commented to Ann Massey the following:"6/00- At the Post, Officer Ray Severance told me that he was told that I was having sex with Chief Paquin and wanted to know if it was true."Paquin is known for his bragging and was undoubtedly boasting about his unfulfilled fantasies racing through his perverted mind.This habitual behavior by Paquin can no longer continue. How many false arrests were made under Paquins Administration? How many set-ups were there? How many innocent people were put behind bars? So many questions can be asked.Rumors of Officer Severance initiating the latest investigation on Paquin are rampaging through the Tribal Communities. Could the article in the Cheboygan News depict Paquins payback? Only time will tell.
______________________________________________________By Mike FornesCheboygan Daily Tribune
Fri Jan 02, 2009, 08:21 AM EST
St. Ignace, Mich. -
Charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and reckless driving against a police officer for the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians have raised concerns from several factions within police departments in Mackinac County,Ray Severance, a 12-year veteran of the tribal police department, was arraigned in 92nd District Court in St. Ignace Dec. 23 and entered a not guilty plea to accusations that he drove while drunk after attending a private Christmas party for local police at a Mackinaw City restaurant.Severance and two other off-duty policemen were stopped by St. Ignace Police Dec. 23 after leaving a St. Ignace tavern following the party. Prosecutors say the stop was made after a citizen’s complaint that police officers had been drinking and were about to leave in a vehicle. The patrolman who made the stop, Officer Rich Cullen, is a former tribal policeman who joined the St. Ignace Police Department earlier this year. Severance turned himself in to authorities the next day after being told by the patrolman to “sleep it off” at the nearby home of another off-duty officer. He was not jailed.Cullen is also the son-in-law of former Sault Tribe Police Chief Fred Paquin, who is currently suspended without pay while being investigated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Federal Bureau of Investigation over a financial matter.Sault Tribe officials have not stated publicly as to whether Severance has been suspended. A pre-trial hearing is set for Jan. 28.
To Voice Your Concerns Contact The Below Individuals.
Mike Cox - Michigan Attorney General: (517) 373-1110 http://us.mc01g.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=miag@michigan.govTim Matelski - St. Ignace City Police: (906) 643-8877 stignacepd@lighthouse.netBob Marchand - Sault Tribe Police: (906) 635-6065 rmarchand@saulttribe.net
