The Candidates
For 5 years and nearly 60,000 hits, the STF has been objectively following Tribal Politics. We see it fitting to give our observations of the Candidates in the upcoming Election.
Unit 1 Incumbent
Dennis McKelvie
After a stellar start 8 years ago, Director McKelvie lost his spark. McKelvie was voted in 8 years ago because people wanted change. He promised change from the hypocritical Bouschor Administration to a responsible and accountable Government. McKelvie seemed to have some good ideas in the beginning, but never followed through with any of them. McKelvie was all about talk and Concert tickets. He would give tickets away by the handful.
In 2006 there was the Payment show. More time was spent arguing than anything and McKelvie was right in the middle of it, although he was the Vice Chairman at the time. In 2008 when Joe McCoy was elected Chairman there would be vote for a new Vice Chairman. McKelvie would lose his seat to Lana Causley and the smoke could be seen coming out of his ears. A once strong Bouschor foe, McKelvie would soon become his friend. The political bantering would begin, and instead of doing something certain ones on the Board would do nothing. Essentially making matters worse for the Tribe.
In the nearly 4 past years Dennis McKelvie has accomplished nothing. He has not done a Unit Report in over a year. Why is that? The truth be told, Dennis McKelvie never did his Unit Reports. For $67,000 a year McKelvie could not even report to the Members. Now the only time you see anything from McKelvie is at election time.
McKelvie has become another wallflower like Bob LaPoint, Vic Matson Sr. and Martha Miller. It's time for McKelvie to move on.
Unit 1 Incumbent
DJ Hoffman
The freshman member of the Board. Hoffman based his campaign on Membership First.
http://www.membership-first.com/
Director Hoffman has brought forth more resolutions than all the Board put together over the past 4 years. Some of the more notable resolutions are:
- Sponsor of the resolution to separate the Chairman/CEO.
- Sponsor of the resolution to eliminate Evergreen Contracts.
- Voted against putting Greektown into bankruptcy.
- Legislated the gas discount in the Kinross/Kincheloe area.
- Legislated budget modification policies to make the process more accountable and fiscally responsible.
- Never once voted to spend the Tribes money irresponsibly.
Over the years Director Hoffman made some unpopular, but responsible decisions when it came to protecting the Tribe's assets.
In the nearly 4 years in Office Director Hoffman missed at tops 2 Unit reports. The 2 missed were a result of logistical problems. Not one Director can say that.
Rumor control states that Director Hoffman aligned himself with Director Bouschor. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Director Hoffman stood his ground with Bouschor when others wouldn't.
Director Hoffman has proved to be his our man. Make no mistake who's been carrying the load on the Board. All this information is available on the Board Agenda's and the Tribal Paper. Do not make your decision based on rumors.
Unit 1 Challenger
Debra Pine
Garnered a surprising amount of votes. Pine more noted as a "behind the scenes politician". Pine is a deeply embedded core family member who claims ownership of the Tribe. Pine says in her ad that She is part of a New Generation of Leaders. Good Leaders stand in front and do not do their work behind the scenes. A good Leader is transparent. The lack of transparency of these "behind the scenes politicians" creates a big problem in the Sault Tribe.
Pine says: "A leader who is ready to meet the future, learn from the past, and keep our Tribe moving forward......Together." This is totally contradicting of her website and her chat sessions. Pine feels that the 2.6 million stolen from the Tribe should be forgiven solely based on who they are. She claims they made the Tribe what it is today. Never once does she say her Mother Jolene Nertoli-Graham benefited from the 2.6 Million illegally distributed.
She is right and below are a list of a few of their accomplishments.
- Squandered away BILLIONS of DOLLARS that belonged to the Tribal Members.
- Ran 33 plus businesses in the ground.
- Ballooned the Membership to near 40,000 Members.
- Created the "Diamond in the sky" Greektown which is about to go down the tubes.
- Put all their relatives and friends into high paying jobs they were unqualified for.
- Interpreted the Constitution whatever way fit them best. Usually against the Members.
- Made some people the Members don't even know in Detroit and Las Vegas rich.
- Allowed the misappropriation of Government Grants.
The list of all their poor accomplishment's goes on and on.
Deb Pine is a direct relation to Bernard Bouschor. She continues to support him relentlessly behind the scenes along with several others from the infamous "Women's group". They know who they are as they have had their hands in everything on the sly. They are indebted to Bouschor for life because of Bouschor's generosity with the Tribes money. There is no limitation with these people and nothing is off limits. A lot of people were excluded because of people like this.
Debra Pine is more of the problem instead of the solution.
Make your vote count!
Unit 1 Challenger
DJ Malloy
A direct product of the failed Payment Administration. Cashing in at close to $70,000 a year plus benefits. Not sure what she did other than riding around with Clarence a lot. Upon Payment entering Office he created a Membership Liaison position. Initially posted as one position, Payment would hire two at a cost of $70,000 plus benefits each to the Membership. Malloy was involved in the Payment Buffalo caper that was widely publicized.
In 2004, when she left the Deputy supervisors job in Kinross she crashed her computer uninstalling items from it. She later admitted to doing so in a public meeting. Further she put a box full of files in the dumpster behind the building. She admitted to this as well.
At least she was honest enough to admit her destructive behavior.
It's not hard to equate in Unit 1 who's qualified and who's not. Unfortunately some of the qualified potential candidates were sold out in a popularity test.
Unit 2 Candidates
Other than Catherine Hollowell playing political footsie with Aaron Payment over the years, the STF knows very little about either Candidate. We do know that anything is better than Bob LaPoint.
Unit 3 Incumbent
Keith Massaway
Massaway is probably still wondering how he got elected the first time around. Even his own Brother questioned what he had to offer the Tribe in any form of leadership role.
One of Massaway's campaign promises was to save Faux DeBaude for his pals at the Historical Society. He kept that promise at the Tribe's expense and went to great lengths to do so. A dilapidated building with a fraction of it's contents genuine, was sold at a extremely inflated price. Massaway made every attempt to justify the purchase. In the end the only benefit is to a small group of Non-Natives.
A statement by Tony Grondin:
"I personally went to his house and picked him up and took him to Lenny's house when Lenny had the tribal equipment and tribal shrubs planted. Lenny had a tribal pick-up, trailer, backhoe, loader and three tribal employees on tribal time when planting the shrubs. Massaway did nothing and condoned the practice."
All Massaway has to offer is his vote for special interests. Zero commitments from Massaway other than he will be a doormat for the funnelling of 2% money. He is like his Cousin Fast Freddie, without the drama. His accomplishments are easy to cover as there are none. A waste of 4 years and about $280,000 of Tribal cash.
Unit 3 Challenger
Doug Goudreau
A well rounded candidate. A self-starter well known in the professional world for his management skills and business success. Doug has decided he would like to put to work what he has learned in his career for his Tribe.
Doug is by far the most qualified on the surface to ever come out of Unit 3. People in Unit 3 the time is right and the time is now for much needed change. View Doug's website below for his platform and feel free to call Doug with your concerns.
Vote For Doug Goudreau
http://www.douggoudreau.com/index.html
Unit 4
You Are Stuck With The Status Quo.
Unit 5 Incumbent
Shirley Petosky
Through tough times Shirley stood her ground. Shirley always managed to look after the people in her Unit. At this time Shirley is the best choice for Unit 5.
