Many Indians have a deep and spiritual attachment to the lands that white America stole from them, and they have a vision of a society based on an intelligent, more healthy way of living on those lands. But that isn't what is happening on the Rez. Instead, what we mostly have is the Mexican border town syndrome, where the actual way of life reflects the worst of both societies. A few recent examples of malfeasance, conflict of interest, and/or outright corruption are: • According to a former Rocky Boy tribal chairman, there are millions of dollars missing from a Bureau of Reclamation water pipeline project on the Chippewa-Cree Rocky Boy reservation. The estimated cost has gone from $228 million to $361 million, with 80 percent of the project yet to be completed. The former tribal chairman said he is cooperating with federal prosecutors in an investigation into alleged corruption on the reservation. A company he controls was awarded a $1.9 million construction contract for the pipeline, and another company, controlled by a cousin of the tribal attorney, who was CEO of the pipeline project, received a $633,000 contract to supply pipe for the project. • At the Assiniboine and Sioux Fort Peck reservation in Montana, four tribal employees pleaded guilty to embezzling $400,000 from a tribal credit union. • Tonkawa tribal officers in Oklahoma pleaded guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from tribal casino proceeds. • The secretary-treasurer of the Apache of Oklahoma tribal council was found guilty by a federal jury of embezzling oil and gas royalty taxes. • A former president of the San Juan Southern Piute Tribe in Arizona pleaded guilty to stealing and money laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars.Get the Story:
Norman Bernstein: The reservations of the Indian – broken beyond repair? (The Havre Daily News 4/29)
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