Got word that the Election Board got their 80,000 budget cut. Good!!! Elec Board chairman (Parker's niece)had a salary and mtg fees. Those board members were racking up the dough!!! Their only duty is to hold an election. The ELECTION BOARD SHOULD NOT BE WRITING OR MAKING CHANGES IN THE ORDINANCE - THAT IS CONFLICT. They should follow the ordinance - not make changes that benefit their political beliefs. Writing & passing ordinances is the job of the council. If there is an ordinance to be written, it should be done in a bipartisan manner. Run it by the business manager. Then present it to the council.

The EB needs to stay out of politics. The EB is a volunteer appointment. This salary stuff got them involved in politics.

The EB doesn't decide what year to call off the election: IT WAS WRONG: calling off the 2007 election, when they knew darn good and well that's when Parker's term ended.

REPEAT: EB SHOULD JUST RUN THE ELECTION. THEY SHOULD NOT BE WRITING THE ORDINANCE, BECAUSE THAT'S A COUNCIL DUTY.

I would have to agree on this one. The election board's only job is to hold an election - no salaries, making changes to the election ordinance, etc. If you want to give the election board more power, you have to change the constitution. There is no way their budget should have been even close to $80K, that's just absurd! Good looking out council, we need a good watch on where our $$$ is being spent these days.

Hello Everyone,

I hope all is well and everyone has avoided these early colds that are going around. I wasn't so lucky, I did't out run this cold.

In all or most of my emails to my constituents, I end with the phrase “I welcome questions and comments.” And, as most of you know, I will respond to and relay all emails that disagree with me or chastise me for whatever reason. I do this because I want people to know views other than my own. I feel that sharing views, ideas and information makes for better Council decisions, a better informed membership and increased participation by our people. Increased participation has been my battle cry since day one on the Council. My battle cry was met with apathy; why?

Today I would like to be the one with questions and comments. Today, I am writing this as a member of the Caddo Tribe. I feel strongly that this information needs to be known by the membership.

In last Friday’s Council meeting, when we were about to adjourn, a surprise resolution was passed out by Diane Sparks. This resolution was to close the checking account of the Election Board. The money is to be transferred to the finance office and they will write the checks from now on.

Resolutions are supposed to be discussed before hand among the whole Council; this one was not. A secret meeting was held among four of the Council, the issue was decided, the resolution was written and the vote predetermined. This is not only unethical it is collusion which just might be illegal.

Our Chairperson, LaRue Parker, refused to call for a vote because this was not discussed before the surprise resolution was presented. The resolution was motioned by Marilyn Threlkeld and seconded by Diane Sparks.

Laura Jarvis stated that we were discussing it now. I argued that they had not presented a justifiable reason and that this was not the way to handle this. I further stated that they should rework the budget first and cut those areas that they (the four Council members) felt needed cut. Above all, this should be an effort of the entire Council. There was much more said but I lost my temper which I rarely do. I said this action was just mean and Bob said this was sneaky and underhanded. At this point, Brenda Edwards said something supporting the resolution which I did not hear because of my anger. Diane Sparks, being secretary, called for the vote. Diane Sparks, Laura Jarvis, Marilyn Threlkeld and Brenda Edwards voted yes. Bob Mclemore and I voted no, Mary Lou Davis was out sick. This vote was a mute point since the vote was predetermined.

This behavior will have to be judged by the membership and the membership w ill have to decide what should be done.

I had to wait all weekend to cool down before I could write this email. I thought about this all weekend and came to a few conclusions. The reason for the apathy among the membership is this kind of behavior. Also, being loud, belligerent and obnoxious does not make a person right. What it does is drive people away; people do not want to be belittled in public, so they do not attend. The less people attend, the less the membership knows and the more the Council can get away with.

How did we get to the point where different factions are tearing the future of the Tribe apart? Why is it that we cannot move two steps forward without taking ten steps back? Why is information both a treasure not to be shared and a weapon used against the opposition real or suspected? And most importantly, why is control of the Council more important than our children’s future? The answer to these questions is apathy. We have done this to ourselves.

It was suggested by one of my constituents that we work toward a transparent government, I agree with this 110%. The Council should set aside these petty power struggles and work for the people. Representatives should have district meetings. Resolutions should be posted well ahead of the meeting for review. The words mean, sneaky and underhanded should never come to mind. We should publish the resolutions in the newsletter or on the website. We should also get the minutes in the hands of the people sooner. We should also guarantee people protection from verbal attacks and promise them the opportunity to talk uninterrupted in meetings. We should bring ethics and respect and common courtesy back into our meetings. We are good people; we deserve better than we have.

For those of you that have read this far, I thank you. For those that haven’t, I respect your opinion. We are all in this together.

Please share this letter with those who do not have email.


Pray hard,

Kenny Poindexter

Just curious...who approved the 80,000.00 for the election board to begin with? Why is/was the election board chairperson being paid a salary? Besides the obvious.

I do agree that the "sneaky and underhanded" needs to stop, it seems to have become the norm, even when correcting a wrong. That being said, if it does come to the membership to decide, I would not vote to give it back to them. It's just ludicrous to begin with.

And...to all the people that will say, "serves them right look at all the sneaky and underhanded things that Larue and her ilk have done." True, but, two wrongs...well you know the rest...

By the way...Thanks to Kenny for posting, or whoever re-posted his e-mail, if that be the case. While I personally rank thanksgiving right up there with columbus day, I'd like to wish everyone a good and safe holiday.

Will also respond to Kennys letter, especially since I consider each of the "unethical" "collusion" and "illigal" a little like the pot calling the kettle black, and I am included in that mess.

Kenny, as a Council Member, who were you staying constantly in contact with because a grant was coming up to probably, if funded, provide you a job. Those were the very words you told me. I told you "Kenny, the Council votes on those jobs, they are not just given." You told me your name was on the grant and you needed to have a Masters Degree to get it and that was why you were working on yours, it was in the field needed for that position and you would be out in the spring of 2009. While talking to Kahrahrah, he tells me "that fell through but Kenny could maybe or probably (don't remember which) get the part-time (20 Hours) job in the Court system that he wrote a grant for and was funded. Told him something like you had to be qualified or experienced, or both, and he said "Yes, probably a degree in at least business administration would be best, or something like that". Think I said something like "gee, I should quit the Council and go to work there, I have a degree in Business Administration".

I will admit to being loud, but not obnixious, belligerent, unethical, a collusionist (sp) or doing anything illegal. I may be loud but I am honest. My opinion, straddling the fence is not the job I was elected to do, nor is it the job of any of the Council Members. They are there to do what is best for the tribal membership, not themselves.

Now, to the resolution moving the money back to the Caddo Nation. That was discussed a number of times, both at the complex and where "we", including yourself met, at the Cherokee place on I-40. Among other things discussed was the fact of removing LaRue. It came up in the conversation and believe I said something like "I have taken a removal letter up to the meetings about 4 times, Robert said you know where I stand on that (and I believe he has said each time, he was against removing her) your comment was, almost verbatim, "I just want her gone". Then, I understand you told her "we", assume you mean the four of us unethical collusionist (sp)want to or wanted to remove her but you were against that. First time I have heard the "against that" from you.

Okay, if you are gonna blast, be lily white when you do, because while a person may appear to be a very nice person, and may be a nice person, sometimes its their actions and verbage that comes out the most prominent.

Now, as I have tried to explain, several times, including the day the resolution was passed, and it was though Ms. Parker will not sign it, there has never been an Election Office open daily, 5 days a week (year round)until LaRue became Chairman. And while it is her neice who sits in that office, it would not matter if it was Donna or me, there has never been an office, with a salaried person. Elections have cost approximately $6000-$8000 to hold, now, in about 2004, the election board received approximately $15000-$16,000 and now up to approximately $71,000. There is no election until July.

And there have been "factions" tearing this tribe apart for years and when I got back on the council I truly believed, after a short time, that this Council, you included, were finally going to move the tribe out of the mess we were in and up to where we should be, and ZOINK, wrong again. I WILL SAY THAT THE FOUR PEOPLE YOU LITERALLY TRASHED, INCLUDING MYSELF BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN THROUGH ALL OF THIS BEFORE, ARE DOING OUR BEST TO MOVE US BEYOND WHERE WE WERE AND ON TO WHERE WE SHOULD BE. These are not power struggles, just do what is right, follow the Constitution and do the job you were elected or appointed to do.

Enough said.

And Kenny, would appreciate it if you would email my comments to your letter to your constituents since I do not have their email addresses.

Thanks.

No council member should be using their position to get a competitive advantage on tribal jobs. The council are there to serve the people, not themselves.

Why is it when we get a Council who tries to do right by the tribe they get trashed? Why is it when someone who has mo rocks to throw always throws rocks? I believe the people this Kenny trashed are trying to do right by the tribe. Tribe first! In the upcoming election if this Kenny is on the list I will not be able to vote for someone who is as meam and underhanded as he is being. The money being spent on someone who is not doing their job should not be there. I have been told the Election Board goes in and does the job for Donna by doing the mailouts. Maybe that is why the Council is trying to bring the reins back in. As far as Diane Sparks handing out a "secret" resolution, it is the Council's job to do reolutions. And he is saying that the Chairman ALWAYS lets the Council review resolutions before they are voted on and this is not true for this Chairman. Why is he saying all of the resolutions are not valid? Is he still ignorant of how things work on the Council? I have heard that this Kenny wants a job with the tribe. Can we afford to have someone of this caliber employed by the tribe? I think we should give kudos to the four people Kenny trashed for standing up for the Caddo people instead of underdandly putting a knife in their backs. Kenny has not be truthful before and I think he is not being truthful now. I was also told that our Chairman asked Kenny to do what he could do to throw a bad light on these Council members. Can that be true? And where does this Bob come in with the Election Board? Does he not realize his job is to help protect Caddo resources? Or is he as mean and underhanded as Kenny seems to be?

As the World Turns, Caddo style. JUST GIVE US THE FACTS. Not your mean thoughts of someone else. Lots of mud slinging both ways. In all honesty if this resolution had been brought to Parker, she wouldn't have allowed it on the agenda. She would have got her stoolies Donna Benitez, etc. to be there to shout & scream. Or She would never call another meeting, until after the election. That's the honest truth. It has happened before. Ask the Council 5.

It's understandable what the 4 women did. But they lost a lot trust with other council people and with many Caddo people. Now if the 4 women really want to not let Parker control the agenda or call meetings, how about getting rid of her?? Then you don't have to worry about leaking anything to Chairman Parker. Laura, get out that resolution.

Both sides have good points. Kenny to my knowledge has been a good representative. The only one to call any district meetings. The only one to ask Don Wahdooah to our meetings to explain the financial picture. The only one to get us a financial report that slams the way Parker has done business in the past. Kenny has worked to get rid of the crooked atty Grellner. These are not the actions of a person out for himself. He put himself on the line.

How about everyone sticking to Council Business. And keep your personal comments out of the way. Both of you. We don't need this going on. There's too much at stake. Stick to the facts.

There should certainly not be a salary for the Chairman of the EB. Unconstitutional! Ridiculous.

Instead of Kenny doing his normal blabber mouth, two faced junk , he needs to man up and get rid of Parker, she is the one constant. They finally got rid of Hinse TRIPLE YEAH on that one, but without thought put Francis on the election board. DUMB MOVE. I say, the election board should be charged with theft anyway, getting meeting fees and mileage. Now thats an honest election board

Again...just curious...but who gave/approved the budget or funds for the election board to the tune of 80,000.00 in the first place??? As well as the salary for the election board chairperson???

Calm Down, Kenny did in fact tell me he was preparing for that job in OKC, the fact is I was told he could probably get the court job, the fact is he met with us several times on I-40, the fact is he has repeatedly, in our presence said he wanted LaRue gone, the fact is he will verbally support and agree (generally) to what you or the majority want until he is in the Conference Room. The "Fact" is he has held District Meetings, the fact is he needs to both read and understand and follow the Constitution and other Ordiances. Holding meetings and saying one thing out of the presence of LaRue and doing a fence standing act when you are in her presence is something entirely different.

And guess why Kenny was put on the check signing? It was thought there would only be three check signers, Mary Lou, Diane and Brenda. You guess the rest. He was to be the 4th check signer. Check signers are called to sign checks, he has showed up and signed checks, without a call and mileage is paid.

Did Kenny tell you in 2006 the Election Board, Margie Rico, Donna Benetiz, Ed Cash, Dorothy Garrett and Jennifer Rico were all paid both for meetings and mileage to and from the meetings to the tune of several thousand dollars. Did Kenny also tell you that? I say they owe that money for mileage to the Caddo Tribe as I would if I drew both mileage and for meetings whether I was a Council Member or on the Election Board. Did he also tell you that that is the past (2006) and we should let it go? Did he also tell you Hinse and Parker signed off on each of these checks?

And collusion, Kenny believe both you and Robert have been in on the collusion, if such exists, I call it trying to right the wrongs and bring this tribe back to where it once was and needs to be.

And as stated before, you get one thing from Kenny to your face and another in LaRue's presence.

Kenny has stated repeatedly he needs a job. Well Kenny, go get one. Your bright.

And Indig, I was not for the Election Board office to be open 5 days a week, year round. I argued the point and yes, as Kenny says, was loud and probably obnoxious, as were Donna, Frances and Dorothy. Wrong for me to be loud and abnoxious, didn't work anyway, but, answering your question, it passed. Believe now there are misgivings. The money would still be set aside for the election board, just not an open office year round and would be approved and signed by the Council, as everything else is.

The loud, belligerent and obnoxious I'm thinking was meant for me, however, take the time to read and understand the Constitution and its Ordinances and you won't have to set there saying "I'll have to read the Constitution". I won't have to be loud and obnoxious.

And Calm Down, you're saying Kenny got rid of Grellner, as much as Kenny would like to take credit for it, it was the Council who did it. LaRue especially wanted him off and it makes you wonder why she after all these years wants him gone. The reason Grellner was there longer than anyone wanted was he knew where we were and we, the council, wanted to know. It came to the point that we seemed to be at a stalemate, nothing was moving, so we terminated his contract. All of us.

I agree we need to stick to the facts, but you really don't want to hear the facts, you wouldn't believe it and it would sound more like trashing. What we need to do is move ahead, which is what we are trying to do.

And maybe we have lost support but we are working very hard to right the wrongs.

I did not rag on Kenny until he sent his constituents and others the "unethical", "collusion", "loud",
"obnoxious" and "belligerent" letter, with more explanations to follow. Well lets tell it the way it is if we are gonna put it out there.

Makes one wonder who has been offered support and the opportunity to run for the Chair position. Hey, thats $20.00 an hour whether you are there or not.

I will say no more or post again on this subject.

The council approved the $70 or $80,000 so I guess they can take it back just as easy. I just wonder why this amount of money was approved in the first case. I know there have been many grumblngs from the membership on this issue and maybe the council members are finally listening to their constituents.

Some are and some aren't obviously. Heard Frances and Donna were the only ones at Kennys district meeting, besides Jen. Kenny and robert voted no,not to pass the resolution taking that money from the election board and bringing it back to finance and the council will sign the election board checks.

Sometime last year Keller, ex-EB Chair called a general meeting to give the membership the opportunity to discuss what was wrong with the new election ordinance. She handed out copies and the people went over line by line and & everyone discussed what was wrong. No one shouted. No one screamed. Sure there was disagreement. But good discussion was allowed. Later some of those changes were made when presented to the council.

In contrast to Parker, who lets all sorts of screaming & shouting happen, and she is usually the one who is screaming & shouting. She has no ethics or any of knowledge about Robert's Rules - only when it benefits her. Many, many times she has produced a resolution that no one has ever seen.

Bitsi is right: THE ONE CONSTANT IS PARKER. Hope the council realizes that all this backbiting, & sniping is going nowhere. Take a deep breath and realize, there is plenty of blame to go around.

PARKER SHOULD HAVE BEEN GONE YEARS AGO AND FOR THE LIFE OF ME I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHY NO COUNCIL HAS BEEN ABLE TO SHOW HER THE DOOR!!!! WE ALL KNOW THAT HER INCOMPETENCE IS THE SOLE REASON FOR OUR FAILURES AND YET WE CONTINUE TO LET HER AND THE PARKER FLUNKYS RUN US IN THE GROUND. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, COUNCIL SEND HER PACKING SO WE CAN MOVE FORWARD!

NO PARKER = PROGRESS

IT'S JUST AS SIMPLE AS THAT!!!!!

I HAVE ONE EVEN BETTER

REMOVE + PARKER = PROGRESS

I'll second that!!!

Let me give you some election board history. At one time, 1982, I was chosen by the election board to be chairman of that board. At that time, Carol Ross was a secretary working for the tribe and also a member of the EB. This was very convienent for the tribe because a person could come into the office at any time and get registered to vote or change their registration.

I resigned from the board to run for Tribal Treasurer and Carol became Election Board Chairman. She held this position even though her father and her uncle were both candidates for the office of Chairman. Her Dad, Buntin Williams, protested the election and anoher was held. Buntin protested that one and a third was held. Carol's uncle, Neil Wooster, chose not to run again and I was asked to run and I won that election.

The membership thought that it was conflict of interest having a tribal employee on the EB. So we passed things to prevent that from happening.

Billy Ruth Hoff became EB chairman and she worked very hard at holding a fair election. She had to start from scratch because our EB records had disappeared when Doyle and Marilyn Edge's trailer burned. (they reappeared years later) Billy Ruth did not receive pay for all of her expenses in reproducing our records. That was wrong. She should have at least received pay for the miles that she drove - on our behalf. (my opinion)

Things have changed a lot since then - and not all good or bad. Other tribes have different solutions for their elections. The Sac& Fox allow tribal members, who are employees, to help with the election and they receive comp time for helping stuff envelopes.

Some tribes have salaried full-time Election Boards because they are very large tribes and holding an election takes many many hours to do notices and mailouts and to update lists.

Now one reason the EB was allowed to have their own bank account - was to try to keep them un-biased. With the EB budget under the control of the Chairman, it was felt that she could exert unfair control of the EB. Of course Parker did that anyway by freezing their account so that we did not have an election the year that the EB was made up of people that did not dance to her tune.

My opinion is that this present council is trying their best to do what is right and I am thankful for them. Now, Kenny seems to be trying to do what is right. The best thing you can do Kenny is to finally remove Parker and do it NOW.

Mary Pat, neither the constitution or election ordinance give the election board anything more than to hold elections.

If the money was put into an account for them to keep LaRue out, why in the 2006 election was the election board, Dorothy Garrett, Donna Benetiz, Margie Rico, Ed Cash and Jennifer Rico each paid for both meetings and mileage to each meeting and each check was signed by either LaRue Parker or Joyce Hinse. That is a violation of both the constituion and the election ordinance. Because they violated both and this was an illegal act these five people owe money to the Caddo Tribe.

Just wonderin how many people come in each week to register to vote? Let's see, suppose 2 come in each day. That would be 10 each week. Wow!!

Doesn't the EB have their own mailbox in Binger? People mail in requests. Couldn't the EB have their own "locked box" at the tribal complex? That way people could register at the complex and just slip their paper in a locked box. Coordinate with enrollment officer. Get a system going like they've always done. The EB Chairman can check once a week to pick up the "ten" people registering to vote. Don't need anyone fulltime for that. Don't need all the five EB people meeting all the time.

A system is set up already to conduct elections, and that doesn't take place until time for election. Look at the workload and make the budget match. Business manager or someone can come up with a plan. Just be reasonable.

Thought I should get on here one more time to say have talked to Kenny and do believe without a doubt Kenny does want what is best for the Tribe. Think sometimes it takes him awhile to understand how things usually run at the tribe or within the Council, not how they should be but how they do if not held in a pretty close reins. Was gonna say more but will leave it at that.

Kenny does mean well and trys to do what is fair and right, just takes him awhile to get there, being fairly new on the Council and not realizing that just because things are now being done a certain way does not mean that it is the right way or follows those documents it should follow.

Happy Holidays to all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!