Members need to get Tribal Council ‘back on track’
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Editor,
As the tribal membership knows, the Tribal Council ignored two polls with almost 1,000 signatures each, a petition containing 1,414 signatures, and out of the 600 returned surveys, they claim half (300) wanted the council to buy Kerr Dam or use the settlement for other things. As council members, they need to follow what the 300 surveys dictated. Never mind that all 300 were not for the same thing. We all know it takes one-third of the eligible voters to make anything legal.
We believe we need to recall the Tribal Council. To amend our Tribal Constitution for recall, we need to force the council to give the other half of the Salazar Settlement to the membership as it was intended, as 42 of the other 44 tribes did.
We are circulating a petition that we had before the first money was given out and before the BIA-backed petition was even started.
We need at least 1,300 signatures to get our council back on track, following our constitution as it’s written. If you truly want a change, please help us put the Salazar Settlement, the buyout of Kerr Dam and the $60-80 million being given to the Flathead irrigation to a popular referendum. The membership has the supreme power; to keep it, they need to use it. A petition is the legal way. And the council is required to act on the requests of the membership.
Sybil Butler and Shelley Hendrickson The Tribal Membership Coalition
Pablo
