June 7, 1996 issue
excerpts of testimony in the White Earth corruption trial:
-- White Earth Reservation officials used funds from a public assistance
program with a $1.1 million annual budget to compensate Leech Lake and
White Earth members who helped them obtain and certify fraudulent ballots
in 1990 and 1994
--indicted White Earth election board chair Carley Jasken also directed the
assistance program, but despite the federal charges, Jasken will be
responsible for overseeing next Tuesday's balloting.
--Notary Eleanor Craven testied she and a friend, Connie McKenzie, set up
an assembly line system to validate the fraudulent votes, with Craven
signing as notary and McKenzie stamping the envelopes with Craven's notary
seal. Together, Craven and Peter Pequette certified at least 168
fraudulent votes, according to White Earth election records
--a secretary to the WE tribal council testified that Carly Jasken and
other White Earth election officials joined in shredding a list of voters
and stuffing the paper into garbage bags in Sept. 1994. Terri Darco,
secretary, said Jasken told her that she didn't care for Dave Barnes, a
federal investigator who had obtained a subpoena to collect election
records. "She said. . . when you see your friend Dave Barnes, tell him I
have the information he wants, all bagged up."
--Friends and relatives who have examined available voter lists have
identified at least 7 ballots cast in the names of deceased relatives,
certified as valid by Pequette and Craven on the afternoon of May 25, 1994.
--other testimony revealed such election practices as obtaining signatures
from the impoverished Minneapolis clientele at the Catholic Charities
Franklin Avenue branch; votes cast for hospitalized and incapacitated
members; and absentee ballots in the names of people who actually voted at
the polls or had not voted at all
--as part of his agreement with the government, Pequette consented to plead
guilty to state charges of misusing his notary seal. But the stae has not
taken him up on his offer and he remains a notary public.
--Terry LaDuke, Leech Lake employee, received two payments of $400 each
from the White Earth general fund in 1994; testified that is was common
practice at both Leech Lake and White Earth to gather ballots to be
notarized, with or without the voter's presence.
--Tom Staples, Leech Lake employee, received checks totaling $2,000 in 1994
for among other things, delivering ballots notarized by Henry Harper to the
White Earth Election Board in Mahnomen. Government records show another
$600 check cashed at the Shooting Star Casino is his name, but Staples
said the signature does not match his.
--in an election appeal in Sept 1994, the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
appointed White Earth election board alternate Patricia Keogh and MCT
executive director Gray Frazer to review the election, and, despite finding
more than 300 invalid ballots, then-chief judge Tammy Stromstad upheld the
results.
--questioning Gary Frazer, defense attorneys tried to establish that the
BIA and the MCT's Tribal Executive Committee oversee the elections, "Isn't
it true that the federal government ultimately approves every election of
the White Earth Reservation?" Frazer took a long pause before answering
that the Bureau does have the authority to intervene. In fact, however,
the BIA does not examine election results or monitor the vote, despite
more that a decade of complaints of fraud. Similarly, Frazer testified that
the TEC does not enforce its election ordinance, leaving the RBCs total
control over interpreting the MCT constitution and tribal law. Asked, "How
often in your tenure have the members of the tribe been asked to votes on
these interpretations?" Without hesitation the MCT administrator answered,
"none.'
--for six years, Sue Bellefeuille has told anyone who would listen that she
personally forged 135 ballots for Rawley in the fall of 1990, at Jasken's
request. Rawley lost a close election to Eugene McArthur, but RBC election
judge Richard Tanner ordered a new vote in September. Bellefeuille, then
bingo hall manager, testified that Rawley gave her and enrollment book to
help verify addresses and birthdates for the votes she cast for relatives
Bellefeuille told the Press that she also ran extra bingo games at night
to generate unrecorded cash for Rawley's use
--Clark's attorney, Peter Mayrand, brought a response from Indian
spectators when he asked prosecution witness Eugene McArthur, a White
Earth candidate in this year's election, if he knew anything about the
Anishinabe culture. McArthur had previously rebutted the defense argument
that voting for relatives was an Anishinabe tradition they referred to as
"clan voting"
--Clark's 82-year-old aunt Stella Oppegard's testimony brought the biggest
reaction from the mostly emotionless councilman. He turned his head away
and looked down as she spoke. Oppegard said she was asked by her nephew to
be a public notary and later he brought absentee ballots for her to sign.
Oppegard was shaking as she entered the witness stand. Sources at White
earth say Clark had promised her some money to play bingo. Other notaries
who testified say they were offered money in exchange for their services.
--additionally, Wadena and Rawley are accused of accepting bribes of
gratuities of $428,682 and $21,500 respectively from Clark to assure that
his drywall firm would land a contract to help build the tribe's Shooting
Star Casino in Mahnomen. In questions to witnesses, defense attorneys have
suggested that the tribal officials deserved the money because they built a
casino that employees about 1,000 people, most of them Indians, on a remote
reservation in northwestern Minnesota. They say the officials were operating
in the belief that treaties and federal statutes over the years gave the
authority to do what they did. Defense lawyers have tried to convince the
jury that over-zealous federal investigators singled out Wadena, Rawley and
Clark for conduct common among Indian officials.
feather eaglerock, leech lake rez
english is a foreign language. reclaim the language of your people and
send it to the future as your gift to your grandchildren's grandchildren.
di-ka-ne'-tsv a'-qua-tse'-li ha-htv-gi, wa-do' do-da-da-go'-hv