Early on in the election I asked our tribal members to contact me if they heard something they felt was concerning and needed to be clarified. Recently I received a couple of posts that were copied from the We are Grand Ronde site. I will address them one at a time. 1) Some of the candidates are looking at changing our blood quantum to 0%. Answer: This one is pretty simple. I have not heard any of the candidates state they would like to take our blood quantum down to 0%. 2) One of our current incumbents wrote If I am elected to Tribal Council, I can guarantee you that I will continue to uphold and honor the laws that gave us the foundation for who we are as a People. Our Constitution does not need an overhaul! Answer: I find this very interesting since under her watch we just went through a Constitutional change request 1) Eliminate the BIA from our Constitutional Election voting process 2) Tribal Council three time term limit. First I would like to say eliminating the BIA was not requested by the membership and the results of the survey regarding term limits was a overwhelming two time term limit. Fortunately, at the end of the day this vote did not take place. So much for listening to the membership. As far as making changes to the Constitution, yes there are things I would like to see placed in front of the membership for consideration and a vote. Constitution: 1) General Council to have a vote on the major decisions that effect the Tribe. 2) Better define some of the language. Such as Emergency Amendment. I believe this was put into place in case of an EMERGENCY not to be used as a loop hole that allows TC to rush through a self serving agenda. 3) Revisit the language in the 1999 Amendment. I am not so sure this is even legal as written. As a terminated tribe it is impossible for those born between the years 1956-1984 to have a parent on the roll at the time of your birth, when there was no roll to be on. * These are only suggestions, Lets not forget the Constitution can only be changed by the vote of the people. Ordinances: 1) Ethics Ordinance: This definitely needs to be readdressed. There is a reason for this ordinance and as it stands right now it appears to be protecting the Tribal Council from ever being held accountable. Honestly, over the last couple of years there has been so many ordinance/policy changes I cant even keep track. I would like to review all changes made in the last three years and bring them forward for consideration. If they are not in the best interest of the membership I would like to see them rewritten or eliminated all together. We need your support. Please Vote Ann (Bobb) Lewis and Kathleen Tom
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 18:48:34 +0000
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