Thursday, September 25, 2014

South Park vs. The Washington Redskins

In the latest episode of South Park the boys take on the Washington Redskins.

Here is the promo for the episode which aired last night:

Monday, September 15, 2014

Paskenta Affirms New Leadership

sys-con.com Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians Announces Results of Election for Tribal Council Mandated by Settlement Agreement Between Tribal Factions

Election ends leadership dispute after all Tribal members agreed to recognize results

BY PR NEWSWIRE

CORNING, Calif., Sept. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a record election turnout, with over 92 percent of all adult Tribal members participating, the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians announced today the results of its Tribal Council election.

The members of the Tribe overwhelmingly elected four members of the Tribal Council which include: Latisha Miller – Vice-Chairperson, Andrew Alejandre – Secretary, Ambrosia Rico – Treasurer, and Natasha Magana – Member-at-large. The Chairman of the Tribe, Andrew Freeman, who is recognized by both groups who participated in the election, holds a term that ends in September 2016. The election ends the leadership of Leslie Lohse and her family's control over the Rolling Hills Casino and other tribal assets. The certified results of the election were: 138 votes for the winning slate, and 61 votes for the slate led by Lohse.

"I'm so pleased that the Nomlaki People had such strong voter turnout and exercised true democracy by electing its Tribal leadership," said Chairman Andrew Freeman, who was supported by both groups running for Tribal Council.  "This is a new era of Tribal leadership that promises financial integrity in its governance and financial transparency to all Tribal members to ensure all can share in the benefits of the various Tribal Enterprises."

Read Full Press Release Here-->sys-con.com Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians Announces Results of Election for Tribal Council Mandated by Settlement Agreement Between Tribal Factions

Other Articles:

chicoer.com Paskenta tribe votes to keep new leaders

sacbee.com Embattled Northern California tribe elects four members to tribal council

***WARNING*** 
Chairman Robert Smith, Chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, Pala Band of Luiseno Indians, Pala Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pala Reservation, is monitoring your comments.  He is going to track your IP address and "take action" against any tribal member posting comments he does not like.




Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Letters







***WARNING*** 
Chairman Robert Smith, Chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, Pala Band of Luiseno Indians, Pala Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pala Reservation, is monitoring your comments.  He is going to track your IP address and "take action" against any tribal member posting comments he does not like.


Another Setback For Tribal Online Gaming

Those of you following the saga of online poker in California know that tribes failed to push through legislation that would allow them to operate online poker sites.  That didn't stop at least one tribe, Santa Ysabel, from deciding to move forward with online poker.  Their website privatetable.com is now live offering poker.  Their argument is as usual - Tribal Sovereignty.  They also argue online poker is Class II gaming.  California considers poker Class II but it is not clear if that extends to online poker.

The question has been how are States going to react to tribes offering online gaming?  Also, how will the Federal Courts react?  Well, we may be getting some indication of the direction things are going to go.  It's likely going to get messy with a myriad of lawsuits being filed by States against Tribes.

In The News:

Idaho Coeur d’Alene Casino Stops Poker Per Federal Judge

Excerpts:
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Federal US District Judge B. Lynn Winmill has ruled that the Coeur d’Alene casino must stop offering Texas Hold’em tournaments and other poker games pending the outcome of the state’s lawsuit. Idaho was granted injunctive relief, while the tribe’s motion to dismiss was denied.
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This ruling could potentially have repercussions beyond the borders of Idaho. For instance, the Santa Ysabel tribe in California is attempting to launch an online poker site based on their ability to host Class II gaming from their reservation. While the laws of California clearly make poker a Class II game in that state, it’s not clear if that would also hold for online poker. In addition, the ruling still sets a precedent that states may be able to file injunctions against tribes in these cases without seeking a ruling from the National Indian Gaming Commission.

Read More Here->Idaho Coeur d’Alene Casino Stops Poker Per Federal Judge

Also:

Idaho Poker Ruling Could Impact California Online Poker

Excerpt:

Shapiro astutely points out that the ruling in Idaho sets a precedent for the state of California to file an injunction against the tribe without going to the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) for a ruling.

This is just one of the many problems the Santa Ysabel tribe will face if they are serious about launching an online poker site in California.

Read More Here->Idaho Poker Ruling Could Impact California Online Poker

***WARNING*** 
Chairman Robert Smith, Chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, Pala Band of Luiseno Indians, Pala Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pala Reservation, is monitoring your comments.  He is going to track your IP address and "take action" against any tribal member posting comments he does not like.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Do Tribal Members Have Constitutional Rights?

Tribal Members have a dual citizenship status.  They are both citizens of the United States and members of their respective tribes.  Many tribes including Pala supposedly extend rights granted in the U.S. Constitution to tribal members.  But more and more it seems Pala's Executive Committee continues to punish its members for exercising their 1st amendment rights.

The 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Members sought to petition their tribal government for redress of grievances and assembled peacefully.  They were subsequently punished for this.  11 members had their rights stripped from them.

Now Pala's Executive Committee is seeking to exact even more punishment on its membership.

It is worth noting that Pala's Revenue Allocation Plan states in section 4. e. the following:

"Nothing contained in this subsection shall be interpreted to interfere with a member's right to freely express his or her views."

You can read it here:





***WARNING*** 
Chairman Robert Smith, Chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, Pala Band of Luiseno Indians, Pala Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pala Reservation, is monitoring your comments.  He is going to track your IP address and "take action" against any tribal member posting comments he does not like.


Saturday, September 6, 2014

Paskenta

Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians audit alleges millions in mismanagement

Excerpt:

The audit, conducted by WilmerHale, a Washington, D.C. law firm, found that former council leaders "have fallen far short of their legal and ethical obligations to the tribe" by incurring expenses that include $17 million in private jet travel, $450,000 for tickets to the World Series, college basketball's Final Four and other sporting events, the Bee reported.

"Although the senior tribal administrators claimed that most of their spending was for reasonable business purposes, our inquiry suggests that serious questions exist about whether substantial amounts of tribal funds were actually spent for the senior tribal administrators' personal benefit," the Bee quotes from the audit report.

Read Full Article Here-->Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians audit alleges millions in mismanagement

***WARNING*** 
Chairman Robert Smith, Chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, Pala Band of Luiseno Indians, Pala Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pala Reservation, is monitoring your comments.  He is going to track your IP address and "take action" against any tribal member posting comments he does not like.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Paskenta Completes Audit

I recommend everyone read the entire article.  I will post a couple of excerpts here.

Audit finds Corning tribe mismanaged millions in casino funds

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Sep. 2, 2014 - 10:17 pm
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The document, which was obtained by The Sacramento Bee and secured with a program that prevented it from being printed out or copied, details spending by council officials that raised questions about home improvements; at least one trip to Disneyland; trips by Lohse to watch her son Kyle pitch in the 2011 World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals; purchase of floor-level Sacramento Kings season tickets and tickets to the 2010 Masters golf tournament; and other items.

“Although the senior tribal administrators claimed that most of their spending was for reasonable business purposes, our inquiry suggests that serious questions exist about whether substantial amounts of tribal funds were actually spent for the senior tribal administrators’ personal benefit,” the audit states.

The auditors added that because of poor or, in some cases, nonexistent bookkeeping records and the refusal of some officials to cooperate with the audit, it is difficult to determine with accuracy the state of tribal spending.

However, the audit found a number of expenses that raised questions, including:

•  $93 million in investments over the last 12 years in companies, real estate or gold that were made without any comprehensive investment strategy. “Many of these ventures were unproven, high-risk, start-up companies,” the audit said. Crosby flatly rejected that finding. “A lot of these investments are long-term,” he said. “Was Apple successful right away?”

•  Excessive overhead and compensation over the last dozen years that ate up at least $61 million of the $191 million left over after tribal members were paid their distributions. (The audit said reviewers were unable to account for about $10 million in spending).

•  Payments of $819,000 to senior administrators for serving on the boards of tribal entities that the audit said were made without tribal council discussion or approval.

•  A penchant for travel that included using the private jet for dozens of short hops between Chico and Redding or Corning and Sacramento, instead of driving at much less expense. Other trips “appear to have been partially or wholly personal,” the audit found, including 134 flights to Glendale, Ariz., by the Lohse family over a 32-month span (a Lohse son and his family live in Glendale, the audit said); and 40 flights by the Crosby family to Provo, Utah, over a 28-month period (Crosby’s daughter attended college in Provo, the audit said). Crosby said frequent trips are the nature of economic development efforts and that they were for business interests.

Read Full Article Here -->Audit finds Corning tribe mismanaged millions in casino funds

***WARNING*** 
Chairman Robert Smith, Chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, Pala Band of Luiseno Indians, Pala Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pala Reservation, is monitoring your comments.  He is going to track your IP address and "take action" against any tribal member posting comments he does not like.