Dallas for Tribal Council
Dallas has been a tribal council member for almost
thirty years. No one can argue that he has not done great
things for the tribe. He used connections in Washington and
with other tribes to bring in over $30 million in grant
money. Dallas was the leader in gaining approval for a
casino on the reservation, worked with contractors on the
design and building. Now the tribe receives over $3 million
each year in payments, money which is used for loans to
tribal members to start small businesses and for early
childhood programs. There is not a person on the
reservation who has not benefitted directly from Dallas'
work.
Dallas has a large family, nearly all of whom work for
tribal organizations. While some are dedicated workers, the
majority received jobs through his connections. They were
often hired over tribal members who had more education and
work experience. For example, his nineteen-year-old niece
was hired as a grantwriter. His brother, who has a
tenth-grade education, is the manager for a tribal program
that employs 50 people. His previous position was janitor
at the elementary school. Several of his relatives only
show up for work two or three days a week, but draw a full
salary. On rare occasions, there has been a manager who has
had the nerve to fire one of Dallas's relatives. If that
manager does not have political connections of their own,
such as a relative on the tribal council, Dallas has always
gotten the firing overturned and usually had some negative
letter put in the manager's personnel file, if not had the
person outright fired. If that fails, no matter. Even if
the relative has missed 90 days of work in the past year,
been driving a tribal car under the influence, or missed
work many times, spending the days in a bar, that person
will have a new tribal job within the week.
Now there is a movement to elect a younger person to office
to replace Dallas. Those supporting his opponent say that
it is time for ethics, for fair hiring, for good service
and good role models. Dallas' supporters argue that he is
good for the tribe. A little nepotism - and they argue,
correctly, that he is not the only one - is nothing
compared to the millions of dollars, the early childhood
programs, the economic development programs, the jobs that
he has brought in. Would you really hurt every member of
the tribe just so 20 or 30 worthless tribal employees could
be replaced with good people? There isn't any guarantee
those jobs wouldn't just go to relatives of other tribal
members.
Would you vote to keep Dallas in office? Or to remove him?
What if you knew your job was one that would probably go,
because your program was funded through money brought in by
Dallas's connections? Click here to send us
your view.