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Detroit News reporters Melvin Claxton and Mark Puls spent seven months investigating complaints of civil rights abuse and infighting within Michigan's Indian tribes. Their reports documented how tribal business is often conducted behind closed doors and is not subject to federal or state freedom of information laws.
Today:
Part III: Buying influence
American Indian tribal leaders from casino-rich tribes have protected their personal interests by establishing alliances with politicians that allow them to maintain tight control over their governments. Tribal leaders spent an estimated $40 million over the last five years on lobbyists and federal, state and local elections.
Nov. 11, 2001:
Part II: The Sault
A Detroit News investigation explored charges that leaders of the Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa Tribe have misspent millions of dollars, hidden their failures from tribal members, punished their political enemies and profited financially.
Aug. 5-6, 2001:
Part I: The Saginaw
The Detroit News revealed how Saginaw Chippewa leaders stood to benefit financially and politically from expelling members. The series detailed how targeted members were denied the right to legal counsel and had to take on considerable expense to prove their lineage.
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Federal role
The Bureau of Indian Affairs represents the federal government in matters which involve the 550 federally recognized American Indian tribes, such as the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.
Each tribe is considered a sovereign nation with its own government and its own rules for tribal membership. The BIA has no authority over internal tribal matters. The federal government cannot determine how tribes select their leaders or members.
The BIA oversees land that the federal government holds in trust for tribes. For tribes and individual American Indians not affiliated with a tribe, the agency also provides services such as business loans, education scholarships, employment assistance, housing improvement and social services.
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© Copyright The Detroit News.
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Part I: The Saginaw -- Sunday, August 5, 2001
- Power grab, money spur tribal expulsions
- Control of casino empire is at stake
- Tribal leaders rule with impunity
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- Dead tribe members can’t escape expulsion
- Posthumous ousters threaten membership of living relatives
- Tribe reneges on $22M deal
- Chippewas opened enrollment to get money from Congress, then expelled new members
- Chippewa dispute turns nasty
- Carol Akiyama is accused of plotting to kill tribal leader
- Ousters used as revenge
- Leaders deny singling anyone for expulsion because of their activist opinions or views
- Tribal Council Executive Committee
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- Saginaw Chippewa Tribe’s history
Monday, August 6, 2001
- Questions dog
chief's ancestry
- Leader of tribal expulsions
has murky Chippewa lineage
John T. Greilick / The Detroit News
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Gary Sprague, with daughter Kara, 4, challenged the membership of Tribal Chief Phil Peters' daughter, Angela, claiming she is adopted and not entitled to a share of casino profits. |
- Woman defends ancestry
- Family tree called into doubt; she spends hours building case.
- Tracking Joan Myers' lineage
- Joan Myers and her family can trace their family lineage back to Chief Checbalk, who signed a treaty 20 years before Michigan became a state.
- Bloodlines don't ensure admission
- Siblings denied Chippewa tribe membership despite step-siblings being granted entrance.
Thursday, August 16, 2001
- Chippewas kick out dead
- The move threatens their descendants with expulsion from tribe, loss of benefits.
Monday, September 24, 2001
- Judge orders tribal election
- Chippewa vote could halt leaders' efforts to expel members.
Part II: The Sault -- Sunday, November 11, 2001
Photos by Dale G. Young / The Detroit News
Former Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Verna Lawrence, a Sault Chippewa tribal member who was kicked off the board, criticized the way Tribal Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bernard Bouschor conducts the tribe’s business in secret.
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- Sault Chippewa riches abused by tribe board
- Casino wealth eludes members
- Information control
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- Tribe CEO rules with iron grip
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- Conflicts run deep on tribe board
- Four members also hold high-paying posts in the government they are elected to oversee
- Government’s $75M sustains tribe services
- Tribal businesses contribute only $30 million for programs
- Chippewas, Greeks have long history of secret ventures
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- Board of Directors
Part III: Buying influence -- Sunday, December 30, 2001
Associated Press
POLITICAL VOICE: Former Saginaw Chippewa tribal chief Kevin Chamberlain gave $302,000 of tribal funds in 1998 to federal candidates. He says such contributions get the attention of politicians.
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- Tribes buy clout with casino cash
- Congress turns blind eye to power abuses
- Members sue over tax payment
- Tribe’s action angers members, who say leaders abuse system
- Facts about tribes in United States
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- Electoral abuse common
- Lack of public scrutiny, tribal law make it hard to challenge incumbents who make rules.
- Indians try to change constitutions
- Reformers say lack of separation of powers give tribal leaders too much authority
- Tribes use sovereignty to skirt legal judgments
- U.S. courts have no jurisdiction over actions of Indian tribes
- Chippewas hire lobbyist, join trend
- More tribal leaders turn to groups to gain access to, support from Washington, D.C.
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