| Subject: Misappropriation By Tax Commission |
Author:
Screaming Eagle
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Date Posted: 12:13:09 05/13/03 Tue
I watched in awe last night as the Cherokee Council was asked to vote on a package which contained within it misappropriation of funds by the Cherokee Tax Administrator Paula Holder. Last term as a seated Council member she raised holy hell claiming misappropriation within the Byrd Administration. She was the spotlight in hours of meticulous Council meetings in which she took the crowd line by boring line and figure by boring figure trying to make her point in the bookkeeping process of the Administration.
One of her most memorable moments was when she claimed she had found an over billing within the Law firm of Swidler and Berlin of $10,000. When notified the law firm immediately agreed to correct rather than debate the figure but that was not good enough for Holder. She took it into Federal Court with Chad Smith as the attorney and Chuck Shiply as his Co-council. Together they ran up a bill of over $300,000 in attorney fees ultimately paid by the Cherokee Nation, after Smith took over, all over a $10,000 discrepancy that was easily corrected.
Earlier in an interview in a National Law Journal, Chuck Shiply had boasted of his three pronged attack to use the courts and legal system as a means to bring down the Byrd Administration. It was obvious then that Paula Holder, Chad Smith and Chuck Shiply had organized deception of the greatest magnitude in an effort to corrupt the Federal Court System through a frivolous lawsuit that was easily settled out of court.
When Federal Judge Burge found out about the article in the law journal he was fit to be tied. There was no doubt in his mind that the entire case had been manufactured to create enormous attorney fees for Smith and Shiply. He openly chastised both Smith and Shiply in Court and told them that if he found they had lied about being part of this orchestration of deception he would pursue the most stringent remedies. He held his ruling for a later date and was expected to disbar them both. The only thing that save this bunch of scoundrels from serious fines and possible imprisonment was Burge’s retirement from the seat before he ruled on that case. Because the next Judge was not the one who had been bastardized, the case ultimately died.
In this month’s meetings the a bill containing a modification in funding was discussed and defeated in committee and would not go to full Council without revision and closer examination because many Council members had several problems with the way it had occurred. Before the Executive Finance Committee it was clearly explained by Council’s attorney and CPA that the procedure Paula Holder had failed to follow created a blatant case of mismanagement and misappropriation of funds.
Barbara Starr Scott, Councilman from District 5 Delaware County, was present during the initial vote in which the bill was tabled for more examination but after Johnny Keener and Don Crittenden left the meeting early to attend a prior scheduled engagement, Scott brought it back onto the floor. Scott saw that the attendance had changed and she had the votes to get it through to full Council in the May meeting in the original corrupt state. This is what needs to be recognized. Scott knew of the impropriety and illegal nature of the actions but took the appropriation forward.
There is no doubt that Starr Scott is a Chad Smith supporter but to knowingly move misappropriation onto the floor of full Council is unconscionable. Scott is a part of the corruption within the Cherokee government and our only salvation is that she is not running again for the Council seat in District 5. She chose to instead run one of her relatives who will undoubtedly have her voice if elected. There is no doubt if Smith is reelected Starr Scott will be appointed somewhere to make big bucks out of the Cherokee coffer just like the rest of the “controversial patriots” he has hired. Scott is one of the last who was at the nucleus of the controversy that hasn’t been hired for a phenomenal salary into the upper hierarchy of the Cherokee Nation under Smith.
Back to the focus of what has happened in this incident last night. Paula Holder the Tax Administrator made a decision that she needed additional labor force within the tag department. Without the proper authority and without Council appropriating funds she hired 10 additional people to work within the department. She stated that she had notified Human Resources of the need and thought that funds had been appropriated but as a Director and with her experience on Council there is no excuse for her to not have personally checked to see that everything had been properly completed.
Holder took it upon herself to hire additional staff without going through the proper advertising and appropriations for their salaries. After this action knowingly well it would exceed her budget before the year’s end, half way through the fiscal year she goes to Council asking that funding be appropriated to cover her mismanagement of funds. This violates every policy in hiring and budgeting within the process as a Department Director.
But the story gets even more twisted. Last night Councilman Nick Lay asked Holder about a letter that was received this week by Cherokee citizens dated March 12, 2003 on Cherokee Nation stationary and paid by a tribal mail permit. The letter contained political statements praising Chad Smith and was unmistakably notifying voters of his candidacy for Chief in the upcoming election. It claimed the success of tags as one of his accomplishments when tags were first legislated by Councilmen Don Crittenden and Harley Terrell under the Byrd Administration in 1998. Holder openly admitted last night before Council that the Tax Department had paid all costs for this letter....
There are several immediate questions that come to mind. Will this show up as a contribution from the Tax Commission on Smith’s election contributions? Do other candidates have access to the same list to market their candidacy? Will Tax Administrator Paula Holder also pay for political mailers from the Byrd, Fields and Mayes Campaigns? What does Stanley Grayson Jr., Smith’s choice of a Deputy Chief, that is one of the three current Tax Commissioners watching and seemingly approving of this misappropriation have to say about all of this?
Scott was undoubtedly the tool that put this illegal process into full focus. But Holder is the one person who must be held accountable for mismanagement and misappropriation of funds. But the big question is how did this get passed and funded last night through the full Council?
Timing is everything and to understand how the mind of a sociopath works is key to following the management process within the current Administration of the Cherokee Nation. Holder, Scott and Smith, all display the traits as explained (see at http://cherokeetruth.ezhoster.com ) in “The Profile of a Sociopath.” They are without conscious and are totally self-serving. In the last term both of these women as Council members were a key part of what was termed a “Constitutional Crisis” and boycotted repeatedly to actually prevent tags from reaching Cherokee people under Byrd’s term. Getting Cherokee tags would have been a home run that could have gotten him reelected and they did everything to circumvent it.
Starr Scott was who actually began the entire fiasco demanding documents she knew the failing accounting system left by Mankiller would not produce. Scott was undoubtedly working hand in hand with Mankiller behind the scenes in the first months just after the election and was captured in a picture having lunch with her while both were taking notes and planning their strategy.
Last night Councilmen were faced with a trap that Holder created within her explanation of the funds she was requesting. She stated that part of her reorganization included creating tag agents in satellite agencies throughout the Cherokee Districts. To vote against the bill which included funding to her department became a double-edged sword. If Council voted against the bill it was obvious that the immediate response of the Smith slate was to go into the districts with negative campaigning claiming that incumbents had voted against having tag offices in their our districts that would better serve their constituents. We saw an opportunity and defining moment of Politician vs. Statesmen as Council was faced with a dichotomy.
It was a carefully contrived plan that we have seen many times to milk half of all the revenue produced by Cherokee tags into the overhead and administration of that agency. Money that would be used for services to the people has now become a part of the job base and political structure for the Chief. This has been the over all design concept throughout the Smith Administration. They have built a monster, which is eating up 85% of the funding of the entire government by the administration and overhead or the programs. Presently only 15% of the total money actually get out to the Cherokee people who need the programs.
This is a very clear picture of how organized crime has taken the reigns of the Cherokee government and with the recent ridiculous ruling by the JAT on Smith’s residency and the lack of blood quantum required to be a member, we are in trouble. When you read that ruling there is no doubt that Smith owns the Judicial Branch of our government. Anyone who is one-one millionth Cherokee and rents an apartment within the jurisdictional boundaries can run for Chief. And anyone who has enough money can be Chief. With just a little more investment into political campaigns, they can own enough of the Council to do anything without any possible intervention from anywhere. At that point the Cherokee people have no voice in the government. The Smith slate has it all laid out for this to happen.
Should we have another election we will undoubtedly see Las Vegas money come in and completely take over our government. Smith already has in place strong ties to Vegas through his campaign manager Linda Turnbull Lewis. Organized crime has exceptional intelligence, hence the word “organized”. For the investment of pennies on a dollar, they indeed have not overlooked the ability to own the gaming and the flow of $311,000,000 annually of all our revenue simply by the success of a simple political campaign to 13,000 Cherokee voters. Smith lied his way in and they will tell as many lies as it takes to win again!!!
It is time for the Cherokee people to rise and respect their ancestors. We stand at the turning point. The stage is set and the election is at hand. This will be the last possibility the Cherokee people will ever have to change the fate and destiny of the Cherokee Nation before it falls totally into the hands of organized crime untouchable by the people it is supposed to serve. Your vote will make that difference. Do not fail your descendants and our posterity.
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