After the meeting of the Restriction of Information Ordinance, oh I got it wrong again, I mean the Freedom of Information Ordinance, several members talked about the meeting. I would like to share my thoughts with you.
The meeting of the Freedom of Information Ordinance had been called by the Mohegan Tribal Council after they had passed the law on January 12, 2009. One question, that rang out load and clear, was who passes a law and then asks the tribe to comment on it.
One person mentioned that this is not the first time this has happened. The same thing happened with Ethics Ordinance. Both times, the Mohegan Tribe's members petitioned to reject the laws and to bring them to referendum at the polls. One Tribal Councilor supposedly said this would not happen again. I believe these same thoughts have been told to the tribe in the past. Look it's happening again.
The sentiment was that Chairman Bruce "Two Dogs" Bozsum was upset that tribal members had petitioned against something that he thought was a good thing. The vast majority of people after the meeting were definitely against the Freedom of Information Ordinance.
One tribal member was upset about what William Quidgeon, Treasurer supposedly said something to the effect he was tired of being slapped around. Did he mean the tribe was beating him up? Did anyone hear this?
One tribal member called it the "Restriction of Information Ordinance."
One tribal member said something to the effect that the Tribal Council had the cart in front of the horse. The tribal member was right.
Another tribal member said, in the ordinance the C.O.O. (Chief Operating Officer) has ten (10) days to decide to give the information being requested and seven (7) days to provide it after that. The member mentioned that the tribe had been assured that the information would be received promptly.
It creates a problem with the ability to petition against an ordinance under Article XII Right to Petition, Section 1 of the Constitution of the Mohegan Tribe. It states: "The members of The Tribe reserve to themselves the power to propose ordinances and resolutions and to enact or reject the same at the polls independent of the Tribal Council upon the petition of thirty-five voters within seven (7) days of such action." If the government is slow to get the members the information, then the tribal members right to petition could be violated.
One government official when asked, stated that if a law or ordinance was released to a tribal member but it was not released to the public (I have no idea who that is) then it could not be written about or copied. Does that mean the government owns everything? In the ordinance is uses the word "records," which I believe means that everything the government generates is theirs. Talk about censorship. What are the top secrets? Does anyone know?
The bottom line is that it is a bad law. It is prohibitive. It should go. Why doesn't the government, (who is their to provide and protect the tribe), do what is in the best interest of the tribe? Who makes a law and then has a meeting about it afterward? Wouldn't you want the impute first? What is the Tribal Council's motivation for doing this? What do you think?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
You the so called reporter on Feathernews really need to chill. You both don't work at the Tribe, you sit at home and make things up in your heads like this is a huge conspiracy. Get over it. Wake up to reality and quit slamming everything our tribe does. It's getting really old!
Again it's control. They don't want to give that up. If we as members are allowed to voice our opinion and get valid info through blogs like this one, and Ken's sight and Paige's idea of a independent newsletter, than guess what.... they might be held accountable for decisions they make as they should be. They are in public office, and that's their job.They are not in office for themselves, and for their best interests.
This Council with the exception of two new members, passed an ordinance with the intentions "to work on it further after it was passed." And,that was another time that the people partitioned, which caused the Council unhappiness...why can't the membership understand we are doing this for them?
The difference between the two ordinances... the earlier one they were in a rush to pass, and the present one they have been working on for years. Wow!
I think we can all agree it is a difficult process passing laws,that are for the good and best interest of the people. Here are some answers I received when I asked the question what do laws mean? To prevent anarchy, to keep wildness and chaos in reign, to control the people, to keep bullys from running the show... but, they are not to restrict freedoms. Wow!
If, in the future when passing laws, all these things can be reconciled, maybe then new laws can be for the best interest of all the people. That will be a good Mohegan way for us to live, we just need to keep working at it.
Madam X
Oh the joys of freedom of speech, and to be given the opportunity to express that freedom. I vote for independent thoughts...is that on the ballot anywhere...
To the reader who left the first comment: What story do you think is being made up by the websites? Please report back with the titles of articles so that we may check for ourselves. Thank you.
Yeah, especially that long running conspiracy about the tribe being in rough financial shape. Oops ... turns out it was true.
Do you think these people are just sitting at home making this up, I'm sure they would rather be doing something else than reporting negative news. They report it because it is negative and I hope this site grows and grows and more people read it everyday. It's not fun is it ti hear the truth from your membership besides the 9 councilors, is it???? When the Tribe start running properly and fair then maybe some good things will be said. Our governing people are setting the example, so go blame them.
Post a Comment