THE TALE OF TWO GOVERNMENTS

This is the tale of two governments. One is the United States Government and the other is the Mohegan Tribal Government. Let's look at their differences and the dealings of the two (2) government with their citizens.

Shortly, after President Barack Obama took office, at the end of January 2009, he opened to the citizens of the United States all kinds of information to them that had been unavailable, before then. He believed that the American voter (citizen) had a right to know. He felt that the U.S. government should be transparent. He felt the government should be more open. It lead the citizens of the United States to believe that the government didn't have anything to hide. The new policy was showing the world and the people of the United States, that he was welcoming scrutiny.

This was totally different, than President George W. Bush ( the previous President before Obama), who was viewed as secretive by the media and some of the people of the United States. Bush who had a very low approval rating (estimated at about (18%) was not very forthcoming in the last days of his presidency. Some people viewed Bush as a bad president and criticized him for not being upfront with Americans. People felt he had something to hide. Some of this had to do with the Bush Administration's handling of the War in Irag. They felt he was not doing the will of the people. Two presidents and two different views on what information and how it should be given out to the American people.

Now let's turn, our attention to the local area (Uncasville, Connecticut). The government we are going to look at is the Mohegan Tribal Government. In my opinion, the Mohegan Tribal Government is more like the last days of the George W. Bush presidency than like the beginning of the Obama presidency.

What did the Mohegan Tribal Council recently do? They passed a Freedom of Information Ordinance. The first Freedom of Information Ordinance was Ordinance 2009-24. It was rescinded (canceled) by the Mohegan Tribal Council after it had been petitioned against by members of the Mohegan Tribe.

Last week they passed a new freedom of Information Ordinance, Ordinance 2009-35. This sounds good, we (the Mohegan Tribe) need a provision to protect our right to get information from our government. Unfortunately, the problems with the first Freedom of Information Ordinance (2009-24) are still in the new Freedom of Information Ordinance (2009-35). What the Tribal Council did, was take the first paragraph of Ordinance 2009-24 an put it in the middle of 2009-35. They took the second paragraph of 2009-24 and made it the second paragraph of 2009-35. They took the third paragraph of 2009-24 and made it the first paragraph of 2009-35. The only main difference is they changed the days that the COO (Phil Cahill) has to decide if he will give you the information from ten (10) days to two (2) days. He still has five (5) days after the decision to provide the information. It is still a RESTRICTION OF INFORMATION ORDINANCE. It is still a bad law. It needs to go.

The perception, by tribal members I talked to, was that the Mohegan Tribal Government believes in being secretive and not forthright. Their popularity by the voters is low. It seems like people don't trust them. The Tribal Council doesn't seem to be able to accept criticism very well. Instead of being more transparent, they are less co-operative with their citizens. They have passed laws that are prohibitive. The vote was eight in favor and one against. The one against was Councilor Mark Hamilton. When asked, Mark Hamilton said it was because it was basically the same law as before but just changed a little bit. He said it was still prohibitive to the Mohegan people. He was right.

There is your story, one of hope and opportunity, and a bright future. One of secrets, possible hidden agendas, and creators of bad law. Which is which? Why is the Mohegan Tribal Council the way it is? Why did they make this law (2009-35)? Do you know? What do you think?