Osage News

Principal Chief John Red Eagle is calling for a Special Session of the Second Osage Nation Congress which starts at 10 a.m. Aug. 16 at the Congressional Chambers.

This will be the second Special Session of Congress since its newest members took oath on July 7. The Congress is slated to consider a resolution which would cap tribal government spending at $26 million for the fiscal year 2011.

Congressman Eddy Red Eagle is sponsoring the resolution (ONCR 10-25) which is calling for the $26 million expenditure level.

Congress is slated to set the Nation’s 2011 budget when it meets for the Tzi-Zho Session which starts Sept. 7. The Nation’s government runs on the October-September fiscal year calendar.

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

Congressman Mark Freeman, who introduced four completely new bills before Christmas that contain the 2010 Osage budgets, could be up for vote tomorrow morning with all budgets moving to engrossment today.

The bills total $23.9 million, $1.1 million below the $25 million spending cap set by the majority in Congress, cutting some budgets by more than $100,000 despite having gone through numerous committee meetings.

“The only thing that can stop a final vote on the budget tomorrow is eight members voting to delay it or move backward in the process,” said Congressman Red Corn in an e-mail newsletter sent today. “Three members of the minority are willing to forego long-held positions and vote for it in order to end this embarrassing chapter in our young government’s history.”

Congressman Eddy Red Eagle cautioned those members present not to act too fast on the bills, hinting to new information about salary increases in the budgets that he felt could be detrimental to the Nation’s spending. Congress members Doug Revard and Mark Simms have said in recent sessions that he would like to halt all raises and new positions but allow step increases to 2009 level salaries. But no amendments were made today.

A motion to vote all budgets to second reading, which would prevent last-minute floor amendments and require Congress to vote for or against the budgets tomorrow, failed. Red Eagle spoke against the motion saying that “this gives [Congress] 24 hours . . . to fully understand more details we are still receiving on this budget.”

Red Corn said that the Congress has had two weeks to review Freeman’s bills.

Up for amendments or vote tomorrow are ONCA 10-22, a bill that would amend the budget for the legislature and the Office of Fiscal Performance Review; ONCA 10-23, the budget for the Office of the Chiefs; ONCA 10-24, an act to modify the appropriations for Grayhorse and Hominy Indian Villages, the Gaming Commission, the Health and Wellness Board and the Gaming Board and ONCA 10-25, the budgets for the majority of programs for the Nation.

The bills were drafted by the acting budget analyst Kelly Corbin and congressional counsel, Loyed “Trey” Gill, according to Congressman Red Corn’s e-mail newsletter. All bills were drafted to keep all salaries and positions, including new positions approved in congressional committees over the past three months, reduce all line items that could be reduced by 19 percent, leave all line items intact even if it meant only leaving $1 and to make no reduction to a program’s budget that would go below 110 percent of the 2009 fiscal year spending levels, Red Corn said.

If Freeman’s bills stay intact, Freeman said he would help to vote it through, and Osage Nation Principal Chief Jim Gray said he will sign it.

Freeman said that if specific people’s salaries are targeted by last-minute floor amendments tomorrow, or certain programs have services cut, he would not vote for his own bill.

The Rules and Ethics committee meets tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. and Congress goes into session at 10 a.m.

Osage Nation Congress in session Nov. 16. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

Osage Nation Congress members Doug Revard, William “Kugee” Supernaw and Jerri Jean Branstetter announced in three committee meetings today that the controversial meeting that took place on Oct. 26 behind locked doors in the congressional chambers was not a violation of the Open Meetings Law.

“I move to ratify and approve the unintended and alleged special meeting,” said Congressman Revard in a cultural committee meeting that lasted three minutes. “I would inform the committee that I have made that motion for the purpose of knowing that we did not feel that we were ever in any meeting; we were working as individuals together, as to things that were on the floor, nothing that was in committee.”

Revard then said that by ratifying the meeting it would put a stop to “wasting the Osage People’s money” because there were too many frivolous lawsuits already pending made by the chief.

Osage Nation Principal Chief Jim Gray filed suit Nov. 6 against Congress members Revard, Supernaw, Branstetter, Anthony Shackelford, Faren Anderson and Eddy Red Eagle for discussing behind closed-doors ONCA 09-66, Government Operations Departments and Programs Appropriations Act and ONCA 09-63, the Office of the Chiefs Appropriation Act.

The Osage News reported later that Congressman Anthony Shackelford was not in the chambers at the time of the meeting.

The suit alleges that the six members of Congress met illegally when they formed quorums for five committees and barred any member of the public and the Osage News from listening and making a record of the discussion that resulted in 90 floor amendments in the form of cuts from the two budgets that totaled a little more than $3 million.

In the Open Meetings Law it states that a public body “may ratify an action taken in violation of this law at a public meeting” as long as it’s done within 30 days of the violation, making the meeting legal. The law also states that the meeting in question has to have been unintended in order for it to be ratified by the Open Meetings Law.

After Revard announced he wanted to ratify the Oct. 26 meeting, Congressman Supernaw and Congresswoman Branstetter did the same in an Education Committee meeting and an Appropriations Committee meeting today that both lasted under 4 minutes. Congresswoman Debbie Atterberry voted not to ratify the meeting and Congressman Raymond Red Corn abstained from voting for the ratification.

A prepared release from the Osage Nation Congress said that bills ONCA 09-66 and ONCA 09-63 were not the property of a committee or in its control so that if quorums for four committees (Appropriations, Cultural, Congressional Affairs and Rules and Ethics) were established it did not matter. “Both pieces of legislation were on General Order, which means they were the property of the entire body of Congress, not an individual committee.”

Now that the six members of Congress claim the Oct. 26 meeting has been made legal, the Osage News asked a congressional staff member if it could have the minutes of the meeting. The staff member replied that the congressional legal counsel, Loyed Gill, had advised her not to answer due to pending litigation. According to the Open Meetings Law, minutes from public meetings have to be approved within three days of the meeting, ready or not.

To view the congressional prepared release, click here:

congressional-release-11-16-09

To view the prepared release from Osage Nation Principal Chief, click here:

Osage Nation Principal Chief prepared release

Congress meets during a congressional session. Osage News file photo/Chalene Toehay

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

Osage Nation Principal Chief Jim Gray filed two lawsuits against the Osage Nation Congress Friday. The first suit asks for the maximum fine for six members of Congress in which the suit claims they violated the Open Meetings Law. The second suit asks for an injunction barring Congress from taking any action on ONCR 09-15 and for the courts to declare the veto override that took place Nov. 3 unconstitutional.

Phone calls were not returned by Gray’s legal counsel, Gary S. Pitchlynn of Norman-based Pitchlynn & Williams, by the time this story was published.

Congressional members Doug Revard, William “Kugee” Supernaw, Eddy Red Eagle, Anthony Shackelford, Faren Anderson and Jerri Jean Branstetter are all named in the first suit as having violated the Nation’s Open Meetings law – which Anderson sponsored. The suit seeks a declaratory judgment against all six members as well as the maximum fine for violating the law in the amount of $500.

The Osage News reported Thursday that Congressman Anthony Shackelford was not in the closed-door meeting that took place in the Congressional chambers Oct. 26 when five members of Congress dead-bolted the doors to the chambers and refused the Osage News access to the meeting where they discussed budgetary cuts they proposed the next day.

According to the suit, “Defendant’s actions in attempting to meet and conduct official business in secret deprived the Nation’s citizens of (a) information necessary to assess whether Defendants adequately fulfilled their duties as representatives of the Nation’s citizens in the lawmaking process; and (b) the opportunity to attend, speak, and participate as constituents of Defendants.”

The second suit seeks a declaratory judgment against Speaker Archie Mason for certifying the override of a veto that the suit claims was unconstitutional. The suit claims the veto override that took place Nov. 3 violates Article VI, section 10 of the Osage Nation Constitution as well as Article VI, section 13. The suit asks for a judgment that would make the veto override of ONCR 09-15, a resolution in support of the gaming enterprise board’s 2010 plan of operation, null and void. The suit also asks that the judgment be given to make “any congressional rules permitting carry-over of a vetoed bill from a prior session of Congress are unconstitutional and invalid.”

“Article VI, [section] 10 states that Congress ‘may only meet in the interim, the period of time between two sessions, by Interim Committee(s) to study a particular subject or subjects in order to make recommendations to the next regular session of the legislature,’” according to the suit. “Thus, the Constitution plainly bars Congress from voting to override a veto in an interim period between two sessions.”

The suit also asks for an injunction on members of Congress from taking “any action” on ONCR 09-15. However, a resolution sponsored by Congressman Eddy Red Eagle to set the Nation’s spending at $26.8 million was just passed by Congress and vetoed by Chief Gray.

Phone calls were not returned by Legislative Counsel Loyed Gill by the time this story was published.

Osage Nation Congressman Anthony Shackelford Nov. 5. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

Osage Nation Congressman Anthony Shackelford said he did not attend the Oct. 26 meeting in which the legality of the meeting has been questioned by the Osage News.

“I went into the common area of the congressional offices and saw them sitting down at the conference table and thought I’d sit down and see what they were up to,” Shackelford said. “They were [discussing] the Chief’s budget and they were talking about dollar amounts . . . I maybe sat there for three minutes and got up to get something to drink.”

“When I came back I looked at them and said, ‘Okay guys, I’m out of here,’ and went to go play golf,” Shackelford said.

Shackelford said at that moment he grabbed his keys and left the building.

An e-mail sent by Congresswoman Shannon Edwards to Principal Chief Jim Gray and Assistant Principal Chief John Red Eagle named Shackelford, along with five other members of Congress, in violation of the Open Meetings Law and congressional rules. Edwards said that when the six members of Congress met in the common area in the congressional offices to discuss budgetary cuts they were in violation of the Open Meetings Law. The e-mail does not stipulate how long each member of Congress was in the common area.

Edwards said she stands by her e-mail and her recollection of the nature and attendance in the non-public morning meeting.

The Osage News received an anonymous tip around 3 p.m. Oct. 26 that an illegal meeting was taking place in the Osage Nation Congressional Chambers. The doors were dead-bolted and the Osage News was not allowed inside.

That would leave Osage Nation Congress members Doug Revard, Eddy Red Eagle, William “Kugee” Supernaw, Jerri Jean Branstetter and Faren Anderson inside the chambers. Those five members make up quorums for the Congressional Affairs committee, Rules and Ethics committee, Appropriations committee and the Cultural committee.

The next day during the congressional session 96 amendments were made to cut more than $3 million to the Nation’s spending. The cuts included the eradication of 10 positions (vacant, proposed or filled), salary cuts and other cuts to 15 departments, with Chief Gray’s office receiving more than $830,000 in cuts.

During the Nov. 2 congressional session Congress decided not to vote on the amendments and instead sent the budgets back to their jurisdictional committees to allow the directors of the programs to help the Congress make decisions on what cuts were to be made.

Congresswoman Debra Atterberry called out Congressman Doug Revard for the closed-door meeting during the Nov. 3 congressional session, prompting replies from both Revard and Congressman Red Eagle that they did nothing wrong Oct. 26 and that they were just doing their jobs. Neither congressman commented on why the doors were dead-bolted or why they did not allow the Osage News access to the meeting.

The Osage News is the only entity that has raised issue with the closed-door meeting.

Congressmen Eddy Red Eagle, Doug Revard, Raymond Red Corn and Anthony Shackelford during a congressional session. Osage News file photo/Chalene Toehay

[Editor's Note: This story was originally published Nov. 3 and was modified on Nov. 18 for the purpose of clarification.]

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

The plan to cut more than $3 million by last-minute floor amendments from Osage Nation programs didn’t happen Monday as members of the Osage Nation Congress instead voted to send all budgets back to committee for another special session, this time to cut $6 million.

The majority view of Congress is that ONCA 09-63 the Office of the Chief Appropriation Act, ONCA 09-65 the Boards and Commissions Appropriation Act and ONCA 09-66 the Government Operations Departments and Programs Appropriations Act must be cut down from $33 million to $27 million, the FY 2010 projected revenue from the Nation’s gaming enterprise.

The Osage Nation Constitution states the Congress cannot appropriate more than the projected revenue.

Osage Nation Principal Chief Jim Gray vetoed the resolution ONCR 09-15 that approved the gaming plan of operation Oct. 28 in the 20th Special Session of Congress, citing a letter from the chairman of the Gaming Enterprise Board, Tom Slamans, which said he did not foresee the budgeting “implications” to the Nation by setting the projected revenue at $27 million.

“We respectfully request that we be allowed to adjust our plan of operations so that it fits more appropriately with the needs of the Osage people,” wrote Slamans in the letter. Slamans sent the letter Oct. 16.

The gaming enterprise board never turned in an adjusted budget and Congress overrode Gray’s veto Monday.

According to Congressman Mark Simms, Slamans spoke with Simms personally and told Simms that the only reason why the gaming board was going to adjust their gaming plan of operation was because Chief Gray “had a problem with it.”

Not true, Gray said.

“The reason why [Tom Slamans] wanted to request a revision was based on his unexpected realization that Congress was going to take their [plan of operation] and subtract it from their projected revenues and use that to establish a cap on spending for the rest of the Nation,” Gray said. “When [Slamans] realized that was the case he wanted to redesign his plan because he didn’t want the tribe to suffer.”

Gaming Enterprise Board Chair Tom Slamans did not return phone calls before this story was published. Chief Gray did not return phone calls before this story was published.

“It is not any of our jobs to interfere with our business entity,” Simms said. He said the reason why the projected revenue amount is lower than last year’s was because the Nation’s gaming enterprise budgeted for a major project in 2010. The Osage News could not verify Simms’ comment because the gaming plan of operation is confidential. Simms also said that the Nation was appropriated $25 million last year and only spent $19 million. Last year’s projected revenue from the gaming enterprise board was around $47 million.

Constitutional override?

Three members of Congress argued the constitutionality of the override made to ONCR 09-15 Monday, due to the fact that the veto was made in a prior session. Congress members Raymond Red Corn, Shannon Edwards and Debbie Atterberry abstained from voting for the override, the only three that didn’t vote for it.

“There’s nothing that says we can’t,” Congressman Mark Simms said. Legislative council Trey Gill referenced Article VI, section 13 of the Constitution that addresses veto overrides and said he did not see a time limit for a congressional override and the Constitution did not stipulate if an override has to take place during the same session the veto was made.

Edwards argued what would stop Congress from going back to all the bills vetoed by Chief Gray and overriding them as well? Gill said that he was sure a time stipulation would be in effect to prevent Congress from doing that. The Osage News could not find a time limit on veto overrides in the Constitution.

Gill had no comment for this story.

Congressman Raymond Red Corn said there was an easier way of getting the resolution passed than taking the chance of getting involved in a lawsuit with the Chief. He said Congress could have let the override stand and then reintroduced a similar bill during the 21st Special Session, got it passed and if vetoed, overrode the veto during the same session.

“The majority in Congress has unnecessarily put us at risk of yet another lawsuit by the Executive Branch,” Red Corn wrote in his e-mail newsletter. “These lawsuits cost tens of thousands of dollars to prosecute and defend in the Osage courts.”

Congressmen defend violation of Open Meetings Law and Congressional Rules

Congressmen Doug Revard and Eddy Red Eagle defended the closed door meeting held Oct. 27 when Congresswoman Debbie Atterberry responded to Congressman Doug Revard’s statement during Monday’s session that the Nation needs to operate openly, with transparency and that the Congress needed to be provided with more information about each program in order for Congress to safeguard “the People’s money .”

“You [Revard] talk about transparency, but you’re having closed door meetings . . . and if you want transparency why don’t you have it across the board,” Atterberry said. “We’re here to appropriate, not to budget.”

Congressman Revard fired back, “I don’t think I’ve ever been criticized for doing so much work!” Congressman Red Eagle said that the entire situation should be viewed as the Congress was just doing their job.

Osage Nation Congresswoman Faren Anderson, Congressmen Doug Revard and Anthony Shackelford work in the Osage Nation congressional chambers. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

[Editor's Note: This story was originally published Oct. 30 and was modified on Nov. 18 for clarification on this issue.]

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

The Osage Nation Congress will consider 96 proposed amendments to the 2010 fiscal year budgets Monday, the majority of which are proposed cuts to the tribe’s government operations and Principal Chief Jim Gray’s office. The cuts include more than $3 million in spending.

Congress ended its 20th Special Session on Tuesday with seven congressmen and women reading the proposed amendments for the Executive Branch budgets into record before adjourning for the week. A copy of the proposed budget amendments, released Wednesday afternoon, detail the suggested reductions in Executive Branch spending. The cuts include salary reductions for 13 administrative positions; eliminating 10 jobs (vacant, proposed or filled); and cutting down on expenses such as shipping, transportation and contractual jobs in 15 departments (including Gray’s office).

Gray said, “I’m not happy about any of it,” on Thursday and called the proposed reductions, “harsh, harsh cuts to the operations of the Osage Nation. I’m hoping in the time we have between now and Monday that some Congress members will come to find out this isn’t the best way to be conducting business.”

The 96 amendments proposed Tuesday came from Congressmen Eddy Red Eagle, Mark Simms, Doug Revard and William “Kugee” Supernaw, as well as Congresswomen Faren Revard Anderson, Jerri Jean Branstetter and Shannon Edwards. Most of the proposed cuts come in the wake of a locked-door meeting Monday attended by these congresspersons, except Simms and Edwards, where many of these reductions are believed to have been discussed.

The Osage News reported the unannounced meeting on its Web site Tuesday – one day after receiving a tip about the impromptu gathering and unsuccessfully gaining access to the meeting in the congressional chambers. Edwards wrote a letter to Gray earlier that day, while she was in the office, saying she could hear the five congresspersons and Congressman Anthony Shackelford meeting in their office’s common area where “these members are going through (three budget) bills to determine what they want to propose as individual amendments tomorrow and how to vote as a block.”

“I think it’s dangerous and sends the wrong message,” Gray said of the unannounced congressional meeting Monday, which included quorums for four congressional subcommittees with those present. “I’ve never seen a state government do something like this.”

Congressman Supernaw defended the proposed cuts in a phone interview Wednesday with the Osage News stating that Congress must trim the FY 2010 budgets (originally totaling about $41 million) in order to keep the spending at the Nation’s 2010 projected revenue of $27 million. Also on Tuesday, Congress passed a resolution which approves the $27 million amount as the 2010 projected revenue figure.

Supernaw cited a section of the Nation’s Constitution which requires Congress to set the budgets for the three branches of government, but adds: “The annual budget shall not exceed projected revenues.” Gray has yet to sign or veto the 2010 revenue projection resolution.

Congressman Raymond Red Corn said Monday the Nation’s budgets have been trimmed to $33 million after cuts were made during earlier subcommittee meetings and also when other spending bills were tabled during the appropriations process. With Monday’s proposed cuts estimated around $3 million, that leaves another $3 million to be cut if Congress members plan to hold FY 2010 spending at the projected revenue amount of $27 million.

What’s on the table for possible budget cuts?

In ONCA 09-63, titled the “FY 2010 Office of the Chiefs Appropriation Act,” More than $830,000 in cuts are suggested for Gray’s office including salary reductions for nine employees and the elimination of two positions. The chief’s office is projecting to spend just over $2.5 million in FY 2010.

Projected cuts to Gray’s staff members’ salaries range from $583 to $22,832. Calls for position eliminations include cutting a legal analyst and a support staff position that’s yet to be filled.

Spending reduction amendments suggested for Gray’s office include: cutting more than $32,000 for lodging, $41,900 for transportation, and $140,000 for litigation matters.

“It would handicap the Executive Branch, as well as the Nation” if the cuts are approved, Gray said. Most of the suggested cuts were voiced by Congresswoman Anderson, who sponsored the appropriation bills for Gray’s office and for the government operations.

ONCA 09-66, the “FY 2010 Government Operations Departments and Programs Appropriation Act,” proposes about $3 million in proposed program spending reductions for 14 departments including the Osage News.

Congressman Red Eagle proposed an amendment to cut $117,500 from the Nation’s burial assistance fund which is used to help surviving tribal members offset funeral costs for their loved ones. The appropriated amount of $367,500 would be dropped to $250,000 if this amendment passes.

“That’s going to cut us back on serving about 70 (clients),” said Constituent Services Administrator Jacque Jones, adding this is the third year she’s requested $367,500 as the same amount for burial assistance. That figure serves 105 clients with the maximum amount of $3,500 distributed to each Osage client requesting assistance.

The demand for burial assistance has gone up in the past two years because of increased advertising of its availability, Jones said. She said her office has served 103 clients for burial assistance in FY 2009, meaning funding remained for two more clients.

Red Eagle also motioned to strike $386,393 from the Home Health budget.

Congressman Supernaw suggested more than $58,000 in cuts to the 2010 budget of the Osage News, including $15,000 that is budgeted for design and layout of the newspaper. The Osage News contracts with a Bartlesville, Okla.-based firm to conduct these duties so the monthly newspaper can be printed and mailed out to the Nation’s constituents.

If the design layout funding is cut from the newspaper’s budget, the Osage News will be unable to print starting in November, Interim Editor Shannon Shaw told Supernaw in the phone interview Wednesday. After further discussion, Supernaw told Shaw, “I’ll try to keep that in there,” by encouraging his congressional colleagues to vote against the amendment when they meet for the 21st Special Session to consider the budgets.

Supernaw also proposed the following cuts to the Osage News: $11,400 cut from transportation; $15,000 for a writing coach; $5,000 to pay freelance writers; and $6,000 cut for outside printing and art work for advertising purposes.

The Communications Department has an audio visual technician position slated to be cut as well as $145,000 for “Web maintenance updates.” Other department items targeted for cuts include a $250,000 public relations campaign and $10,000 for “graphics/ layout.”

Other suggested cuts include: eliminating one proposed assistant position and cutting $100,000 for the intern/ externship program in the Education Department; two positions in Strategic Planning and one in WIC; two assistant staffers at the Fitness Centers in Hominy and Fairfax; reducing the Museum fund for purchasing art/ artifacts from $13,000 to $5,000; and one vacant position, as well as cutting $54,840 for conferences and special events in the Language Department’s budget.

Also this week, Supernaw introduced a bill to trim the Legislative Branch’s FY 2010 budget, even though it’s already been passed. Under ONCA 10-09, Supernaw’s bill calls for reducing his branch’s $2 million budget by $200,000 after proposing to cut a line item for “equipment” and reducing the Office of Fiscal and Performance Review’s budget from over $417,833 to $285,354 with the elimination of two proposed auditor positions.

Congresswoman Edwards issued amendment proposals to both budgets which would allocate the original $2.5 million amount for the chief’s office and $27 million for the government operations budget. Under her amendments, Chief Gray would have authority in allocating the monies to all programs, departments and divisions “in accordance with all budgets and justifications approved” by him.

The 21st Special Session of Congress starts at 2 p.m. Monday in the congressional chambers on the Osage campus.

To view the proposed amendments from the 20th Special Session, click here:

20th Special Session Proposed Amendments

Congressmen Eddy Red Eagle, Doug Revard, Raymond Red Corn and Anthony Shackleford during a congressional session. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

The Osage Nation Congress will be considering the nominees for the Foundation Board during Friday morning’s congressional session. The board will be responsible for the Nation’s non-profit foundation.

“Some people have publicly doubted the credibility of this board,” said Osage Nation Congressman Raymond Red Corn during a Health and Social Services Committee meeting Tuesday. “I think it’s fair to say that these [nominees] don’t really need to serve on this board….I think we’re really lucky to have these people.”

The nominees for the board are Katsy Mullendore Whittenburg, Monte Boulanger, Bill Kurtis, Nancy Pillsbury Shirley and Alex Skibine.

Congressman Eddy Red Eagle wanted to ask the nominees questions via teleconference during the meeting but Congresswoman Shannon Edwards said that she had announced during Tuesday’s session that she needed to know if any of the members of Congress wanted to speak with them because she needed to let them know to call in. Edwards also said that the nominees had been scheduled for questions two previous times and no one wanted to speak with them.

“How are they going to maintain day-to-day operations?” Red Eagle said. “What are their thoughts on program criteria . . . How much time allocation would they be donating to the foundation . . . Where are they going to put the foundation office?”

“And lastly, the [Osage News], and their comments on oversight of that entity,” Red Eagle said.

The health and social services committee passed it out of committee and the board nominees will be either confirmed or rejected by Congress Friday during session.

The Foundation Board nominees are:

Whittenburg, Osage, owns one of the largest historic ranches on the Osage reservation. She serves on the boards of the Woolaroc Frank Phillips Foundation Trustee, the River Oaks Bank in Houston, TX, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the American Quarter Horse Association of Amarillo and she is the host of the largest fundraiser for Eldercare of Washington and Nowata counties.

Boulanger, Osage, is the Senior Operations Manager in Bentonville, Ark., for Wal-Mart’s Credit Card and Financial services for the Western United States. He is also the chairman of Tribal Voices and American Indian and Alaska Native Resource Group which advises Wal-Mart on how to appeal to consumers on a cultural and community basis.

Kurtis is the current host of the A&E channel’s “Investigative Reports,” “American Justice” and “Cold Case Files.” He is a former CBS News anchor with more than 30 years of experience in journalism and two Peabody Awards. He also serves on foundation boards for the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, the Nature Conservancy of Illinois, the Abraham Lincoln Museum and Library, the National Park Foundation and the Woolaroc Foundation.

Shirley is currently president of the Pillsbury Marketing Company. She has served in senior positions on both the Ed & Harriett Pillsbury Foundation and the Harriet Pillsbury Foundation. She is a supporter of the Osage Tribal Museum.

Skibine, Osage, is a professor at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law. He has served as deputy counsel for Indian Affairs on the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs in the U.S. House of Representatives. He has served as a regional representative for the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and as a staff attorney and project director for the Institute for the Development of Indian Law.