Osage Nation Congress on the last day of the 21st Special Session. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

With forty-eight days passed since the Osage Nation’s 2010 fiscal year started without a finalized government operations budget, the Osage Nation Congress voted Tuesday to continue funding Executive Branch operations – with spending restrictions – by extending the life of an emergency appropriations bill while the budget-setting process continues.

Congressional members voted 8-4 in passing ONCA 10-16, sponsored by Faren Revard Anderson, which amends an earlier emergency appropriations bill she sponsored, allowing governmental operations to continue with a one-twelfth spending restriction on each line item listed in the Nation’s FY 2009 budget until April 15, 2010 or if a 2010 budget is set before then. This bill exempts employee Christmas bonuses, payroll salaries and wages and several education-related expenses including higher education scholarships from the one-twelfth spending restriction.

Several congressional members have described the emergency appropriations bill as a “Band-Aid” and “temporary fix” to keep funding the government while congressional and Executive Branch officials work toward an agreement on the 2010 budget. But some officials from both government branches are concerned the one-twelfth spending restriction will still hurt the Nation’s operations if certain programs and projects are hampered because they cost more than the restricted monthly spending amount.

“I know there are people out there today who do not like (ONCA 10-16 and three similar emergency appropriation bills considered), but at some point we have to come together to identify that at the end of the month, if we do not pass something then the departments do not have a budget,” Anderson said during Tuesday’s session.

Congressman Raymond Red Corn sponsored ONCA 10-14 which is also an emergency appropriations bill without the one-twelfth restriction on spending. He withdrew the bill Tuesday after Anderson proposed amendments to his bill so it would mirror hers which was later passed in the session.

“It guts the entire purpose of the bill,” Red Corn said objecting to Anderson’s amendments to his bill which included the one-twelfth spending restriction. “I believe that all programs that benefit Osages throughout the Osage Nation should be allowed to function normally while Congress and the Executive Branch work out their budgetary differences.”

Congress members Mark Simms, Doug Revard, William “Kugee” Supernaw and Anderson all gave testimonies during the session in favor of an emergency appropriations bill with restricted spending saying that the temporary fix was only because Chief Gray would not work with them to lower the budget amounts in his budget and the Executive Branch budgets.

“My thinking is of course we’re just trying to put a Band-Aid on the situation and that we’ve been trying to work out between the executive and legislature (branches) for going on three to four months now,” Revard said. “If we do not put this amendment in here, then there is no incentive whatsoever for the executive (branch) to continue to work to find an answer to this situation and narrow the budget,” he said of the one-twelfth spending restriction.

In addition to the employee Christmas bonuses and wages and salaries, ONCA 10-16 exempts the following education-related expenses from the one-twelfth spending restriction: higher education scholarships; tuition, fees, and room and board; adult training tuition fees; Summer Youth Employment Program”; Summer Youth Intern Program; and Grade Incentive/ Chief Leadership Awards.

Congressional members approved Anderson’s ONCA 10-16 on the last day of its second consecutive Special Session held in an effort to set the FY 2010 budget, which was not completed during the Tzi-Zho Session. Voting against Anderson’s bill were Red Corn, Congresswomen Shannon Edwards and Debbie Atterberry and Congressman Mark Freeman.

Chief Gray trims Executive Branch budgets

In a Nov. 16 letter to Congress Speaker Archie Mason, Gray said he has instructed all Executive Branch directors “to thoroughly examine their department’s budgets and make cuts where possible with the caveat that cuts should not be made which result in diminished services to our people.” Gray also made assurances that no employee positions or salaries under his branch be cut.

“I believe strongly that our employees must be protected against any unjust or unwarranted cuts… I remain more than willing to meet with members of Congress to discuss this matter and my actions as principal chief in detail and am committed to seeking a reasonable resolution to the current impasse.”

Health benefit card program not affected by ONCA 10-11, Congress auditor says

One forthcoming program that will not be impacted by this amended emergency appropriations bill is the Nation’s health benefit card program – which is not part of the government operations funding, said Kelly Corbin, senior internal auditor for the Congressional Office of Fiscal and Performance Review. The program is slated to begin in January.

Congress passed the $5.1 million health benefit plan during the 2008 Tzi-Zho session. Those who apply will receive a coded debit card that allows payment for all items that the Internal Revenue Service considers tax-deductible medical expenses.

The $5.1 million reserved for the program has been placed into a special-use revolving fund in which “the money is reserved for that specific use and the balance is carried over from year to year until it is supplemented by more funds,” Corbin said. With this type of fund, it can be replenished with more money “to meet the needs of more people” when needed, he said.

Mutual Assurance Administrators, Inc. of Oklahoma City has been selected as the third-party administrator for the health benefit plan. The company will be responsible for handling the claims from medical vendors.

Red Corn identifies operations which could be affected by ONCA 10-16

In his Nov. 14 “Update” electronic newsletter, Red Corn listed some operations and projects which would be affected by a one-twelfth spending restriction.

“Any construction contracts, such as those improving Senior Housing, will be put on hold unless the contract equals one-twelfth of the line item for that improvement,” Red Corn wrote. In the proposed 2010 budget, the housing department is requesting a total of $87,500 to replace carpeting and tubs/showers in the Senior Housing units.

The Health and Social Services committee wants to match last year’s $200,000 appropriation to pay the backlog of health claims from the FY 2009 pilot program, Red Corn wrote. With a one-twelfth spending restriction, that means payments will be made at a rate of $16,600 per month or about two applications per work day.

Red Corn also questioned the effectiveness of the majority in Congress and its Speaker, Archie Mason.

“The Osage Nation Congress has complete control over the unfinished budgets,” wrote Red Corn in the Nov. 14 update. “The majority’s spokespersons claim there is $6.1 million in identified “fluff”, yet none of the majority that hold committee chairmanships (Anderson, Appropriations; Revard, Education; Branstetter, Government Operations; Anderson, Cultural; Simms, Commerce) have called meetings to propose reductions.”

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.

Election Board members Dr. Joe Conner, Chairwoman Sarah Oberly and Walter Hopper listen to Osage Nation Congressman Raymond Red Corn at one of the board's meetings. Osage News File Photo/Chalene Toehay

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

The Election board is looking for a qualified election supervisor.

“We’ve done everything we can possibly do without a budget and now that we have one we’re ready to get to work and get the ball rolling,” said Election Board chairwoman Sarah Oberly on the fact that the Osage Nation Congress approved the board’s budget. “The board is getting ready to advertise for our election supervisor and once we get that person hired everything’s going to fall into place.”

The election supervisor, once hired, will be in charge of hiring the staff to run the June Osage 2010 elections. With seven months to go Oberly feels that everything is going smoothly.

The election board has secured an office space in downtown Pawhuska at 532 Kihekah Avenue and what is known to locals as the former location of 2001 Video. “The phones are ordered, equipment is ordered, lease agreement is waiting for our signature,” Oberly said.

The next meeting of the Election Board will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3. The board will meeting in the Post 198 room in the Wahzhazhi Cultural Center. The board will be discussing various methods for tracking campaign finances of the candidates, something that was previously addressed in a bill that was withdrawn by Congresswoman Faren Anderson. Also proposed by Anderson was a bill calling for a primary election to be held in April but the bill was vetoed by Osage Nation Principal Chief Jim Gray and did not have the votes for override.

“To be honest with you, we are pleased there isn’t going to be a primary because we did not have enough time to put one together,” Oberly said. “There was no debate whether or not it was a good idea or not, or a discussion of the merits of whether it was a good bill or not, I just panicked because we didn’t have enough time to organize and administer a primary.”

The election supervisor is now being advertised and the deadline for applications is Nov. 15 but that can be extended, Oberly said. Interested applicants can turn in their resumes to the Executive Branch office.

For more information contact the Executive Branch offices at (918) 287-5555.

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