On May 11, Principal Chief Jim Gray announced his interim appointment of Mr. David Conrad and Mrs. Stacy Laskey as members of the Osage Nation Gaming Enterprise Board. This appointment is for an initial term of three years from the date of appointment and is subject to confirmation by the Osage Nation Congress during the next regular session. The Board is currently composed of one other member, Mr. Frank Oberly.

David Conrad is a citizen of the Osage Nation, and has worked for the Nation as its Director of Intergovernmental Affairs since August of 2006. In this capacity, Mr. Conrad has worked closely on the economic development policy of the Nation, including elements of our gaming enterprise. Mr. Conrad received a Masters Degree in Environmental Science and Policy, Policy and Administration from the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. Mr. Conrad has extensive experience working with tribes, having worked in a management or director capacity for tribal organizations in both the Southwest and the Pacific Northwest regions of the country. He currently lives in the state of Washington with his wife and two sons.

Stacy Laskey was born in Ponca City, Oklahoma and currently resides in Tulsa. Ms. Laskey received a Bachelors Degree in Accounting from the University of Oklahoma. Mrs. Laskey has served on the Osage Tax Commission. She also possesses extensive career experience in marketing, management and sales, and is a member of the American Marketing Association. Prior to her appointment, Mrs. Laskey received national recognition for her abilities in management. She was recognized in 2005 as one of the “Outstanding Young Women in America.”

Chief Gray looks forward to both of these new appointments serving with distinction on the Gaming Enterprise Board, one of the most critical non-elected positions in the Nation. “These two outstanding individuals will join current board member Frank Oberly in the continuation of the Board’s work to oversee the profitable, yet complex, work of our multi-million dollar gaming enterprise,” said Chief Gray.

Osage Congressman Eddy Red Eagle states why he will be voting against the Gaming Enterprise Board Thursday. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

On the last day of the 2010 Hun-Kah Session Thursday, the Osage Nation Congress rescinded last week’s board confirmation votes conducted by secret ballot then voted again – in the open – on all board appointees which resulted in dismissals of George Pease and Elizabeth Lohah Homer from the Gaming Enterprise Board.

Thursday’s votes come eight days after the Congress declined to confirm board members Frank Oberly, Pease and Chairwoman Homer in a secret ballot vote on April 7. All three gaming board confirmation votes ended with 6-6 tie votes, which left the tie-breaking vote up to Assistant Chief John Red Eagle.

On April 9, Principal Chief Jim Gray resubmitted all three gaming board members to Congress as appointees for confirmation and followed up with an executive message on Monday stating: “The Osage Nation Congress failed to follow the rule of law when they voted by secret ballot on April 7, 2010” and advised them of potential impacts to the Nation’s gaming operations if the gaming board remains vacant.

In his message to Congress dated Monday, Gray said “the Osage Nation Constitution and Osage law mandate that voting be conducted openly and made public by record” before listing potential consequences of not having a gaming board in charge of several duties including managing the Osage Million Dollar Elm Casinos’ finances and operations; authorizing the distributions of gaming revenue to the Nation; and signing payroll checks for the casino employees.

The Congress met with legal counsel in executive session Wednesday but took no action on Gray’s letter after the meeting. All 12 Congress members reconvened for Thursday’s session and acted on motions to vote again on confirmations for the Nation’s Gaming Enterprise, Health and Wellness Advisory Board, Editorial Board, Limited Liability Company Board and alternates for the Election Board.

Motions to vote again

Congressman Eddy Red Eagle made a motion “to ratify all appointment confirmation votes that were taken during this Hun-Kah Session” on April 7 and April 9. His motion passed with a 7-5 vote with “no” votes from Congressmen Mark Freeman, Raymond Red Corn and Congresswomen Shannon Edwards, Debra Atterberry and Faren Revard Anderson.

Red Corn then made a motion to “rescind all appointment confirmation votes” from April 7 and April 9 and “to expunge those votes from the record.” His motion passed unanimously, which lead to individual confirmation votes of all the appointees with the gaming board votes generating the most discussion when the appointee names were brought up for voting.

“We all know, and whether we want to face the fact or not, we have had an accounting problem ever since we’ve been here. That accounting problem has got somewhat better in probably the last six months… We have been given information that was not always correct and a lot relied on that information,” Congressman Doug Revard said in his list of concerns about the current board.

“When this Congress passed the gaming law that is in place now, I believe that Congress made a mistake and the mistake was having all three board members serve contemporaneously with each other so that when their term of office is up, all three board members are either reconfirmed or they’re let go,” Congresswoman Edwards said. She encouraged the other Congress members to keep at least a majority of the board, adding she’s reviewed gaming board reports and “numbers don’t lie, the gaming enterprise is doing well. Therefore I think it’s critical that we not make wholesale changes at this time.”

The motion to confirm Pease failed with a 6-7 vote. Voting “yes” were Edwards, Freeman, Atterberry, Red Corn, Anthony Shackelford and Archie Mason. The “no” votes came from Mark Simms, William “Kugee” Supernaw, Faren Revard Anderson, Jerri Jean Branstetter, Red Eagle, Revard and Assistant Chief John Red Eagle.

After Pease’s dismissal, Edwards addressed the Congress before they voted on Oberly. “He is now a practicing (certified public accountant). He has had many, many experiences with audits.” She also noted Oberly served on the board when the seven-casino venture received “an unqualified audit” during its last audit which is “very important to our gaming operations.”

Congress voted the same as they did with Pease, but Oberly’s confirmation passed with Assistant Chief Red Eagle’s tie-breaking “yes” vote, making it a 7-6 vote.

When Homer’s confirmation vote came up, Atterberry said “we all had an opportunity to look at the resume that was sent to us by Elizabeth Homer, we also know the work she’s done in the gaming area and we have a very qualified Osage willing to put forth her time and effort for the betterment of this Nation.”

Homer is a Washington, D.C.-based attorney and founding partner in Homer Law Chartered which focuses on cases concerning Native American issues. She served as vice chairwoman from 1999 to 2002 on the National Indian Gaming Commission, which regulates gaming activities on Indian lands to protect gaming tribes from organized crime or corrupting influences and she’s also served as attorney for the Gaming Enterprise Board before Gray appointed her last November.

Congressman Red Eagle said Homer “has tremendous skills, I’ll grant that, and those skills lay in another area. She’s not had that frontline experience of dealing with 1,000, 2,000 people and all the intricacies of the demands of the marketing concept… She does have other skills that can be of tremendous aide to this Nation.”

Red Corn responded to Revard’s comments about the accounting problems and noted they improved during the time Homer was on the board. “Seeing her resume, it’s very difficult for me to see that we could find anybody more qualified than Ms. Homer.”

Edwards referred Congress to a publication on gaming, which Homer contributed to. “Recently a book was published called Sovereign: An Oral History of Indian Gaming in America. She was included as an authority in this book on Indian gaming because she is an authority of Indian gaming… Ms. Homer knows her stuff,” Edwards said.

The vote on Homer’s confirmation repeated with the same pattern as Pease’s in which Congress voted 6-6 with Assistant Chief Red Eagle breaking the tie with a “no” vote.

Votes redone after Wednesday’s executive session

The Congress met in executive session Wednesday with its legal counsel after the Executive Branch informed the Legislative Branch that voting by secret ballot could be a violation of the Nation’s Open Meetings Act (ONCA 07-53).

A section of the bill calls for the public body holding a meeting to record minutes which must include: “A record or summary of all motions, proposals, resolutions or other matter formally voted upon, the results of the vote and the vote of each member of the body.”

Hepsi Barnett, the Executive Branch’s Chief of Staff, told the Osage News that attorneys for the chief’s office found the law violations after the April 7 secret ballot votes and sent the Congress open records requests asking for the voting records of that day’s session.

Reached by phone after Thursday’s vote, Homer said she was “disappointed with the final outcome” but was pleased with the confirmation votes made publicly.

“I’m really glad it was a vote that was taken in the sunshine… I would have been happier if the vote had gone my way and I’m obviously disappointed,” she said. “I think that was a really important precedent to establish and a really important commitment for the Congress to make – that is what accountability in government is all about.”

“I am really glad they kept Frank Oberly,” Homer said, adding there are still concerns about having only one gaming board member to handle the board business alone because it’s not possible to have a quorum. “But I think it’s going to be a whole lot easier to get one appointee instead of three appointees.”

In response to some Congress members’ concerns about the board’s performance, Homer believes “the board has done a good job. I think any objective view of what the board has managed to accomplish in the last year is favorable.”

“We have a profitable gaming operation in a declining economy,” said Homer adding the gaming board has made monthly distributions to the Nation of $2.5 million since she was appointed to the board by Chief Gray in November 2009. “You can’t argue with success.”

Chief Gray was out on travel Thursday and could not be reached before this story was posted.

Other confirmation votes held April 15

The Congress also rescinded other confirmations made April 7 and April 9 to four other boards and voted publically on those confirmations Thursday. Here are the results:

Julia Wilson, alternate member for the Election Board. Vote: 12-0.

Suzanne Moore, alternate member for the Election Board. Vote: 9-3 with “no” votes from Revard, Anderson and Branstetter.

Dennis McAuliffe, member for the Editorial Board. Vote: 7-6. Voting “no” were Branstetter, Revard, Shackelford, Simms, Supernaw and Anderson. Assistant Chief Red Eagle broke the 6-6 vote tie with a “yes” vote and voted with Edwards, Freeman, Atterberry, Red Corn, Eddy Red Eagle and Mason.

Cecelia Tallchief, member of the Health and Wellness Advisory Board. Vote: 11-1 with a “no” vote from Anderson.

Tim Tall Chief, member of the Health and Wellness Advisory Board. Vote: 11-1 with a “no” vote from Anderson.

Paul Stabler, member of the Health and Wellness Advisory Board. Vote: 12-0.

Paul Bruce, member of the Osage Limited Liability Company Board. Vote: 12-0.

Osage Nation Congress at work during the 21st Special Session. File Photo/Osage News

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

The Osage Nation Congress may have violated the Open Meetings Law when they voted by secret ballot to reject all three nominees for the Gaming Enterprise Board.

“We plan on taking congressional action in tomorrow’s session [to revote on the GEB nominees],” Archie Mason said, Speaker of the Congress. “We are reconsidering, as a Congress, this vote . . . Plus the other boards that were elected, or balloted on [April 7] and we’re going to redo them and it will be an open vote.”

The Open Meetings Law under section 9A (5) states, “A record or summary of all motions, proposals, resolutions or other matter formally voted upon, the results of the vote and the vote of each member of the body” shall be made record in the minutes of a meeting.

“We have verbally objected to their voting by secret ballot in the past and we were unsure if they were going to continue to confirm appointments in this secret manner,” said Hepsi Barnett, Executive Branch Chief of Staff. “When they voted by secret ballot to reject all nominees for the Gaming Enterprise Board April 7, we took a closer look at the law.”

Executive Branch attorneys found the violation in the law after the vote was made and sent two open records requests asking for the voting record from the April 7 session, Barnett said. “We sent two requests specifically for that vote and all other votes taken by secret ballot and we have not received anything from them . . . they either have to deny the request and we can appeal it or they have to admit they don’t have those records.”

If Congress is found to have violated the law, than each time they voted by secret ballot would be a violation. However, the law also states that Congress could rescind and expunge every confirmation vote they’ve ever taken and vote again, this time making their votes public. But according to the Open Meetings Law, they can only rectify violations within the past 30 days.

“To my understanding the congress has interpreted rule 5.9 (1) to require roll call votes for legislation only,” Raymond Red Corn said, Osage Nation Congressman. “Clearing this up, and understanding the impact of section 9A (5) on the congress increases our accountability and the transparency of congressional actions. I look forward to tomorrow’s revote.”

In this Hun-Kah session the Congress has voted by secret ballot for every confirmation vote of an appointee to one of the Nation’s boards. That included the confirmation of Editorial Board nominee Denny McAuliffe, the reconfirmation of LLC board member Paul Bruce and they have yet to vote on two alternates for the Election Board.

The April 7 secret ballot vote led to the dismissal of GEB members George Pease and Frank Oberly. The Congress also failed to confirm board Chairwoman Elizabeth Lohah Homer, who previously represented the gaming board as its attorney and served three years on the National Indian Gaming Commission.

Voting “yes” to hold the secret ballot confirmations April 7 were Congresspersons Eddy Red Eagle, Doug Revard, Anthony Shackelford, Mark Simms, William “Kugee” Supernaw, Faren Revard Anderson and Jerri Jean Branstetter.

Congresswoman Debra Atterberry along with Congressmen Mark Freeman, Raymond Red Corn and Speaker Archie Mason voted “no” to voting in secret. Congresswoman Shannon Edwards was absent for the April 7 session.

“That’s how they rejected Nancy Pillsbury to the Foundation Board, Martha Spotted Bear to the Election Board and Scott Bradshaw,” Barnett said. “Bradshaw was initially to be the tribal judge but they voted him off by secret ballot.”

(L to R): Ron Mansfield, Osage Million Dollar Elm Casino shift manager; Darrell Sager; Elizabeth Homer, Osage Nation Gaming Enterprise Board chairwoman; James Redcorn, director of security for MDEC; Chris Cooper; Frank Oberly, Osage Nation Gaming Enterprise Board member; George Pease Osage Nation Gaming Enterprise Board member; and Neil Cornelius, MDEC CEO. Sager, a security officer, and Cooper, an EMT, were recognized for responding to a Dec. 31 life-saving call at the Tulsa casino during the board’s Jan 8 meeting. Courtesy Photo/Chris Barton

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

A surprise move by the Osage Nation Congress, which declined to confirm all three members of the Gaming Enterprise Board on April 7, is leaving the future of the Osage Million Dollar Elm Casinos in question because the board makes decisions concerning multi-million dollar finances, operations and future plans for the seven-casino venture.

By majority vote, the Congress decided to conduct the confirmation votes for the Gaming Enterprise Board by secret ballot, which led to the dismissal of board members George Pease and Frank Oberly. The Congress also failed to confirm board Chairwoman Elizabeth Lohah Homer, who previously represented the gaming board as its attorney and served three years on the National Indian Gaming Commission.

Homer said she was “disappointed and alarmed” by the Congress’s decision. “If there is to be a distribution of gaming revenue to the Osage Nation, that has to be authorized and the check has to be signed by the board… so even something as basic as giving the Nation its gaming revenue is now a question… There’s just lots and lots of implications here that are very troubling,” she told the Osage News in a phone interview after the vote.

The Gaming Enterprise Board holds other duties including: approving certain contracts and major expenditures; the chairperson signs casino payroll checks; and the board also enforces the casino employee bonus policy and approves casino expansion plans.

“It raises a number of very serious problems for the gaming enterprise and of course the gaming enterprise is the bread and butter for the Nation and anything that might put it at risk or in jeopardy is a tremendous concern to me,” Homer said.

It’s unknown whether Homer, Pease and Oberly’s terms ended April 7 or if their terms expire when Congress adjourns its 2010 Hun-Kah Session next week.

Principal Chief Jim Gray called the secret ballot decisions “unfortunate” and “reckless because the impact of not having board members affects decisions” to be made and he criticized the Congress‘s secret ballot votes. “The practice of voting secretly is totally against accountability and transparency,” he said in a phone interview after the votes.

Gray said “at this point, I’m consulting with attorneys for short and medium-term solutions” before deciding what his office will do in regards to the board rejections.

Congress votes by secret ballot despite objections raised by some members

After few words, including some Congress members’ objections to a secret ballot vote on the confirmations, during the April 7 Congressional session, the 11 members present issued their votes in writing. Congressman Mark Simms motioned for the Congress to vote on the three Gaming Enterprise Board confirmations and one for the Osage Limited Liability Company Board one-by-one by secret ballot.

“Why secret ballot?” Congresswoman Debra Atterberry asked after Simms made the motion. “We’ve always done it that way,” Simms replied. Atterberry asks “why?” again before saying “I’d rather not.” No one responded to Atterberry.

Voting “yes” to hold the secret ballot confirmations were Congresspersons Eddy Red Eagle, Doug Revard, Anthony Shackelford, Simms, William “Kugee” Supernaw, Faren Revard Anderson and Jerri Jean Branstetter.

Congressmen Mark Freeman, Raymond Red Corn and Speaker Archie Mason voted “no” with Atterberry to voting in secret. Congresswoman Shannon Edwards was absent for the April 7 session.

Supernaw echoed Simms’s comment on the secret ballots, saying most board confirmation ballots have been conducted that way since he’s been in office. “I think it’s better because it’s a better way to do that – you want to protect people’s feelings,” he said during an April 8 phone interview.

Before each secret ballot vote, Atterberry, Freeman and Red Corn praised the Gaming Enterprise Board members for their work, saying they will vote for all three.

“(Pease) has been a very good member of that committee, worked hard and is very capable,” Freeman said. “I’ll be supporting Mr. Oberly too and support the Congress to do so,” Atterberry said. “I don’t know how many Native American tribes have the opportunity to have a member of the National Indian Gaming Commission on their board,” Red Corn said of Homer who was appointed by Gray in November 2009.

Congress decided against Homer’s confirmation with a 5-6 secret ballot vote; Pease, 4-7; and Oberly, 5-6. LLC Board member Paul Bruce was confirmed with a 9-2 vote.

Homer is a Washington, D.C.-based attorney and founding partner in Homer Law Chartered which focuses on cases concerning Native American issues. She served as vice chairwoman from 1999 to 2002 on the NIGC, which regulates gaming activities on Indian lands to protect gaming tribes from organized crime or corrupting influences, according to its Web site.

Homer also served as the Director of the Office of American Indian Trust at the U.S. Department of the Interior where she worked closely with tribal governments and federal policy makers to advance issues and policies of concern to the country’s Indigenous peoples, according to Homer Law’s Web site. As director, she supervised the implementation of a number of administration policy priorities in the areas of tribal, natural and cultural resources, consultation, and negotiated rulemaking, including President Bill Clinton’s Executive Orders regarding Sacred Sites and Tribal Consultation.

Speaker Mason said it’s up to Gray to decide on interim board members for the Gaming Enterprise Board. Any interim board members selected will be up for confirmation when the Tzi-Zho Session starts in September, he said in an April 7 interview.

“The majority expressed themselves in their vote that was received,” Mason said of the votes. “I voted my conscience, I voted my will,” said Mason who would not say whether he voted to confirm Homer, Pease and Oberly. Congressman Supernaw also did not reveal how he voted in the secret ballot. Messages were left seeking comment from the other Congress members who did not make statements about the Gaming Enterprise Board members during the April 7 session.

Just before the session adjourned, Red Corn asked his Congressional colleagues “am I correct in assuming we confirmed none of the Gaming Enterprise Board?” He asked if the other members had any idea of the impact of having no board would have on the Nation, but was cut off by a motion to adjourn.

Supernaw said “I’m in agreement with what happened” and referred to prior problems concerning the casinos and board decisions, some of which he said he can’t disclose due to proprietary issues. He referred to prior issues which include an ongoing Osage County District Court case involving former Chief Financial Officer Bill Leonhart who is suing Gray, Pease, Oberly and former board chairman Tom Slamans for breach of contract after he was fired in August 2009 before his contract expired.

“Here is the problem: if you look back over the history of our gaming operations, all the problems you hear about… they were decisions made by the gaming board,” Supernaw said. “My hope is we get a board in there that is mature enough and strong enough that they don’t really interfere too much with the operations of the business.”

Amid prior problems, the Gaming Enterprise Board worked to upgrade its accounting operations, Homer said. “We made the necessary investment in technology and we now have a state-of-the-art casino accounting system,” she said adding the casino enterprise was given an outstanding report after an independent audit was conducted of its 2009 operations.

The casino entity’s fiscal year 2009 financial statements were examined by a New Mexico-based independent firm and it issued an “unqualified opinion,” which “means is that we have a good, reliable beginning balance for FY 2009,” Homer told the Osage News in December.

“We’ve made really good decisions together, we’ve made (casino) operations profitable in a declining economy,” Homer said of serving on the board. “There’s a lot of satisfaction in using my experience… I’ll continue to work in private practice and I’ll always be an Osage no matter what and I will always be a supporter of the Osage Nation.”

Gray questions whether votes are revenge

Chief Gray made no attempt to mask his opinion in what he thought was behind the majority’s vote to decline confirmation of Homer.

He mentioned “2008” when four members of Congress allegedly entered restricted areas of the Hominy casino, which prompted an investigation by the Gaming Commission as requested by then-Gaming Enterprise Board Chairman Tom Slamans. “They’ve never really forgiven them for that,” Gray said.

The Hominy incident that Gray is referring to is when congresspersons William “Kugee” Supernaw, Doug Revard, Anthony Shackelford and Jerri Jean Branstetter requested to see documents in a restricted area of the Osage Hominy casino on July 23, 2008 when they had no authority to do so, according to an article by The Bigheart Times.

According to the Gaming Commission report, the four members of Congress asked Hominy casino staff to open boxes and see auditing records for the Bartlesville casino in a restricted area meant only for licensed staff. The staff was then questioned as to the practices of the auditing process.

The four members of Congress were called to a hearing that was presided over by Homer and Chissoe. This is why Gray thinks those four members of Congress voted secret ballot to decline her nomination.

Regarding the Hominy casino visit, Supernaw wrote in his Jan. 31 newsletter: “…members of Congress exercised their oversight responsibility and investigated the reports of accounting irregularities… only to be investigated ourselves, blasted in the Osage News and for a time even questioned by others members of Congress.”

Chissoe resigns as ON Gaming Commissioner

Richard Chissoe, who has served as the ON’s gaming commissioner for the past four years said he will not be seeking, nor will he accept, confirmation to serve a second term. He plans to leave his post April 15.

“I am very proud of the work we have done at the ONGC, the credibility we have earned and the successes we have achieved to the benefit of the Osage people,” Chissoe wrote in his resignation letter, dated March 22. “I will remain ever grateful for being given the opportunity to return home, honor my family legacy and serve the Osage Nation.”

Homer said Gray will also need to reappoint someone to Chissoe’s position, which will also be subject to confirmation by Congress like the Gaming Enterprise Board.

(L to R): James Redcorn, Osage Million Dollar Elm Casino director of security; Chris Cooper; Darrell Sager; and Ron Mansfield, OMDEC shift manager. Sager, a security officer, and Cooper, an EMT, were recognized for responding to a Dec. 31 life-saving call at the Tulsa casino during the board’s Jan 8 meeting. Courtesy Photo/Chris Barton

Osage News

The Osage Nation Gaming Enterprise Board recognized a Million Dollar Elm Casino security officer and an emergency responder for their life-saving efforts during a New Year’s Eve emergency at the board’s Jan. 8 meeting.

A woman in the Tulsa casino’s NINE18 Bar lost consciousness and was not breathing when Security Officer Darrell Sager and EMT Chris Cooper responded to the scene, MDEC Director of Security James Redcorn said in a news release. The two men successfully performed CPR on her for seven to 10 minutes.

The woman was breathing and talking by the time Tulsa Fire Department crews arrived to transport her to a local hospital.

Sager, Cooper and Tulsa casino Shift Supervisor Ron Mansfield were introduced to the Gaming Enterprise Board by casino CEO Neil Cornelius at the meeting where they were honored for their quick responses to the emergency call.

(L to R): Ron Mansfield, Osage Million Dollar Elm Casino shift manager; Darrell Sager; Elizabeth Homer, Osage Nation Gaming Enterprise Board chairwoman; James Redcorn, director of security for MDEC; Chris Cooper; Frank Oberly, Osage Nation Gaming Enterprise Board member; George Pease Osage Nation Gaming Enterprise Board member; and Neil Cornelius, MDEC CEO. Sager, a security officer, and Cooper, an EMT, were recognized for responding to a Dec. 31 life-saving call at the Tulsa casino during the board’s Jan 8 meeting. Courtesy Photo/Chris Barton

Congress at work. Osage News file photo/Chalene Toehay

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

A bill sponsored by Congressman Mark Freeman that would trim the Osage budgets down to $23.9 million was discussed by Congress Monday, as well as putting all employee salaries back to 2009 levels allowing a 3 percent step increase and halting all new hires.

Freeman expressed that he did not like the bill but he felt it was necessary to introduce a bill that would be a compromise with those members of Congress that want the budget below $25 million.

“If there is some way we can get a clear concise bill out, it would be wonderful for our Osage people that work for us and that are workin’ hard,” Freeman said. “It would be wonderful for the Osage Nation and [that way we won’t] mess it up worse than we already have.”

According to Congressman William “Kugee” Supernaw, in his Dec. 14 and Dec. 23 e-mail newsletters, the reason for certain members of Congress’ persistence in lowering the Osage budgets to below $25 million is due to the accounting debacle at the Nation’s casino and “the fact that the Nation has not received a cash distribution from the gaming operation since the check for May 2009.”

“The lack of income distributed to the Nation is a major part of the budget problems the government is facing and it has only been mentioned in the Notes to the Nation,” Supernaw wrote Dec. 14. “Yet it is affecting all of us.”

Gaming Enterprise Board chair, Elizabeth Homer, said in a phone interview Monday that there has been a “terrible, terrible unfortunate misunderstanding . . . we, the Nation’s gaming enterprise, did not stop making money – actually, ’09 was a good year.”

Homer, who replaced Tom Slamans as gaming board chair Nov. 24, said that it’s true there was not a gaming distribution for the months of July and August but it wasn’t due to lack of money. According to end-of-year financial records, the Nation’s gaming enterprise paid the Nation approximately $1 million more than projected for 2009 fiscal year.

“That’s why the payments trailed off at the end of the last year,” Homer said. “A distribution for the first two months of this year, which began Oct. 1, was made in early December totaling $5 million for October and November. From this point forward, the enterprise will be making distributions of $2.5 million monthly, which will spread the distributions out over the course of the entire year, providing, we hope, less confusion and a greater sense of certainty.”

The enterprise will conduct quarterly reconciliations, a process that compares two sets of records to usually balance two accounts to make sure they’re in agreement, between revenues and distributions as well as an annual reconciliation at the end of the fiscal year. The reconciliation at the end of the year could entail an adjustment, but according to Homer, based on current projections the board anticipates a final payment for the 2010 fiscal year of at least $1 million to bring the total distribution for 2010 to the $31 million projection.

Gaming board chair says accounting in good shape

Congressman Supernaw maintains in his e-mail newsletters that the “accounting mess” is unresolved and that any projections received from the gaming enterprise board in the immediate future are unreliable.

Homer said she has nothing but good news about the accounting process at the Nation’s gaming enterprise.

“Part of the problem we’ve experienced is attributable to the transition from an outsourced accounting function to an in-house accounting department that took place in the middle of Fiscal Year 2008,” Homer said. “Hindsight being what it is, it’s easy to look back and see that things could have and should have been done differently – the timing was off, more staff support and training was needed, and the transition was too abrupt.”

Casino staff struggled with the new, advanced system and Homer said that the staff probably should have run the two systems concurrently, at least until the accounting department was adequately staffed and trained and the new accounting system was in place.

“Bottom line, that’s why the annual financial audit for the 2008 fiscal year turned out so poorly,” Homer said. “It was never that the casino lost money: it was that the accounting function was in such poor shape.”

“The good news is that by bringing in accounting professionals, beefing up the staff, getting the staff trained, and implementing the right systems, all of which has taken place over the past year, we’ve made serious progress toward both overcoming and eliminating these problems,” Homer said.

The gaming board hired certified public accountants from the accounting firm of Joseph Eve, a nationally known CPA firm that specializes in accounting and business solutions for tribes and casinos. Joseph Eve CPA’s came in and trained casino staff in the new accounting system and the staff has benefited so much from Joseph Eve that the accounting department should be fully independent by the end of the 2010 fiscal year, Homer said.

Re-audit comes back positive

The Osage Nation Gaming Commission hired an independent auditing firm, REDW out of Albuquerque, N.M., “a firm with significant experience in tribal casino auditing,” according to Homer. The firm performed a re-audit of the enterprise’s 2008 fiscal year balance sheet. The re-audit was completed in November and the result was an unqualified opinion. “What this means is that we have a good, reliable beginning balance for FY 2009.”

An unqualified opinion, according to allbusiness.com, is the auditor’s judgment that he or she has no reservation as to the fairness of presentation of a company’s financial statements and their conformity with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). In the auditor’s opinion, the company has presented fairly its financial position, results of operations and changes in cash flows.

In addition to the new gaming enterprise accounting system, the enterprise has recently completed installation of another new system, the Konami Casino Management System (KCMS), which will provide accountability in relation to both the enterprise’s operational and accounting functions, Homer said.

“The installation of these two systems represents major progress toward achieving the highest degree of accountability and profitability of Osage gaming,” Homer said. “It is distressing that these [accounting] problems have spilled over into the Nation’s budgetary process and that it has obviously shaken the confidence of many in relation to the gaming enterprise.”

“On behalf of the board, I can state unequivocally that restoring that confidence is our highest priority,” she said.

Congress convenes till 10 a.m. Thursday

Before Congress adjourned Monday Congressman Doug Revard made a motion for Kelly Corbin, the Office of Fiscal and Performance Review’s accountant, to tally the savings the Nation would receive by halting all raises and new positions.

“I’m going to venture to say it would be in the interest of $150,000,” Corbin said. That’s if the bill gives all employees 2009 level salaries, plus the 3 percent increase, which Corbin said was reflected in 90 percent of the budgets in Freeman’s bill.

Congressman Supernaw brought up the fact that Congress’ budget was passed in September, with some of their staff receiving more than 3 percent increases to their salaries.

“If I’m wrong, my understanding is the employees will still get the step increase, I still understood we were going to revisit our own budget and cut out $300,000 from expenses and even adjust the wages back,” Supernaw said. “I don’t think it’s fair to cut everybody else and not ourselves.”

Osage Nation Maintenance Department poses for their Christmas photo Dec. 3. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

The Osage Nation Congressional Committee on Appropriations questioned the Nation’s Treasurer John Jech Tuesday about the employee Christmas bonuses, which have yet to be distributed due to the ongoing budget debate. Both government branches are holding firm to their positions about the situation.

“What is stopping you from paying the Christmas bonuses?” Congressional attorney Loyed “Trey” Gill asked Jech who appeared before the committee during the morning meeting.

Jech said the Executive Branch’s interpretation of the emergency appropriation bill the Nation is currently functioning under, which does not exclude the Christmas bonuses from the one-twelfth government spending restriction, is “[it] is not a valid bill.”

Jech said he consulted with Tosha Ballard, the Executive Branch’s attorney, after receiving a Dec. 1 letter from Congress Speaker Archie Mason requesting that Jech pay out the Christmas bonuses.

Mason’s letter asks Jech to “please pay the Christmas bonuses immediately.” The letter maintains that ONCA 10-15, is valid and that the bill exempted the one-twelfth spending restriction which would allow the Christmas bonuses to be given out. Chief Gray is maintaining that he pocket vetoed ONCA 10-15 and that the Nation is operating on the most recent resolution, ONCA 10-17, passed and made into law on Nov. 30.

“The bottom line is we need a 2010 appropriation because this isn’t solving any problem,” Jech said. “Paying out the Christmas bonuses may be nice for the employees but we still have constituents, people who are relying on services that are now probably not going to be receiving services because this one-twelfth restriction is causing problems for our departments.”

Congressman William “Kugee” Supernaw, who asked Gill to participate in the meeting, questioned Jech on what Congress could do to address concerns about items such as federal funding at risk, tribal scholarships, and the Christmas bonuses – “short of passing a budget that’s not ready to be passed.”

“Like I said earlier, the solution that I would recommend is that we approve a 2010 appropriation budget,” Jech said.

“But we can’t do that in the time we need to… we may not get a budget passed this month,” Supernaw said in response to Jech. “Do we need to make another amendment to 09-61 (the emergency appropriation bill now extended to Jan. 30)?”

“Its up to congress to make that decision, my recommendation would be to approve the 2010 budget. It makes everything easier for everyone,” Jech said. “It’s burdensome now for us to try to account for this one-twelfth restriction. We basically have two sets of books.”

The Executive Branch released a list of departments and their grants impacted by the one-twelfth government spending restriction on Friday, which Jech referred to. “Directors are out there – they don’t know if they can go to Wal-Mart (to purchase products for clients) because they don’t know how much money they have to spend,” he said.

“Well it’s inconvenient for everybody, but that’s something we got to live with,” Supernaw said before asking Jech again what Congress could do to address federal funding, higher education costs and the Christmas bonuses.

“I don’t know what to tell you. We’re in the middle of December and it should have been approved in September,” Jech said.

From $27 million to $31 million

In a late-breaking development, Elizabeth Homer, who replaced Tom Slamans on the Gaming Enterprise Board Nov. 24, said the Nation’s projected revenue figure has been increased to $31 million from $27 million. Her announcement came during a tribal employees meeting Tuesday afternoon. Currently the Nation’s budget is around $30 million.

Congress is slated to meet again at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

Osage News Interim Editor Shannon Shaw contributed to this story.

Elizabeth Homer. Courtesy Photo/Elizabeth Homer

Osage News

Elizabeth Homer, who has been serving as an attorney for the Osage Nation Gaming Commission, was appointed Tuesday to serve on the Gaming Enterprise Board, replacing the board’s chairman Tom Slamans.

“I didn’t excuse Slamans from the board, their appointments were actually up Sept. 30,” said Osage Nation Principal Chief Jim Gray. “I can also carry over appointments and I have decided to carry over George Pease and Frank Oberly.”

Homer’s appointment is for three years and is subject to confirmation by the Osage Nation Congress in the next regular session which would be the Hun-Kah session in March.

“I look forward to Liz [Elizabeth Homer] serving on the Board of Directors of the Osage Nation Gaming Enterprise,” Gray said. “Her vast experience in tribal gaming combined with her legal knowledge and business judgment will be a tremendous asset.”

Homer, Osage, grew up in Hominy and is the founding partner of Homer Law, Chartered, where she is also the current managing partner in Washington, D.C. She is also the daughter of Osage Nation Supreme Court Justice Charles Lohah.

According to a prepared release, Homer is a nationally recognized pre-eminent authority in regulatory compliance issues at the tribal, state, and federal levels; and has provided legal, regulatory, and business advice to her numerous tribal gaming clients for numerous years.

Among her many other responsibilities at Homer Law, she has provided legal counsel to the Osage Gaming Commission for the past three years. Prior to accepting her interim appointment, Elizabeth will be stepping back from her regulatory oversight role with the Osage Gaming Commission, according to the release.

“I am honored to be appointed by Chief Gray to serve the Osage Nation in this capacity,” Homer said. “It is my hope that my knowledge and experience in the gaming regulatory arena will prove to be a useful resource to the Gaming Enterprise Board, and I look forward to making a professional contribution that is beneficial to our gaming operations.”

Homer has also served as Vice Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission; she has been the Interior Department’s Director of the Office of American Indian Trust. She began her legal career with the Office of the District Attorney for the Second Judicial District of New Mexico; she later joined the Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice. Her work to increase the investigation and prosecution of crimes against children in Indian Country earned her one of the division’s highest awards for special initiative. She also served on the Attorney General’s Task Force on Violent Crime and as the Criminal Division’s representative to the Indian Affairs Subcommittee of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys.

She is a member of the D.C. Bar, State Bar of New Mexico, the United States District Court-Northern District of Oklahoma, and United States District-District of Columbia.

Courtesy Photo/Million Dollar Elm

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

Former gaming Chief Financial Officer Bill Leonhart is suing Osage Nation Principal Chief Jim Gray and Osage Gaming Enterprise Board members Tom Slamans, Frank Oberly and George Pease for breach of contract and for firing him on “malicious allegations.”

According to the petition, filed in Osage County District Court Oct. 30, Leonhart’s contract was terminated 21 months prematurely in August of 2009 and he wants $386,000 for benefits and perks that were lost under the contract that went through June 2011. Leonhart is also suing the gaming board for punitive damages for loss of reputation and emotional distress and $10,000 in punitive damages from Chief Gray personally in which the suit alleges Gray influenced the board to breach Leonhart’s contract and that his actions were “intentional, willful, knowing, unjustified and malicious.”

Neither Leonhart nor his counsel, Tulsa-based attorney Kay Bridger-Riley, returned phone calls by the time this story was published.

Leonhart was hired by the Nation to be its CFO in May of 2007. In April of 2008 Leonhart became acting CEO when then CEO Phillip Glass left the Million Dollar Elm. The suit alleges that shortly after Leonhart became acting CEO, he was offered a position by the Chickasaw Nation to be their CFO. The gaming board “in order to keep him” modified Leonhart’s contract to extend it by three years and compensated him for the additional duties he had assumed. The suit alleges that Chief Gray did not like this and did everything possible to have Leonhart fired, even though Gray is not in charge of the Nation’s gaming enterprise.

Gray referred comment to his legal counsel, Norman-based attorney Gary S. Pitchlynn of Pitchlynn & Williams.

“At this point it appears that the plaintiff is making more of this than what it is, which is basically an employment issue,” Pitchlynn said. “My understanding is he was terminated for cause, failure to perform or such failure, and until I can study the cause I won’t be able to comment any further.”

Gaming board members Slamans, Oberly and Pease, were appointed by Chief Gray and confirmed by the Osage Nation Congress to act as a buffer between the Executive Branch and the Nation’s gaming industry and are charged with making independent decisions for the gaming enterprise. According to the suit the board members did not exercise independent judgment in Leonhart’s case and fired him on Gray’s orders.

Before Leonhart was hired by the Nation in May of 2007 he had been vice president of finance at Harrah’s and Harrah’s Entertainment for nine years and the suit alleges that his “good reputation” was ruined by his termination by the Osage Nation.

Slamans, who is in Argentina, referred comment to Pitchlynn. Oberly and Pease have not yet been served so they both could not comment on the case and referred any comment to Pitchlynn as well.

Leonhart, who now works for Alliance Entertainment and Great Escape Theaters in New Albany, Ind., was sent a termination letter by the gaming board that outlined the reasons why he was being fired. Pitchlynn said he knows of the letter but has yet to see it and at this time cannot give a copy to the Osage News.

According to a Bigheart Times article published on Nov. 5, “Leonhart’s pay raise on May 30, 2008 came less than two weeks before the Osage Nation Gaming Commission slapped what is known as a ‘preliminary notice of violation’ on the casino for potential violations of internal control standards, all concerning accounting.”

“On June 11, the Gaming Commission issued a letter saying that the tribe’s ‘gaming assets are in jeopardy’ because ‘financial records are incomplete, inaccurate and unreliable.’”

According to the Times’ article Leonhart’s tenure at the MDE saw the upheaval of MDE’s accounting process which was first handled by the accounting firm Finley & Cook and then transferred to MDE March 31, 2008 to be handled in-house to save the tribe money.

More problems ensued and the Osage Nation Gaming Commission sent gaming auditors to review the accounting. What they found was “deeply troubling.”

According to the Times’ article, “No actual notice of violation was ever issued based on the Commission’s finding. In August of 2008, a few months later, Leonhart sent a memo to several tribal officials saying that the accounting had been improved.”

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.