The Osage Nation Congressional Membership Committee has called a July 10 hearing into the allegations against Attorney General Clint Patterson. The allegations claim he illegally obtained an Osage CDIB for his former adopted daughter in 2004 and also illegally obtained an Osage Nation membership for her in 2010.
Labeling the woman as “Jane Doe” to maintain confidentiality, Tulsa-based attorney Logan Hibbs of Crowe Dunlevy gave a report to the committee on May 27. The committee hired Hibbs at their Feb. 14 meeting to investigate Patterson. The three-person committee is made up of Congressmen Eli Potts (chair), Joe Tillman and John Maker.
“Before I begin, what I want to make clear is that when I was conducting my investigation, I aim to ensure objectivity and factual accuracy,” Hibbs said. “I relied strictly on official records in the Osage Nation’s possession and documents that are publicly available, either on OSCN (Oklahoma State Court Network) or in other databases that are available to the public. And so, the report contains only verifiable and factual information, not unsubstantiated allegations.”
Section A
Hibbs said the report was in three sections. Section A pertains to Jane Doe’s 2004 CDIB application. CDIB stands for Certificate Degree of Indian Blood and is administered through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. A CDIB verifies that an individual has a certain degree of blood of a federally recognized tribe and is eligible for certain federal programs and services.
In Patterson’s application for Jane Doe, he indicated she was adopted and included a copy of her birth certificate dated Aug. 11, 2004, Hibbs said. The application was received on Sept. 7, 2004.
Hibbs said he looked for false information provided in the application and checked whether Jane Doe was eligible to receive a CDIB.
“The reason these questions are important is that whenever someone submits a CDIB application, they have to certify that all the information there is correct,” Hibbs said. “And if they certify and sign that application and the information there is false, then they could be liable for federal penalties.”
He could not conclude whether Patterson provided false information, however, there were several discrepancies between the 2004 birth certificate and some subsequent actions by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services concerning child support from Jane Doe’s biological father. The dates requested for child support do not match up with the adoption dates provided in Jane Doe’s CDIB application.
“I emphasize that there’s an open question, as of now, my report does not contain any conclusions that there was a clear violation or fraudulent act on Mr. Patterson’s part, that there is actual false information submitted,” Hibbs said. “But there is an inconsistency here that the Osage Nation Congress may need to address further to determine whether or not she was actually adopted before he submitted the 2004 application, and thus whether he was telling the truth or not in that 2004 application.”
He concluded Jane Doe was not eligible to receive a CDIB because she was not of Osage lineal descent. However, she was ultimately granted a CDIB card.
Section B
Section B pertains to Patterson’s Osage Nation membership request for Jane Doe in 2010. The application was mailed in and the envelope said “Patterson” on it, said Hibbs, but there was no indication of who expressly mailed it. Jane Doe’s CDIB application was also attached.
“However, the application, because Jane Doe was under the age of 18 at that time, the application required a guardian’s signature,” Hibbs said. “However, the signature line for her guardian was not signed, and the application indicates that a clerk in the membership department whose initials were ‘AC’ was the clerk who received this application. ‘AC’ is likely Asa Cunningham, who was employed in the Osage membership department during this time, and was later charged with falsifying several tribal membership records.”
In 2015, Cunningham was charged with three counts of tampering with public records when she falsified three tribal memberships for her late sister’s adopted children. She admitted to falsifying the records and lost her job.
The membership department processed Jane Doe’s application and she was given an ON membership. Hibbs said there were two questions he analyzed. First, who mailed the application? Second, was Jane Doe eligible for membership in 2010?
“Before this 2010 membership application was submitted, Mr. Patterson submitted his own application for a replacement membership card, and the address that he lists on that membership application is the same address on the envelope that contained Jane Doe’s membership application, as well as the same address that’s actually listed in Jane Doe’s membership application and in the Emancipation petition that Mr. Patterson filed approximately eight to nine months later,” Hibbs said. “He swore under oath that he had some form of custody over Jane Doe at this time, and so I think it is reasonable to conclude that they may have been living together at this time, and that he may have been the one to submit this application then.”
The question of whether Jane Doe was eligible for membership in 2010 – Hibbs said no. According to two specific updates Congress made to the Nation’s membership law in 2011 and 2015, Congress clearly defined lineal descent as dependent upon a biological relationship. Hibbs said it was “very clear” she was not eligible. She was ultimately given an Osage Nation membership card.
Section C
Section C of Hibbs report outlines several updates to the membership law over the years, as well as Patterson’s tenure as assistant attorney general and then when he became the attorney general from the years of 2011 to present day.
“What I will discuss in this timeline is that Mr. Patterson had an obligation to remove his adopted daughter from the membership roll because she was erroneously enrolled into the Osage Nation, that he admitted she was erroneously enrolled, but he ultimately did not do so once he joined the Attorney General’s Office,” Hibbs said.
There is a provision in the membership law that states the ON attorney general may request removal of an enrolled member through a removal action filed in the Osage Nation trial court. This section also states the attorney general is the only person who may request removal or file an action for removal.
“Mr. Patterson recently confirmed that he knew before he was attorney general that she was ineligible for membership. Indeed, on Dec. 19, 2024, Osage Nation citizen Amanda Proctor emailed the membership department that Jane Doe may be fraudulently enrolled, and she provided several supporting court documents from Oklahoma and Missouri,” Hibbs said.
He then read an email exchange between current ON Membership Director Chris Standing Bear and Patterson dated Dec. 19, 2024. Standing Bear had forwarded Proctor’s emails to Patterson on Dec. 30, 2024.
Patterson replied to Standing Bear’s email: “Thanks, Chris. I appreciate the heads up. If you pull the membership application, you will see I checked the adopted box. I did not work for the Nation at the time of the application. Also, the membership department later contacted me and told me of the error. Jane Doe was already emancipated at the time, and I told him to remove her from the membership roll, but I did not have any authority to do so. I can direct one of my contract attorneys to initiate a removal action now if needed, however, there was no fraud on my part for submitting the application. Happy New Year’s, Clint.”
Hibbs concluded the report by saying Patterson knew of all the circumstances surrounding Jane Doe’s membership.
“And so, for this reason, despite knowing about and agreeing with her ineligibility, he failed to remove her once he became Attorney General,” Hibbs said. “And he thus failed to satisfy the duties of his office under several Osage Nation laws. And that is the conclusion of my report.”
Citizen Potawatomi
During the investigation, it was discovered that Patterson is dually enrolled with the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. The only problem with that is, the Citizen Potawatomi doesn’t allow for dual membership. Congressman Potts sent a letter to the CPN membership office, alerting them that Patterson was also enrolled Osage.
Congressman Tillman referenced Potts’ letter and expressed his disappointment in Patterson. He requested that Patterson resign as attorney general.
Potts described Patterson’s behavior as “Catch Me if You Can,” and that he has lost faith in Patterson to carry out his duties as AG and agreed with Tillman that he should resign. He also named several other instances where it was his opinion Patterson actively circumvented the law until Congress made him follow it.
The committee voted to issue subpoenas to Membership Director Chris Standing Bear, Secretary of Administration Susan Bayro, and AG Patterson. They also motioned to request the Congressional Affairs Committee hire Hibbs to assist in the July 10 hearing.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was updated on May 29, 2025.
