The Osage Nation Attorney General has issued an opinion that the ON Congress is entitled to review the finances of the Nation’s wholly-owned businesses, including expense reports and credit card statements of casino executives.
Speaker Angela Pratt requested the opinion after Pam Shaw, chair of the congressional committee that oversees gaming and commerce, asked for the expense reports filed by Osage Casinos CEO Byron Bighorse and other top executives. The request by Shaw, which she marked as confidential, was sent in January to the Gaming Enterprise Board, which initially ignored it then rejected in March after Congress pressed the issue.
Mark Revard, then the chair of the gaming board, wrote that Shaw had relied on the Osage Constitution’s provision that the Congress “shall reserve the right to review an action taken by the Board” but that she had failed to identify any “action” when making her request for information. He also wrote that Congress as a whole could review such actions but that the Constitution did not authorize a review by a committee, its chair or any individual Congress members.
Attorney General Clint Patterson had a different take in his opinion filed in trial court on July 1. The law that governs the Gaming Enterprise Board clearly states that the board must, “[w]henever requested in writing by the Speaker, appear before and answer to the Osage Nation Congress and/or any committee thereof so designated by the Speaker, in connection with any investigation into the use or disposition of funds, resources or property within the Board’s control or any other action or inactions of the Board.”
To Patterson, a “plain reading of this section means Congress, through the request of the Speaker, is entitled to investigate, and therefore review, any expenses within the GEB’s control, without limitation.”
Patterson said that his ruling should apply to other companies owned by the Nation and formed under the Osage Nation Limited Liabilities Corporation Act as long as Congress follows the steps set forth in the act. That could be as simple as just asking for records, or it could be more complex should Congress want an audit: In that case, a resolution would be drafted, Congress would have to pass it, the chief would have to either approve it or Congress would override a veto, after which an audit could be performed.
In a footnote, Patterson noted that some boards might require a court subpoena before producing the requested records, something that some members of Congress said they’d be happy to seek if the Gaming Enterprise Board stonewalls.
The business arms of the Osage Nation – Osage Casinos and Osage LLC and the companies that fall under that LLC umbrella, have virtually no records open to the public besides annual audits. The issue has lately come to light after the Osage LLC chair fired three advisors who used to form the Osage Ranch LLC board that was disbanded by Congress last year when the ranch was put under the Osage LLC umbrella. Two of the three who were fired openly questioned the leadership of Osage LLC Chair Frank Freeman but much of what they said could not be documented because the companies operate opaquely.
“The lack of transparency in this government is astonishing,” said Congressman Eli Potts. “And that goes from gaming to the LLCs. It’s beyond troubling.”
