The casinos are not recession proof and when the American dollar loses more of its value and the country faces a recession, the Osage Nation will suffer from revenue losses. The Nation wants to control the ME revenue for assorted reasons and one of them is to prop up the Nation government when a recession happens. The problem with this plan is that world economics also affects natural resources and sometimes prices go up, sometimes the prices drop.
The Nation government is reliant on casino revenue, so the plan is to have as many casinos as possible - more casinos equal more revenue. This is not a fool proof idea for gaming operations since gaming is merely an entertainment industry rather than retail such as Walmart, Walgreens, dollar general etc. These companies sell what people need and want while casinos provide nothing of true importance.
The Osage casinos are a one trick pony with no innovations to improve its success or to attract a wider variety people to increase revenue and entertainment options. The Osage Nation is playing the numbers game with more casinos to generate income. The Osages on the hill are not consumer minded nor are they in tune with the reality of the world around them. They live in a very small town and have very small minds that focus only on their egos and lining their pockets with as much cash as possible.
There ae some Osage politicians who use the Osage government as a jumping platform into personal business ventures and political influence in Washington. Gray was a puppet of the Harvard project and Standingbear needs his ego stroked with news articles praising his … “leadership” … (LOL) and he too want political influence in Washington.
The point of this commentary is to provide a glimpse into the reasoning why the Osage politicians are not concerned with governance to serve the Osage people but only to fulfill for their own selfish desires. The Nation government will eventually fail from the folly and shortsightedness of the people in office. They have no concern nor ability to run a business (as evidenced by every failed capital venture they have undertaken) but only the money they can get their hands on.
Do any of you see what is happening yet?
The Osage government will eventually collapse and the Harvard boys back east will “come to the rescue” and save the Osage Nation and its casinos. Then the casinos will be owned by the bankers on Wall Street. Those folks back east have a plan and so far, their plan is coming along quite nicely…
This makes as much sense to me as anything else I've seen to describe what has been going on since Hepsi and Harvard got all us shareholders behind the eight ball that's been rolling right through the Osage ever since.
I think any tribal member prior to the 2006 election has seen how the love of money corrupts.
Politicians tell you what you want to hear.
Attention Osage People: start thinking now what questions to ask the candidates.
Like the Chief candidate: what would he/she have done differently than Chief Standing Bear? What does he/she think about outsourcing Osage services? Will it always be outsourcing, are Osages trainable? Ask about the Ranch and what plans he/she would change in the way of income coming from it? Ask if he/she thinks there should be some changes in the Constitution. What he/she would change in the Nation's health program, is he/she satisfied with how it is now? And I'll throw in this question, do you plan to claim all the casino's revenue for your new found adventures should you be elected? And what is more important to you, buying a statue or building homes?
If we trained people to build homes (carpentry, etc.) we could have our own company (an LLC) and not only build for our own people but advanced on over and build on other reservations, and not have to wait years for the Federal gov. (or train to build "TINY HOMES" and sell them.)
I think candidates should start campaigning now, it's important enough too.
You don't need 12 bureaucrats for a Nation that is physically the size of Osage County. Rewrite the constitution into a simplified document, with only 3 representatives, a chief and assistant chief. Drop the hammer on incompetence and or corruption. Make generating revenue the primary focus. The Tribe should have its own branded grocery store and gas station in every town in the county. It should be operating retail centers in every town, using its sovereign status for importing goods to sell, including vehicles/machinery. The same with pharmacies. The same with health clinics. Take over the cattle industry, from grazing to distribution of the final product. Set up a couple of large scale hog farms, same concept. Everything that can be offered at a lower cost should be. Every advantage should be taken, including creating a Tribal bank. Eventually get the entire County in restricted status. Everybody wins, except for the psychopaths and sociopaths who just want people to be poor and ignorant generation after generation.
Build an airstrip and buy a couple of c-130's. Use them for importing directly into the reservation from foreign countries. The income from tribal pharmacies alone would make this extremely lucrative. Double up as very-low-cost travel airline. Create an Osage Nation passport, using the same standards as U.S. passport.
An Osage Passport. That's creative thinking... I like the idea of an airline too for Osage preference travel among the States and down to the Caribbean. I would prefer jets however. Like Jet Blue service or our own named Osage airline but we need a business that is international in nature that would bring people into the Osage. Some kind of service or commodity that everyone needs or wants or would greatly enjoy all over the world that would draw people in like: A Native American film festival.
An oil and gas or business conference like Davos in Switzerland.
A partnership with Ree Drummond to fly people in to see her property.
A Native American music festival with a prize for the composition of the best new song, best Tribal drum group and the best singers.
An Educational Week for all the Native American Colleges and Universities to meet the students throughout the State of Oklahoma and whoever would like to fly in from other states for this event.
A yearly Osage battlefield reenactment for a week every September with Osage Nation members participating which will include a real time scalping of those who have accepted signing bonuses and/or yearly salaries plus bonuses higher than that of the salary of the Assistant Principal Chief of the Osage Nation while employed by the Osage Nation or under a personal service contract of some kind that enables them to get a paycheck cut from the Osage Nation. :)))
From the Burial Assistance Form here -- https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/what-we-do/constituent-services
EXCLUSION: Deceased Osage with only a C.D.I.B at the time of death Not a tribal member at the time of death Burial/funeral expenses paid out of an estate (How else would they usually be paid? Out of the Burial Fund for deceased former members of the Micky Mouse Club?) Burial/Funeral expenses pre-paid by the deceased individual (NOTE: Printed on the form, not once but twice!) Burial/Funeral expenses pre-paid by the deceased individual Receipts with alcoholic beverage
Most funeral homes won't wait for a form to be approved by a Native American Tribal government to pay for funeral expenses. You have to pay them at the time that the funeral arrangements are made or no funeral will take place.
Is this Osage Nation discrimination against those who pay for their burial expenses up front when they have had the money available regardless of whether or not they have the money at a later time for any additional funeral expenses at the time when they actually do die?
Let me posit this scenario; the article says that $450,000 has been appropriated for the Burial Assistance fund. What I'm hearing up on the Hill is that there is a big flap brewing about how the Chief is moving money around in any given budget and even between one budget and another that falls under the umbrella of the Executive Branch! Depending on how many Osages die in a given year and how many actually qualify for the death benefit, -- I would like to know who precisely can qualify under these circumstances -- this realistically reduces the amount actually spent out of the Burial Fund appropriation down to what, $0? Back to the scenario, if the employee Merit Bonus bill that just passed is in the neighborhood of $345,000 and there are also employee salary increases on top of that as well, on a yearly basis that range from 1% - 3%, might this Burial Fund bill be a sweet way for the Chief to pad the budget for a burial assistance benefit for "all" Osages that is rarely, if ever paid out, and have this money available as a kind of reserve fund for moving money around if he needs it to pay the employees or for other purposes that we never find out about? The question is, how many of these Executive Branch budgets that supposedly are for Osage Nation membership are being padded like this that the Chief can use for whatever and whenever he wants to with the apparent full support of and backed up by the opinions of the Osage Nation Supreme Court? Also, don’t plan on getting this Osage Nation Membership Death Benefit if you have an Osage Revocable Trust for your headright that includes language which states that funeral expenses have to be paid out of the Trust assets. This is a new provision in recent years that was not included in earlier trusts prepared by the Osage Nation Minerals Office staff.
I still want to know how much each and every Osage Nation employee is being paid that must be available to us by election time. This is a government, not a private corporation and we, the Osage people have every right to know this information or elect a new Chief and Assistant Chief as well as new members of Congress and Justices of the Judicial Branch who will see to it that we have this information available to us at the end of every session that involves a budget if there is an employee salary which is a part of it. I heard that the Chief's immediate and extended family are bringing down salaries in the neighborhood, plus or minus, of a grand total of million bucks a year! I'm not sure if this includes benefits too. Not even Jim Gray had that much audacity when he was in office. Right? Just saying.
The chief and the treasurer are good friends. The chief got the treasurer his job. Someone has to move the money around and the treasurer does what the chief wants. The chief despises people that are not related to him and heavily favors certain Osage gals. $50,000 salary with no formal education beyond high school just for being "attractive' is a sweet gig for the favored ones. Don't even bother applying for any jobs on the hill. Those positions are reserved for family members of the government officials. In fact, most jobs are never listed on the Osage Nation web site. The unlisted openings are always given to family and close friends of the ladies in HR. Those gals have almost all their brothers, sisters, cousins, and inlaws working for the Nation at salaries well above the $50,000 mark. If a job is not available then one will be created for the relative. The Osage Nation government is a cesspool of nepotism, greed, and larceny.
Things will be rectified when a decent and respectable people are in office. So far, every chief we have had has done nothing for anyone but themselves, their families, and cronie business partners and politicians. The Nation is mired in corruption. It is nothing but a free for all for egos and easy paychecks.
The Osages are a small tribe and great things could be done for the Osage people but the Nation's reputation for doing good things comes in a distant last place. The Nation was said to promote and create job for Osages but many people are laid off so outside companies can run the education funding, payroll services, and now janitorial services. More cuts are soon to come and more Osages are going to be laid off except for politicians and their families. The Osage Nation is not a people, it is an entity on paper run by mobsters.
The Osages people were duped, the shareholders were screwed out of their rights, and now the politicians and the people on the hill consider themselves the only people worthy of prosperity. The Nation and the people who run it are a cold and heartless breed intent on grabbing all power and authority for themselves.
In the past, the Osages were a strong force to be reckoned with. Today, the Osage politicians collude with anyone for a dollar and forsake the people they promised to help. The current chief is a prime example of corruption - he is the perfect reflection of Washington politics. Are there any respectable people willing to run for office?
A free for all for a Nation that will be rectified alright, If I could get my hands on the bank records and the books and while we are at it ,close this baby down just like Spain's takeover. Either that or we have ourselves a constitutional convention. No accountability, no transparency. Our Constitution how it is written protects the institution and not the rights of the Osage. Did anybody do the diligence when the Constitution was written and or did the 31st council do the diligence? For that matter did the BIA even send out letters to the Headrightowners and comprise the Osage Headrightowners to protect their interest? Fact none of you did !!! After all, You can connect the dots like a jigsaw puzzle, no matter it all fits. Designed and no accident. Hoping the BIA was asleep at the wheel which they were and then the 31st council still believed in a handshake turning a blind eye an as usual says nothing. Trust me, had the diligence been there and communication we would not be having this Conversation. Thus far for all appearance we have had a couple of Chief in a young Government just thinks he is king is absolutely right. My bet the books are extremely cooked and someone is always getting paid to look the other way sound familiar the Dems. We are better than this get it right or shuuty down our Government because I can tell you outside of the Casino's what capital are we bringing in? You don't hear about it in the Osage News and sikence is never Golden.
Money can be hidden so easily and this is why you do not make buddies with your accountants just for the reason of impropriety. Time the golden goose revert back to the MC the true Government. Long live the 1906 Act as amended. Long live the Osage Tribe.
"...and now the politicians and the people on the hill consider themselves the only people worthy of prosperity." This is one of the most true statements ever put up on this here blogging board.
Yep, its been said time after time and why is that? And true. The Web is depply tangled here will unravel. If you look at how Many Osages live in the surrounding area, not many less than 2000 according to the census and how many Osage Laws can we come up with to regulate our money for those few who live in Osage County?
"...how many Osage Laws can we come up with to regulate our money for those few who live in Osage County?
As many as it takes, as many audits, as many lawsuits, as many legal inquiries, as many so called whistle blowers reporting on illegal/wrongful activities.
History since 2006 election: embezzlement, extortion, thief--(it's been open season), going over the budget, unnecessary spending on materialistic construction (emphasis on public prestige) by-passing the human element (notably the "humans.").
Yep we need more than an audit, now we have another form of puting money to a revolving account to no end, another way of geeting away with not having to account. Really? I ask does anyone know other than the Chief how much are we spending per month in relation to our capital. If all we are is spinning our money to the tune of Government sake and think about it because if we are not, you guys are donesky over and out now someone get busy and tell what fortune are we bring in to support our Government other than gaming and gaming should be applied to making money somgive us the real numbers here? Not hard after all do not make us go get a (FOIA)
Oh and as for the materialistic construction on the Pagoda of the Plains, on the southern side of the new building, sections of the soffit under the overhang of the roof have been completely blown away by the wind and in some places are hanging down. This is left standing with no one even fixing the problem! Where did you hear it from first that these roofs in windy Oklahoma would have problems and wouldn't last? That's right. Right here on the Osage Blog. Why do people try and build California style structures in areas of the country where the weather is much less mild? In Oklahoma, it's typical to have rotating supercell thunderstorms that can produce very large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes three to four months out of the year on average. You can tell them but they won't listen. In the words of one Osage I know who has good sense and is capable of using it, "You can lead the Osages up on the Hill to the well of wisdom but you can't make them drink it in." So true. In this case, as in so many others, devastatingly true. When will they listen to the Osage Nation membership and begin to believe that they're not smarter than everyone else? This is the arrogance of our elected officials and we all have had to pay for it countless numbers of times.
..."When will they listen to the Osage Nation membership and begin to believe that they're not smarter than everyone else?'...
They won't listen because they don't know what to ask, who to ask, or care about input from reliable sources. As for maintenance and repair, the Nation has a very, very well paid director who's under qualified and whose crew is not at all trained in the construction fields. As usual, any repair involving anything more than the most basic type of home repair is contracted out. The directors main sidekick is a retard who just walks around staring into space all day. And yes, these two champions of the construction trades are directly related to the right people...*ehem*...Osase congress...*cough-cough*. Does anyone feel guilty for approving such worthless buildings? Nope. Because they don't and won't take personal responsibility and simply hide behind bureaucracy.
The pagodas are a perfect representation of the Osage government: disgraceful, worthless, and falling apart. In the real world, lawsuits would be filed for such shoddy workmanship. But when bribes and kickbacks are involved it's difficult to claim damage because the powers that be have dirty hands.
The Osage government does one thing very well, though:
They embarrass themselves to no end and there is no end in to the embarrassment.
They embarrass themselves to no end and there is no end in to the embarrassment. You got that right but still all the same the Golden Goose is about to end. Their slush funds are coming to a end, kick backs and so forth. Still would like to know what our debt sealing is.
The new phrase of late is, "No such thing as a penniless Osage in Osage County." Not right that they get $15-$20 million of Federal funding on the basis of our total numbers USA wide and then quibble about the piddly benefits we get with big funding coming in around time for the election. They are either going to offer a death benefit to all Osages across the board with no restrictions or start using their numbers in Osage County which is 2,500 and not 21,000 plus or minus America wide. Denying us the burial benefit with a ton of restrictions, even after our death, is so low and contemptible it qualifies as a horrendous crime that cries out to heaven. This is going too far and we must seek retribution for this in the ballot box come June!
Right, only the few benefits from this funding and the entire area straight across the board is flat lining in all areas demographically, the research is there. So, as to the death benefit and health card when you look at the politics behind these benefits you have really no say so how this should be distributed. Its Government telling you how this benefit will be utilized. Well we are telling you we can find better usage of money. Most of us have benefits outside the Nation and they are banking on this anyway.from other forms of insurance. So just give me the 500 let me earn the interest thank you, I can better apply it else where.The burial benefit I think in terms of and this can be expensive and should be capped and used to assist because this is bigger than you and me and this resource should be considered a benefit but available straight across the board but limited to. But once again the Nation is banking on that no one will call for this benefit as well. And as you are pointing out as I have only and maybe there is only less the 20% of Osages that live in the area and now we have a health clinic that will benefit those few. So straight across the board how is this benefits the majority and you can understand that a hell of alot of money is be contributed to this high cost of just supporting the few and personally most Osages probably go else where and why because their benefits are so much better. Simple.
Flat lining? LOL! I suppose a good case can be made for such a supposition since the powers-that-be behave half the time as if no one other than those who reside in the Osage are living things too. I think what you mean is red lining.
..."The new phrase of late is, "No such thing as a penniless Osage in Osage County."
Eh...no.
The phrase is "There is no such thing as a penniless Osage on the hill."
Osages who are not related to members of the Osage government receive absolutely nothing from the government. The true beneficiaries of the so called programs are reserved for select members only. The seasonal hams and turkeys go to Osage Nation employees whether or not they are Osage.
Get it?
Non-Osages get food on holidays whereas natural Osages get nothing.
The "Osage Nation" is the people specifically on the hill. The families, relatives, and close friends of those in the government are the one's true members of the Osage Nation. Everyone else is just a number for federal grants.
A dog will sometimes get table scraps but as far as the Osage government is concerned Osages not related to them are considered less than dogs.
Why only village voters get to vote for the five man board? I call this election a fraud. Why? Its all of our money and of course we all wants whats best for the villages. As it stands they get to vote in our primary elections, MC matters ,hello lets change this now. And for thr future Chief your a Chief not a President quit with the executive orders. We need to change that law to.
Then the CFR's need to be updated. Because what I am saying is the truth its our mnoey all the same. Thanks. I will verify. Not just that yes we have vilages but we also are a Nation State.
Give them your feedback. This is important! https://www.facebook.com/OsageNews/photos/a.153834188010750.33094.134873493240153/1606251936102294/?type=3&theater
Omg Clintons narrative is so narcissistic. She is exposed by her own staff and proof she bought her democratic primary,funny, considering the person who is exposing her is the one who that gave her questions ahead of the debate between Hillary and Trump. Talk about getting even. She is do corrupt. Sound Familiar?
Beneficiary Bulletin - November 8, 2017 Cobell Deadline Dear IIM Accountholders and Trust Beneficiaries:
Did you know that time is running out to file your Cobell claim and receive a settlement payment? The deadline to file a claim is November 27, 2017. You may be able to file a claim if you had an Individual Indian Money (IIM) Account or if you owned land held in trust by the U.S. Government.
Please contact Garden City Group, the organization handling the settlement payments, to file your claim: 1-800-961-6109.
To search the OST Whereabouts Unknown database, please visit: www.doi.gov/ost/wau
Thank you!
U.S. Department of the Interior Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians
See http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/last-chance-for-tribal-members-heirs-to-get-money-from/article_4857d450-7c49-5a07-b3e2-6591d2e1e368.html
WOW! Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI the #1 Book of the Year http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171108005886/en/Amazon-Announces-Books-2017-Naming-David-Grann
HEADS UP! The Osage Shareholders Association will have a meeting on November 19 at 1 PM at Dave Landrum Center. Bill Lynn, Osage Minerals Council Director of Minerals, will be the guest speaker.
Yeah, they make little huts constructed of bent and bowed acacia bushes and acacia trees with huge thorns and fill in the spaces with cattle dung. The floors are dirt and the huts are just big enough to sleep in at night and sit in to get out of the heat of the sun during the day. These are built inside bomas or fences of thorn bushes to keep the livestock safe as well as themselves from lions and other animals like hyena lurking in the wild. Two days in a hut like that with clarification sessions in a language they don't understand, going on day and night, for those up on the Hill and those under the Osage Nation flag flying on Main Street ought to do the trick and knock some sense into them. Spending every dime we've got and more than we even have besides! They are in need of some repentance and redemption.
Harvard has a spot for us,” Cominsky says. “And we will always be working for that spot. We call Harvard home. We call each other home. And so we just want to be home.” Harvard is not our home, lol. And what? The article seemed anemic, lol did I miss something?
The employees of the Osage Nation not only get fat pay bonuses every year but they also get a turkey or a ham. Every other Osage not associated with those on the hill get nothing. Non-Osages will have a nice dinner whereas some Osages will go hungry this season.
Ok Osage Nation not only did I campaign fof that turkey voucher some time ago , but jo Osage should go hungry, especially on the Holiday so with that wherecis their Trukey Voucher? Hello is anybody awakevon the hill. $25.00 dollars can go along way people on the Hill. Chief are you listening, Redcorn, Congress? Everyone should bevpicking up and calling on the complaint line. The number is above on this site.
I didn't get the Fall MC newsletter and also my Osage News paper did not come in an envelope and it arrived with tab torn that held the paper closed and the absentee ballot form was almost completely falling out of newspaper. Anyone running the store?
What's going on at Tallgrass Economic Development? 2 CEO's gone in 2 months. 3 board members quit right before a board meeting. Newest board member takes financial control of the company. Same board member begins hiring friends and associates at $100K+ per year salaries. Hard working current employees subjected to hostile attacks by the board and "new" staff. When are we going to start running our businesses like a business and not a retirement fund for thieves!
Regarding Tallgrass Economic Development: What were the CEO's names and the 3 board members names who quit. We need answers why they quit. Or can you ask them Why? This does not sound good, it sounds like they quit to avoid a corruption of some sort. This is alarming!!!
What kind of work product in the last four years has this member of Congress been responsible for? Is he an empty suit taking up a chair like I've been hearing for years? Has the Chief dumped Red Corn and formed an alliance with Otto going forward? Is this because Otto will play ball with the Chief and do what he wants him to do or are there darker matters that have surfaced where Raymond Red Corn is concerned?
Thank you. That adds it up very nicely. I hope the people know this and vote accordingly. So silly of Otto to run because Raymond will win and Otto be out of a very cushy part time job. Just saying.
Useless realy what have you done and or accomplished? Go back and hang your my little ponies posters. As we speak he is restoring and reversing the bad regs that has plague our M.E. as promised during his campaign. That says alot about him in my book and bringing back food to those tables who worked in the energy sector and a lot of them are in our back yard the mom amd pop drillers shame on you. Not just that what I will be saving on his tax initiative. Do your homework. I live in the real world where truth speaks volumes. And in addition, really I don't want to pay for someone else's health insurance or if they are not a legal resident in the U.S. either. And until you have lived or were by within the vicinity of a terrorist act you would feel the same way as most true Americans do. Yes we are Osage but we are also a American and most of our realatives have left the reservation to serve for you. Show some respect. Our economy is robust, I understand not many understand economics 101 to even trickle down economics. What Trump's doing is better than Reagan and who didn't love him. No one is perfect but he inherited 30 years of garbage that I hope our Tribe has not fallen in thaf aane direction but I as an accountant see something amiss and it's a shame unless our Congress gets on the same page and close those loopholes but in doing so may affect their entitlements.
"When are we going to start running our businesses like a business and not a retirement fund for thieves!"
The Osage government is operating as planned since day one. This government was never designed to help the people. It was created to control the casino revenue for the select families in Pawhuska. $100,000 is the low end or the favored few - more like $150,000+. We have millionaires in Pawhuska thanks to nepotism and favoritism. Don't expect things to change. The people on the hill have everything locked up for themselves.
Where is the most money going? They've reworked the numbers all over again and are spending as much as humanly pissable! http://www.osagenews.org/en/article/2017/11/27/osage-congress-revises-fy-2018-projected-revenue-again/
Well folks, here we go again with the empty promises. ON employees got $350,000 in bonuses while students got reduced funding or no funding to go to vo-tech schools. Families who needed assistance were turned away because "there was no money. We always hear about the Nation helping the Osage people but only those working for the Nation benefit.
Lies, lies, and more lies from people who control the purse strings,
Doesn't matter. It often goes to the employees and elected officials. To qualify for a lot of these programs, they make it nearly impossible. Counting on this fact, they move the money around any way they like to service their needs and wants. It looks like it's being spent on us but in reality, it may or may not be, depending who can successfully apply for the assistance and receive it. I'm hearing that the entire Executive Branch budget is like a slush fund for whatever they want the money to be spent on regardless of what money is in a particular budget for a particular division or department or whatever they want to call it. The budgets are just a way of gaining access to the money they want but how it's spent in reality is another matter altogether.
If you want to hear what a true disaster the Osage LLC / Tallgrass Economic Development LLC fiasco has truly been then you should listen to the recent report to Congress. The problems are not only related to historic activities but also involve ongoing problems with contracts, management, and employees. Any rational group of owners would have pulled the plug on this mess long ago.
We've been wheedling, cajoling, then carping and reviling for the balance of nine long years. What do you want us to do? Fall on our swords? Build a bonfire and burn a sign with the names of OLLC and TED on it as effigies? When you have people in charge who think more of their egos than they do of the peoples money as a public trust that they are destroying in more ways than one, the only way is to vote them out at the next election and go with others who won't continue to go in the same direction.
And I was just talking about this very same thing I am thinking of running for Chief my goal is to get a deep audit of which is long over due and transparency. I am Osage, my district is Grayhorse. I am tired of the shenanigans. I am the dark horse. All of you who post here have been inspirational. And if I am elected we will settle the dispute in our Constitution who are MC is and what they mean to all of us with intentions of all the support from the Nation. And I have great prospects of bring a economy to our area. Do you want more of the ssme thing or do you want accountability? But all of you are my extended family, haven't been back to the rez oops we don't have one my goal with a few senators I know our status could come back. Economics and the Constraints are Sovereign. If I do, I will only run one term. Depending this is a big step for me but I feel we need someone who knows how to run a business which I have incredible experience with emphasis in hospitality. You guys wanted my father as Chief his untimely death wow what a great Chief ge would have made.
Type o meant to say constituents not constraints. Do you want more of the same thing, meaning insanity or do you believe in strength, heart and hope for our people? I do and we can do better. Has the Nation lived up to the people we the people expectations, lets ask are people I say. I am not here to profit I am here for you I won't ask for a dime just a bed to sleep on when needed. I am here for all of us. Imagine what we can do when we do the diligence how we can all benefit, yes I am the one who didn't get a vote in this Nation, and I am willing yo take a chance to better our people. I have talked with many Tribes don't be surprised, similar there stories are, we are Osage, Great snd small snd what a culture my Grandmother shared with me and what a story I have and ehat I have to unveil to bring a flourishing economy I look forward if I mske my decision to run. I have many people to thank one Cynthia Boone, Stephanie Erwin znd who rlse is being honered my nsme sake Maria Tallchief, George Tzllchief, Cecelia Tallchief all leaders, as my father was. Thank you.
A company owned by Ho-Chunk Inc., the economic development corporation of the Winnebago Tribe, landed a $100 million contract with the U.S. Department of Commerce, president and CEO Lance Morgan announced this week. And how is our Osage llc/Tall Grass Economic development doing?
I listened to the auditor's report and to me, it was so professionally audited. The brother and sister audit team was so thorough, didn't dismiss any findings and reported in detail.
It's a shame and it's wrong that the employees of LLC treated the auditors with such disrespect. Any business person knows what an audit consist of and why it's being done. Some of the employee's actions and not cooperating with the auditors have some legal aspects to them. Each employee of the Nation is subject to scrutiny of their ethics because they are paid by the Nation and we are "all" the Nation.
There's been a lack of communication among the MC members, and between the MC and the shareholders. In the audit report, an absolute lack of communication among the LLC employees.
This audit report shows that large amounts of money has gone down the drain due to lack of knowledge in business, lack of communication, lack of team work. But, at the conclusion of the audit it's believed the LLC will survive and has another chance to succeed in profit making.
Audits certainly are needed in the Nation, and without them, we as a Tribe, a Nation, with a past of enduring great loss and hardships will continue on this trail of failures without them. We have to catch the "lack of knowledge or ignorance" in its early stage and turn it around instead of it continuing for years.
Throwing money after money is not the cure or a bandaid. Audits also determine the value of the commpany as well. In short, do the numbers add up, also points out under performance, in turn determines value. The Osage, the constituents should know how their money is working for them, the people are Sovereign not the Government. I am sure this couple who did the audit no doubt are capable, but any incoming New Chief will do the diligence and should bring a outside agency to do the audit. Any New Chief will take a look at what is working and what is not and save the Osage a dollar or two. I can do this. My bet we have a deficit with no ending in a cap. We see no capital? We have depts that could use the funding to source their depts right and then we creat a revolving account, really? You might as well write a blank check or give a revolving credit card. The health card, we can do better, why not just give the people the money? Why should we dictate to them how it should be used? Lets not site tax reasons because it's about control but so widely touted it's your money, give the people the choice. I know I don't use that fund because my ins. pays well. And I am sure alot of osages do not use that entitlement, so where is the interest going? The first 24,000 by Trunmps tax law will not be taxed so this $500 could be applied so it will not be taxed. Our Government, is surrounded by so much love for our Osage Culture, but our Government is some what out of step what the Osage should expect, accountability and transparency, lastly communication. It's been 16 years and thus far our infrastructure was really about Government. The 25 year strategy plan was nothing about Grandstanding. Our M.C should believe in our Government they were the fist Government we had and vice versa. Shame on us. My prediction with the economy was a year off and I said what are we doing for our economy that is flat lining. Have you ever heard the saying if we build they will come. Well, I can. Bring more work to our infrastructure what happens, wages go up,Jobs Jobs Jobs. I also believe in vesting in something we know will work, is in our M.C. Whether it means building their infrastructure, to finding solutions where we all can work together. With that our Constitution hmm. Holding our people accountable and closing the loop holes with in this very important document will only creat trust with our Constituency the Osage People. Long live the 1906 act as amended. We need to set the example and do what was promised and putting the Osage first.
Lance Morgan came over to the Osage and gave us essentially the same legal operating and governing documents that started Ho-Chunk, Inc at a price tag of around $60K. This is a Harvard business construct that the Osage Nation has no clue how to run and has put in people who have done nothing but take advantage of that way of doing business where the Tribe has no say so and no way to find out what is going on until all the money is gone. Don't put too much stock in Lance Morgan. I'd get a good look at his books too before being impressed by anything he does.
I would be completely astounded if anyone involved with the operation of these companies has ever read the template Operating Agreement in use, much less to understand it. Even the attorneys involved with seeking recovery of damages are ignorant of the agreement, for if they were not then every member of the Enterprise Board active at the time these failed transactions took place would have been sued -- for they were the Manager. While Carol Leese and Bob Petre had titles customary of traditional businesses, the Operating Agreement identifies the Enterprise Board to be the Manager and the CEO, CFO, or other "officers" of these companies have no real power.
At no time has any one of these companies ever been managed in compliance with the Operating Agreement. I know for a fact that efforts have been made to steer the Enterprise Board toward proper operation of not only the LLCs but also the corporation they purchased, but the board members (especially Jim Parris) shut those efforts down.
In hindsight, we now learn that Parris did so to further his self-dealing. He should be prosecuted criminally, for he failed to honor his duty of loyalty.
As to Parris, I've heard about his shenanigans too. He's still in play and is because he will play ball. A mess. I now hear both of them are a mess and will be until they run out of money and the Congress forms a cabal -- finally -- and stonewalls any more funding forcing the both of them into bankruptcy so that we can start over with a real business development plan that has some chance of working successfully.
Big news! Congressman Ron Shaw has resigned to become the Chief Executive Officer/Chief Medical Officer for the Wa-zha-Zhi Clinic, Primary Residential Treatment Center and the Treatment Alternative to Street Crime program (TASC). So much for loyalty to the people who elected him. I wonder how much in salary that's going to cost us.
I also got word that a letter is flying around that was sent to the Osage Nation Congress that Assistant Chief Redcorn was given the opportunity to resign from the Board of Directors of the Osage County Museum in order to avoid further action after it was learned that he was stealing items from the museum and selling them. What kind of a person would do a thing like that? Can that sucker flat when you see his name on the ballot come next June.
Got to be kidding, embezzlement? But can this be verified? By any source? Video, witness? I find it hard to believe Redcorn would soil or tarnish his name like this?
He didn't embezzle. He stole objects from the museum and sold them and it was discovered that he was responsible. If you can't read a simple line of text with some level of comprehension and without changing what is clearly written, Lisa, it's going to make it very difficult for anyone to vote for you in your bid for elected office.
To your reply poster 10:19pm, Embezzlement meaning Theft or miss appropriate of funds. And I clearly understand what I read thank you for your honesty.
And to just clarify, we shouldn't be knocking down bridges before they are built. Our economy in and around our districts is flat lining no if ands about it. I am about building for the Osage we keep on hearing its our money to the tune of no accounting to or no transparency and in my purview, isn't that what we want what was promised? I have been listening since 2006 to all of you what needs to happen and I can do it, for that matter anyone else can if they have the heart of the Osage in mind. I do. What you get is what you see. And if I do decide to run, it will be for the Osage people. Not for me. Do we want more of the same or do we vote for change for the Osage people. I am one Osage for fiscal responsibility and hold us to a higher standard by the very oath we stand by. And just to prove it don't pay me we can put that resource and divide it amongst other Depts that need funding. I am here to work for the Osage and that includes the M.C. Building communication builds relationships. Its long over due.
The matter of Redcorn stealing items from the museum was first discussed more than two years ago. It surprises me that he has yet to be criminally prosecuted.
1. I was the President of the Osage County Historical Society. 2. I did resign, and explain why below. 3. I never received a key to the museum. I was offered one. I refused it to prevent this kind of event from happening. 4. I was never in the museum without staff present, as a matter of personal preference. 5. Sometime in 2010 I borrowed 4 photographs from the museum. They were: (a) a photo of the PHS band in the 1920's, (b) a photo of the Class Officers of PHS during the same period, (c) A photo of two cowboys, and (d) a photo of Chinese gardens in its prime. 6. The museum staff urged me to just take the photographs. I refused, insisting there should be documentation of any removal of museum property. A receipt was issued that just said "Four Old Photographs". I was given the carbon copy. The original was retained by the museum. 7. For reasons unrelated to the missing four photographs (vision for the museum, friction with other Board Members resistant to change) I resigned. 8. I was contacted by the museum staff to return the photographs. When I went to retrieve them from where I thought they were, they were not there. To this day, I do not know where two of the photographs are. I located two of the photographs, the cowboys and the Chinese Gardens. Those were returned. 9. By this time the OCHS has retained counsel. I was contacted by counsel (Michon Hughes) and made an appointment to see her in her office in Pawhuska. 10. On the first meeting I asked to see the documentation indicating I had possession of the photographs. She said she would check on that and get back to me. 11. Shortly thereafter Ms. Hughes called me back to her office and indicated the museum had no record of me checking out the photographs. I produced my copy of the document and gave it to her. 12. An arrangement was negotiated and agreed to by the OCHS and me to settle the matter. I made a cash donation ($200) to the museum. I stipulated in writing the two missing photographs were still property of the museum and if ever found, would be returned promptly. All parties signed the agreement. 13. That is the whole of the story. Mr. Paul Allen feels compelled, for whatever reason, to publish reports he knows, or should know, to be false. He has no evidence of his claims because none exists. He has repeatedly sent letters containing this information to news outlets, and claims to have repeatedly – over eight years – sent this information to local and Federal law enforcement officials. No law enforcement official has ever contacted me on this matter and no member of the OCHS has either, as the matter is settled. I went through this same process on Facebook during the 2014 election over the same set of false claims. I’ve come to accept this as part of being a public official. It goes with the territory.
Just what I thought Mr.Raymond Redcorn. Thank you. I could not see you doing anything intentional of this nature but I do have a problem with the museum losing thier documentation of such importance as to eliminate any impropriety. Why someone would go to the depths to create a false narrative as opposed to putting reality before emotion is beyond understanding.
Then why aren't you allowed to set foot in that Museum? There are more people in the know about this situation and what you did than you think or are willing to acknowledge publicly. You got caught and negotiated terms with the Museum where the agreement contained a non-disclosure provision. Some subsequent Board members didn't sign that agreement and for the sake of the Osage Nation and your relationship to it, are talking about what you did. I know of no Museum that allows Board Members check out photographs for an undetermined or indeterminate length of time. Whoever took the other two photos isn't the point. The point is that as a Board member you were responsible for them and what happened to them. You always skirt the edges of things Raymond and you always have what you think is a plausible excuse. Some of us know the rest of the story and we aren't buying it.
What was your connection to the former husband of the former head of the Osage Museum, Kathryn Redcorn? Did you have any contact with him during prior and during the period when all this took place?
I don't know for sure what the amount of the settlement was but part of the settlement was that the board at that time agreed to not tell anyone what really happened. That doesn't keep later board members from talking. By the way, didn't the Myers woman buy in quick, maybe too quick.
A confidentiality agreement executed by one board on behalf of an organization is binding on the organization as a whole -- including future board members.
The lack of the basic understanding of how businesses operate and the refusal of board members to abide by the operating agreement of limited liability companies or the by-laws of corporations and the other binding agreements they enter into is exactly why tribal businesses fail.
The OCM isn't tribally owned and has nothing to do with the Osage Nation. This is an issue that defines the character of the sitting incumbent Assistant Principal Chief of the Osage Nation. This is about Raymond Redcorn and is not a tribal business matter.
Poster is confused. The Osage Museum on campus is owned by the Osage Nation. The Osage County Museum out by the railroad tracks is not. How and why Raymond was even a board member there is unknown other than they have had representative Osages from the business community on that Board in the past and may still have today.
Some issues of character and ethics are more important therefore, they transcend confidentiality agreements. Raymond is in service to the Osage people in his capacity as Assistant Principal Chief and we have a right to know if he is a thief regardless of how he spins it and what agreements he has officially concocted to hide behind. The timing of his big donation last year of his photographic collection to the Osage Nation may have something to do with rehabilitating his image for the election this year. Who knows? With Raymond, you never really know. As the saying goes, "Raymond is for Raymond and his family." This article will inform you on how inequitable things really are with most of the money being spent in Osage County on 17% of the entire membership. This is all happening with huge loans we have to carry now and where we're going to come up with the money for two brand new health care facilities for so few Osages to live large at the expense of all of us without our group say so, is beyond me. No doubt Raymond will support this unwise and potentially fiscally disastrous expansion in a belligerent way:
"... you will see that in 2010 only 17.2 percent of the Osage people live in our reservation area, Osage County. A lot of people don’t know that,” Standing Bear said. “That 80-some percent of Osages don’t even live in Osage County. But, this survey included everyone. Living in Oklahoma, another 32.9 percent, living out of state almost 50 percent of the Osage.”
The current Chief was elected four years ago to stop this fiscal foolishness but he's proven himself to be far more foolish and reckless with our money and loans indenturing it than Jim Gray could ever have hoped to be. The more he does, leaving little if anything to do by way of expansion to future generations born and yet unborn burdening them all with crushing debt for generations to come will hopefully come to roost in the upcoming election in June. Maria Whitehorn, as an alternative and as Chief of the Osage Nation government is starting to look awfully good people. In fact, her stock is rising by the second.
BTW...and all this from a guy who abdicated his Osage Nation Congressional seat this year for undoubtedly a whopping salary above the $65,000 he was getting as a member of Congress. He was the one who advocated a kind of MBOR, (member bill of rights) to vote on whether or not the Osage Nation membership wanted to pay for big ticket items like the Bluestem ranch, the campus plan expansion, the casino hotel expansions, the wellness centers, the senior centers, the unspeakably well-funded child Academies, and so on, all of which cries to heaven with its selfishness and inequity where the total membership of the Osage Nation is concerned. The Chief has even added some "Executive" provisions to the Death Benefit that circumvents and stands in direct conflict with the law as written, making it nearly impossible for most Osages to lay claim to this benefit even in death! Even in death Standing Bear is clearly that selfish with OUR money that he would concoct a put up job funding a benefit with money that he can gain access to for other spending purposes entirely, making it look like this benefit is available to everyone who applies for it when most Funeral Homes nationwide won't accept a delay in payment for a benefit that has to be submitted for a determination as to whether the deceased qualifies to receive it or not! Once you pay the funeral home, there is no reimbursement allowed as so stated on the form (twice) that has to be submitted which is in direct conflict and violation of the law on the books of the Osage Nation as written that provides for reimbursement. Also, if you have an Osage headright trust that includes the provision that funeral expenses have to be paid out of the proceeds of the money being held during the period prior to the transfer of funding to the beneficiary/beneficiaries, you don't get to collect the Osage Nation Death Benefit after your death either because the funeral expenses are being paid out of the proceeds of the estate. This provision too does you out of qualifying even after you die!, meanwhile the "Golden 17%" are whooping it up with stinkingly huge salaries and benefits, facilities they don't need or half the time don't even use in numbers great enough to justify the overall expense. Maria Whitehorn is looking better all the time...
Lets not build a conspiracy here of a bunch of what ifs we know how the truth can lead just to rumors. Are,all of you posting on this,dite,afraid to anno3who you are? It is in my opinion only that I agree that he (Raymond Redcorn) has taken the steps for accountability. In no way is it appropriate to take any thing out of the museum, do not put words into my mouth I did not say. Thank you. My point is we have big issues, for the most part our economy and accountability and transparency is long over due.
No what if about it Lisa. If you can't see through a smoke screen even when it's been cleared out for you then you lack the sufficient ability to be shrewd about this situation. If this is true here then it's probably true in other cases where being astute is a necessary quality for those in political elected office. You are losing my vote by the day and that of others, I'm sure of that as well.
Another $100,000 for a statue that won't feed a single Osage thanks to Chief Standing Bear: https://www.facebook.com/osageofficeofthechiefs/photos/a.322965171461712.1073741833.201021936989370/359517301139832/?type=3&theater Another great reason to look in the direction of Maria Whitehorn.
More facebook pages for future reference are located at https://www.facebook.com/osageofficeofthechiefs/ https://www.facebook.com/UnitedOsagesofSoCal/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/296019250895/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/234024393278360/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/yanman/
Minerals Meeting on Friday and the Agenda is here --->>> https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/news-events/news/minerals-council-meeting-information-7 Questions are starting to form over the clean up of the oil and gas areas throughout Osage County and why the Osage Energy Services LLC is trying to get involved with more funding in a bill from Congress when they have done nothing by way of energy services that anyone knows of since they were created as an Osage Nation entity some five plus years ago. What they know about it who knows and no one can tell you what they know about anything on oil spill remediation, clean up and restoration as far as I know either. Looks like just more more money into the pockets of the "Golden 17%" who reside in the Osage at the behest money of the Osage people orchestrated by the members of the Osage Congress and the Chief who support this ideocratic (as in the word idiot) idea where a huge mess will be made by ONES out in the field that will then require us to pick up the tab instead of the BIA. Shouldn't the Minerals Council by rights, as an official minerals matter, be coordinating this effort with the BIA anyway?
I'm also hearing that the elected member of Congress who took a hike for a much fatter paycheck from the Nation as in $200,000 to $300,000 to run the healthcare compact as Chief Executive Officer/Chief Medical Officer is now firmly at the helm. He better have negotiated a golden parachute or all the money up front because the back story is that certain people didn't want him running for Chief and got him out of the running in the upcoming election to further their own political gain with our money at stake and when the heat is on about the astronomical amount he's being paid, those certain people will drop him and fire him for some cause or another before the election in June. IOW, Osage politics as usual. Would you want to take your cause to Osage Court with the way the Osage Nation Constitution is written per Article IV, Section 4?
Smooth operators as always elected in the Osage Nation government and we have no guarantee that this former member of Congress has any government management skills in place other than running a small health care service for one other Indian Tribe in the past or whether or not that was under a compact status no one knows either at this point. I'm hearing that more than half of the Native Americans who are serviced by our healthcare facilities are from another Tribe anyway and why we have to pay for a healthcare service and new buildings for members of a Tribe far richer and vastly larger than ours, I have no idea.
BTW, in the new session starting tomorrow, an ISDA Master Agreement is being put together with a waiver of Sovereignty and approval. WTH? Are we getting into banking involving derivatives now? Come on! Wasn't it derivatives that nearly brought down the US economy and subsequently nearly that of the entire world? Who is doing the thinking on this fiscal insanity? Can't wait to see who the sponsor/s is/are of this legislation in the Osage Congress and if the Chief signs it. Starts tomorrow at 10:00 a.m....
https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/congress-legislative-branch/sessions and click on text as written -->>> 11th Special Session Proclamation
Congress now meets on Main Street in that Bank building the Osage Nation bought with plenty of our money now going to refurbish it to meet their needs at least until another building can be built specifically for them up on the Hill at some future point. Who will be broadcasting tomorrow between the Osage Minerals Council and the Osage Congres that is also meeting at about the same time, no one knows. Have to see what comes up tomorrow at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/multimedia/live-media The Congressional Affairs Committee met today and the first part of the meeting is available to listen to at http://mixlr.com/osage-nation/showreel/ Click on the text 2018-0110_5Con_ConAffairs-Pt1
Hopefully the next part of the meeting will be up soon.
The revised agenda for this meeting is here --->>> https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/congressional-legislative-branch/committee-information/congressional-affairs Congresswoman Shannon Edwards is phoning this meeting in today. So, when it comes to other members of the Osage Congress phoning it in from other parts of the country outside of Osage County shouldn't become an issue in the future. Is it true that the Legislative Council for legal matters is making $125,000 a year for what constitutes, again, another scandalously high paying part time job with the Nation?
Congress is not doing anything with the reports coming from OFPR when they get them? WTH is this all about now? Why are we even paying for the OFPR if the reports they generate are being ignored by the Members of the Osage Nation Congress? I'm really tapping my foot now to get a "Notes from the Nation" from Kugee Supernaw on this extremely important matter and a plethora of other issues as well. Who is this person being questioned from the OFPR who is so evasive and says she doesn't have the information at hand when being asked for it?
The real question is why are we paying the Congress when they ignore reports from the Osage Fiscal and Performance Review (OFPR) which is a critically important arm of the Osage Congress? Now they are creating a new Congressional subcommittee to change OFPR law and policies and procedures? We fought in the Osage Nation courts to get the OFPR up and running as a tool for the Osage Congress at great cost to the Osage people. I don't believe what I'm hearing here... and more than one member of the Osage Naiton Congress agrees with this assessment!
Pay a licensing fee to a company to post our legislation online with cable content? WTH is this about too? Need a waiver to post and publish our own legislation with this company and a direct cost quote involved? I thought we were paying for our own online network and able to get our legislation online for free with our own in-house internet network. Why are we making duplicate payments for one thing after another with this out of control $26,000 to Code Publishing Company for a licensing each year with a number of different fees involved in the total nickeling-and-dimeing us to death because they own the publishing rights? Is this all-in? How did this situation happen?
Pay Com and the majority of the Congress doesn't even use it even though we are paying for it? Smart Goals? Would that include reading and doing something about the reports coming from the OFPR? I'd sure like to see that document... It surprises me we even have such a thing. Good idea at last... What is the Osage Academy and how much are we paying for that?
Part 2 is up now and they are voting on a resolution on this Smart Goal program whatever that is. Good get the Congress involved so they can begin to set goal and check them off one at a time when completed. Wow! Shouldn't this have been happening way back in 2006? My lands! What will we learn about next that the elected officials of the Osage Nation aren't doing that they should have been doing all along?
OK here's the deal. ONCA 17-112, An Act to authorize and appropriate three hundred forty six thousand five hundred dollars ($346,500) to Osage Nation Energy Services, LLC; and to establish an alternate effective date. (Otto Hamilton) was passed and signed into law by the Chief on October 4, 2017. Edwards and Whitehorn voted no and Tillman, Mason and Norris were absent. All the rest voted yes! https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/congress-legislative-branch/legislation WTH do they need more money now for and what have they blown through this much money on since early October of last year?
BTW, it's my understanding that Kugee has been seriously concerned for a long period of time about the inaction and inactivity of Congress on more than just OFPR Reports that involve fiscal matters reported to the members of the Osage Nation Congress. I also understand that he's far from being the only one who's been concerned about the lack of engagement of some of the more lazy and feckless do nothing members of our Congress. Let me remind you that the pay check and benefits exceed $65,000 a year for each and every one of the 12 of them. Are we getting our money's worth?
Hardly. When Otto loses his bid for Vice Chief we'll be rid of one of them there and other than just medical matters, now that Ronnie has left too for better traces on the path to great wealth courtesy of the Osage people, that will be another one gone. Losing Whitehorn will make a difference as she is fairly engaged so we should push for her election as Chief. I'm hearing for sure that a compact with the Osage Nation on the development of the Mineral Estate is going through at some point in the next 5 years so bye-bye trust and money coming into the Federal Trust account? It's likely. How much will a headright owner receive in a quarterly payment if the trust account is empty and has 0 dollars in it? Won't that blow Sonny Abbott's mind when he no longer gets any money in his quarterly checks from the Osage mineral rights? Worth the price of admission for that particualr moment in time, let me tell you!
Chief, on pain of losing in the next election, how much have you agreed to pay former member of the Osage Nation Congress, Ron Shaw to run our health care? All-in and tell the truth now... Is this a personal service contract or some other kind of employment agreement? And don't even think of telling us that we don't have the right to know because we damn well do.
As for our money's worth, two Congressional meetings in November. Four meetings in December and two for January not including the Special Session scheduled for tomorrow. Check it out at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/congress-legislative-branch/calendar and click on the back arrow to review the activity of your representatives in the Osage Nation Congress in the past months.
91 days with only 8 days of partial work and one day of a Special Session that may close out tomorrow before 5:00 P.M.? So each one of them get roughly $5,400 a month and for three months so called work, that's $16,250 for 8 part day's work and one day that make take 8 full hours? How sweet is that?
Kugee should be concerned as are a lot of us. At least he and a few others in Congress still have their eye on the ball. I'm glad to know he's still keeping watch on things going on up there.
Where is our "Notes to the Nation," Kugee? We need a clarification about a lot of these issues and what is really happening as opposed to what is being falsely advertised by the Nation. Please get on the computer and let us know what's going on.
Who is doing the diligence? Is Kugee the only one whos is concerned and this is telling who is being bought for their vote? I smell corruption if we cannot get a word edge wise from our leaders in Congress how do we hold them accountable and Maria is the jight and shining armor who is going to rescue the Nation I don't think so. Whonhands are deep into the pockets of the Nation. $175,000,000 reasonsnot tp vote for her.
It's the Chief and the Executive at the highest level who negotiated those loans, what they were to pay for, the amount and the interest rate, not a mere member of the Osage Congress. Do you understand how a Constitutional three branch form of government works?
Minerals Matters on the Osage Blog are located at https://osageblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/osage-shareholder-matters-january-2018.html Please post accordingly. The Special Session is coming up on January 17, 2017, not today.
Here's our competition queuing up in Arkansas: https://www.indianz.com/IndianGaming/2018/01/09/quapaw-tribe-joins-partnership-to-author.asp No wonder some Quapaws don't want us building casinos in Arkansas!
Chairman Berry is aware of my involvement of restoring the Osage Sovereign presents in the State of Arkansas.Arkansas is the Natural State for Osage Opportunities.Since August of 1988,as an commission agent,given under the authority granted by the 1881 Constitution by the Executive Chief Charles Pratt Jr. to seek and maintain a sound financial revenue for the Osage People and its governmental bodies.It has been my honor to maintain my great grandmother's last wish not to bring harm to the Osage Shareholders.Defending and protecting Osage Sovereignty is not hard or an impossible vision but when a stands alone Osage Warrior has to defend against other Osages the very rights they refuse to maintain for all of the Osage.It used to be not long ago Osage did not fight among themselves for the future of the Osage.Yet today we still see a few Osage shareholders seeking to destroy basic Osage rights of continued existence.
The Special Session is about to start at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/multimedia/live-media The Agenda is located at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/congress-legislative-branch/sessions
THIS IS OF EXTREME IMPORTANCE TO THE FISCAL FUTURE AND FISCAL HEALTH OF THE OSAGE NATION!
It involves a some sort of banking tool that is a banking swap to manage our variable interest rate on the loan we now have for the construction of our new casino. It requires the waiver of Sovereignty, approval, and signing of an International Swaps and Derivatives Association Agreement of some kind but I don't know if we have access to the terms and conditions of the actual swap tool product language and fine print of that agreement or not. We should not go there if we don't know exactly what is involved in this agreement. Remember this is one of the same kinds of products that brought down the Wall Street Banks in 2007/2008 over that derivatives and credit swap catastrophe that took place that nearly brought down the U.S. economy and that of the entire world. Maria Whitehorn is the sponsor of this legislation, ONCR 18-01. I would recommend a call to her about this bill as soon as possible. I am calling her today. Her phone number and e-mail are located at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/congress-legislative-branch/contact
The actual resolution, ONCR 18-01 does not give any hard information on how much this swap tool product will cost either and until we know what that will involve, we don't need to be spending money for that either. It appears to be like a kind of insurance policy tool that helps us manage our risk when the interest rate goes up on our loan but these kind of agreements are very complicated and should be carefully looked at at arms length before we get involved in anything as complicated as an investment and mortgage product like this one or anything involving real estate mortgage investment derivatives and or credit default swaps.
This gives a primer on the subject but the last sentence of the article states, "The takeaway: a prudent borrower should do a cost/benefit analysis to determine that the possible savings in interest over the life of the loan outweigh the upfront expenses by a margin that satisfies the borrower.” See https://www.steeglaw.com/financing-interest-rate-swap-agreements/ It appears that perhaps the lender wants us to buy this swap interest rate hedging-of-risk management tool as a kind of insurance in order to secure his interest in the success of the payment of the loan. Does this involve, permit or enable the lender’s ability to sell this loan to another lender and have it packaged up as part of a real estate derivative investment security together with a tranche of other loans like it that could be sold to anyone anywhere in the world that is looking for this kind of investment product to buy? I have reason for large concern if this is indeed the case because we don’t want our lender to be a government or pension plan for a company located somewhere in outer Slovenia that in future may buy this security and then have no way to find out who the true owner of the mortgage actually is in the years to come. This is exactly what happened with these derivative products sold all over the world and now there are real estate properties all over the United States that are sitting empty because they went back to the bank in foreclosure and no one can find out who the actual bank or whoever actually now owns the actual mortgage that was sold, packaged up and is now listed hundreds deep in a tranche recorded in the fine print of some real estate derivative security the owner of which is now is the true owner of the property with no way to find them. Insane to the MAX but it's the truth of the matter all the same. Recommended reading on this subject is the book "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis.
Oh good! Trust Geoffrey to get us into a floating variable rate loan to finance the Bluestem Ranch and the Casino Expansion. Trust Maria Whitehorn to try and get us out of the fix we're in with a crazy loan like that. How much is this loan for? $160 Million? She's like the one they call on when they want to muck out the ignored elephant and its stall right inside the Chief's Office. Lands!
You have got to listen to the second half of this Commerce Committee Meeting at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t96B1LPo_1g In it, the man giving the presentation makes the statement that our entire debt level is $175 million! This is broken up into the loan for the Bluestem Ranch at $67 Million, the Casino expansion in Tulsa at $58 Million and a line of credit for $50 million !!! !!! !!! We have just now started to dip into the line of credit with a draw from the bank of $5.6 million. I'm presuming this is from the line of credit.
If the rate could have been locked in at the time the rates were being quoted when the decision was made to choose between a fixed or variable rate loan, what would the interest rate have been with a fixed rate loan then? My guess is that it was far lower than what we were then and are now paying with the variable rate. It may take us a number of years in the future before this variable rate may even exceed the fixed rate mortgage rate that was available two years ago or more since this mortgage deal was put together. We've probably saved a lot of money in the last two years and will probably save a lot more than that until we reach the fixed rate threshold that would have been in place then and through to today. Throwing our profit that we have realized in the past at some financial product with a premium or cost that will, in effect, take back all we have gained, does not make economic sense to me. When the interest rate moves over that fixed rate threshold, if we had chosen and locked in a fixed rate loan back then, then we might take a look at a swap program at that time in the future because then it will make sense.
I'm seeing 8.5%-15.7% for a fixed rate Commercial mortgage in August of 2016. We probably couldn't qualify at that rate spread to even have a commercial mortgage at all back then. It's going to take a hell of a lot of rate hikes from the Federa Reserve, LIBOR or what-have-you before we get anywhere near 8.5% at the very bottom of the scale.
Meant Federal Reserve. Sorry Julie and all else. Can't buy into this especially when that interest rate payment over and above the owed variable rate to the bank may have to be deferred down the road years and years into the future with some kind of swap product.
Looks like Maria is going to withdraw the Resolution. Good for her! Wise decision especially since some of the members of Congress have only just heard about this deal in the last three days. Not enough time to make an INFORMED decision. Thank you Maria and a huge thanks to Congressman Supernaw who did the due diligence in The Congressional Commerce Committee by asking the right questions about what the Congress knows, what it doesn't know and what it should know before a major decision like this is taken. You are still the man who makes certain that the Osage people's financial interest is protected. Well done and outstanding as usual!
Oh another thing... who says the bank/s we have the loans with will even negotiate with the Osage Nation on a rate that the swap team try to arrest or cap at a certain interest rate? What if the original loan documents prevent or prohibit such interference in the fine print? A lot of questions need to be asked and answered and UNDERSTOOD before this swap product is agreed to by any elected official of the Osage Nation.
"My guess is that it was far lower than what we were then and are now paying with the variable rate." Sorry. Meant far higher than what were paying then and are now paying.
I think Maria is trying to fix the problem created by the variable rate loan that was arranged for by the Chief in the first place. Word from a number of different quarters is that Chief is for the legislation, that he's neutral or that he supports the Gaming Board's decision in the matter. Who knows what's the truth there. Maria is trying to run an intervention on that loan and the interest rate climbing but I'm not sure this is really the right direction to go in overall. Warren Buffet got himself involved in one of these derivative products and can't unwind it for the next 25 or so years. If he doesn't like them at his level and what he knows about finance, we should be very cautious and all things we can know about this swap should be known by the Congress and the Executive Branch, by the way, too before we make any commitment. The conversation was about more than one tool available in the swap agreement and I'd like full disclosure on exactly what these tools are and what they do to hold the interest rate and keep it from climbing. In addition, this is only concerning the LIBOR rate which is only part of the total variable interest rate and not much of it if I understood this correctly. It may not be worth the cost unless the whole interest rate including both parts ( the fixed margin and the variable rate index) could be frozen (LIBOR) or a reduction in the fixed margin be made available somehow but such is not the case. They want to buy a swap for a partial portion of the total amount ($175,000,000) of the loan that they want to have it apply toward.
See https://www.collegeavestudentloans.com/blog/what-makes-a-variable-rate-variable/
(OTC) Higher risks associated but has more flexibility, this is the way I would go for us the risk on our part is secured because we can meet the criteria thats not the point or is it? But still we need to see what it is we are dealing with to make that kind of judgement.
Special Session is live again and the Commerce Committee is now live at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/multimedia/live-media Interim Gaming Board member Julie Malone is speaking. Julie is a particular favorite of mine if that's allowable to write here. The concern is getting our security people armed in our Casinos by Osage Nation Statute. We no longer have a cross-deputization agreement so this is a sticky issue. There are also Federal considerations of some sort because the Casinos are on trust land.
Osage Health: Worth noting is this article from the National Institutes of Health at https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/hibernating-ground-squirrels-provide-clues-new-stroke-treatments?
Consider serving the Osage People and run for Congressional office: See Filing for Osage Congressional candidates starts Feb. 6 http://www.osagenews.org/en/article/2018/01/19/filing-osage-congressional-candidates-starts-feb-6/
NOTICE! Extremely important information is being exchanged at https://osageblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/osage-shareholder-matters-january-2018.html
If you are a headright owner, there is a proposed transfer of the now independent Office of the Special Trustee (OST) to repatriate it to the BIA where it will be under the auspices of the Bureau in the near future. See https://www.indianz.com/News/2017/12/12/major-changes-in-store-as-trust-reform-o.asp
This is an important developing situation that we are following closely and suggest that you do so as well.
It may not be over yet. In fact, it may happen all over again because this time it's fomenting in China and because we are so interconnected worldwide financially, it may begin there in the next year and a half and spread here: China’s watchdog gets its teeth into banking ‘bad boys’ http://www.atimes.com/article/chinas-watchdog-gets-teeth-banking-bad-boys/
In our face... The newly built WIC Clinic in Tulsa --->>> https://www.facebook.com/OsageNews/photos/a.153834188010750.33094.134873493240153/1683456818381805/?type=3&theater More new buildings with our money that don't benefit the Osage underprivileged 83% and do benefit the "Golden Osage 17%." Yes, of course, this is the same WIC department that took that cruise to Belize to find out how to -- professionally -- tell the pregnant Osage women not to drink or take drugs while breast feeding.
If you are in need of WIC, heating assistance, or other federal programs you need to see what service area you are in and go apply. WIC and other public assistance is income based and available to all Native enrolled people within Osage county (the service area). These federal assistance programs are not just for Osages. I have no response as to the new building or the Belize trip. My concern is you feel you can't get services because you live outside Osage County. You can't receive assistance through the Osage but you can apply to through a county or Tribal service area no matter where you live.
No. My concern is all this money being disproportionately spent on one facility after another in Osage County when 83% of the entire membership goes without! Let me repeat this statement: My concern is all this money being disproportionately spent on one facility after another in Osage County when 83% of the entire membership goes without! These properties cost money after they are built and that's even more money being disproportionately spent on the "Golden 17%" by the Chief, the Assistant Chief and the Osage Congress who let loose the money by appropriating it for all these spending projects on buildings being built one right after another when the true number being serviced by these buildings are either not even Osage or not large enough in number to justify the cost. Who says that they can't rent space in a building already built if needed? How many meetings of WIC take place per week and for how long? This is part of a cost/benefit analysis that is never properly done to be presented to the Osage Congress by the Office of the Chiefs at the time they want these appropriations handed out right and left. Not to mention the competition between one logistical area whining about what another area in Osage County gets to have that they don't, despite the fact that the numbers of people serviced who will use these facilities don't justify the cost to build them or maintain them after they are built.
Every time you feel your unborn infant kick or feed your child at your breast think about this...what the elected and appointed officials of the Osage Nation Constitutional government have done for the last twelve years is to saddle your Osage infant, born and yet unborn, WITH CRUSHING DEBT AS AN OSAGE NATION MEMBER FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES AND FOR GENERATIONS TO COME. This is the serious concern and it's worth being concerned about.
Lol. You out of state Osages are always crying about something. If you think the Osage Nation is going to write you a monthly check for being enrolled then you are living in La La Land. I think it is a waste of money to send Osage employees to the California, Texas, etc. meetings to teach people "how to be Osage." Admit it, your only connection to this tribe is your headright interests.
I'm named in the Tribe. Oh and by the way, poopie head, you had to learn how to be an Indian too. You were born just as naked and poor as rest of us. When Jim Gray took his entourage to France on our nickel and dime, they couldn't distinguish any of the "real Indian" Osages apart from any other tourist who passes through on a bus. If you think that cooking for 100 or hopping around an arbor 12 days out of the year, hitting the drum with a suede covered stick or raising your voice in song just because you live in Osage County has made you so all that an Indian, you might want to rethink that thought. The old ways have passed in the Osage and you probably haven't a clue as to what they even were. Go blow your smoke somewhere else. I don't buy it and neither should anyone else. There are still real Indians in this country who live and abide in the old ways. You and your fools gold 17%, don't even come close to being numbered among them. I'll bet when you get out in real Indian Country, it makes you nervous when you meet a real Indian. Admit it. Ha!
I think you hit a nerve when you held that one accountable for all the debt his Osage county children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will have to bear up under as a result of the rampant greed going on. It's probably one of the elected officials who wrote the comment.
Congratulations, Julie! I'm so happy you've been appointed to the Gaming Board. You go girl and please help this out of control spending to be brought back into line for the sake of the Osage Nation membership. https://www.facebook.com/julie.malone.127
Well Julie is only one vote on the board. The Chief tells that board what to do. I don't know her but if she as much character as you say, she won't last long. Honest people don't last long with so much corruption around them.
My strongest hope for the sake of the future of the fiscal well-being of the Osage Nation is that Julie will be the first one to report the Chief, or whoever is involved from the Executive Branch including the Assistant Principal Chief if the task is assigned to him, to the AG with an attorney in tow for interfering with that enterprise business board per “Article X - Code of Ethics, Section 8: Independence of Boards and Commissions: Tribal officials and employees shall refrain from using tribal positions to improperly influence the deliberations, administrations, or decisions of established board or commission proceedings.” If the AG does nothing then she can trot right over to the Congress and lay her case before them asking for a Congressional hearing beginning with an investigative process exactly like what happened with the last Chief we had who got thrown out of office. The AG is subject to the same rules and regulations and has an obligation not to look the other way. If the AG does then the AG is subject to the same Article in the Constitution. In fact, if the current AG falls there is still the same guy that got demoted for not doing what the powers that be wanted him to do or so we’ve been told. If he had stood up, we wouldn't have two of them and be paying for two of them in office doing pretty much the same thing. They couldn't cut the old AG loose because he has some Federal Court designation that required that he work for the Nation or some Tribe in the capacity of an AG or Assistant AG. The word is up on the Hill that the powers that be tried to replace him after he came back with a determination that the Minerals Council don't have to submit oil and gas leases to the Chief for his review and approval because the Osage Constitution does not provide for such a requirement in the language of the governing document. When that came down, somebody up top got Royally P.O. I’m told and but good! The AG in place should have taken a stand right then as soon as he knew he was being replaced. The tools are there. We just need to demand representation and that our elected and appointed officials start using those tools that are available to them. It's happened before and it can happen again. Wanting to put in his own people in as a newly elected official establishing his own team is pretty thin an excuse after an opinion that went against what the Chief's office wanted to have happen by way of having power over the Minerals Council in a way the Constitution just doesn't give the Executive Branch. It may come down to Julie. I hope she has the strength and the chops to protect her team from interference from the the Office of the Chiefs if that’s what’s really happening. Her mother had that strength and I’m counting on Julie to have it too and to step up for the Osage people and do what’s right to make sure the money side of our Tribal business enterprise is free from interference so that the Gaming Board can go about their daily activities without fear of malice and retribution coming from certain people up top in the Executive Branch. It's a matter of conscience.
I played around with this app after downloading it from the Apple App Store. This is BRILLIANT! It's just simply wonderful and every Osage should have it. I am not kidding you. It looks beautiful and it performs in a fabulous way. It's the most perfect introduction and primer to the Osage alphabet and language words and phrases you could ever hope to have...in a word OUTSTANDING!
It works with both tablets and smart phones. WOW...is this thing great! Don't be intimidated. Work with the Osage letters and get them down phonetically first before you go to try and pronounce the language, otherwise it'll be a lot more difficult. You'll need to memorize the sound of the letters initially and then use the word and phrase spellings written in the Osage alphabet as you move through each page.
The casinos are not recession proof and when the American dollar loses more of its value and the country faces a recession, the Osage Nation will suffer from revenue losses. The Nation wants to control the ME revenue for assorted reasons and one of them is to prop up the Nation government when a recession happens. The problem with this plan is that world economics also affects natural resources and sometimes prices go up, sometimes the prices drop.
ReplyDeleteThe Nation government is reliant on casino revenue, so the plan is to have as many casinos as possible - more casinos equal more revenue. This is not a fool proof idea for gaming operations since gaming is merely an entertainment industry rather than retail such as Walmart, Walgreens, dollar general etc. These companies sell what people need and want while casinos provide nothing of true importance.
The Osage casinos are a one trick pony with no innovations to improve its success or to attract a wider variety people to increase revenue and entertainment options. The Osage Nation is playing the numbers game with more casinos to generate income. The Osages on the hill are not consumer minded nor are they in tune with the reality of the world around them. They live in a very small town and have very small minds that focus only on their egos and lining their pockets with as much cash as possible.
There ae some Osage politicians who use the Osage government as a jumping platform into personal business ventures and political influence in Washington. Gray was a puppet of the Harvard project and Standingbear needs his ego stroked with news articles praising his … “leadership” … (LOL) and he too want political influence in Washington.
The point of this commentary is to provide a glimpse into the reasoning why the Osage politicians are not concerned with governance to serve the Osage people but only to fulfill for their own selfish desires. The Nation government will eventually fail from the folly and shortsightedness of the people in office. They have no concern nor ability to run a business (as evidenced by every failed capital venture they have undertaken) but only the money they can get their hands on.
Do any of you see what is happening yet?
The Osage government will eventually collapse and the Harvard boys back east will “come to the rescue” and save the Osage Nation and its casinos. Then the casinos will be owned by the bankers on Wall Street. Those folks back east have a plan and so far, their plan is coming along quite nicely…
This makes as much sense to me as anything else I've seen to describe what has been going on since Hepsi and Harvard got all us shareholders behind the eight ball that's been rolling right through the Osage ever since.
Delete"Do any of you see what is happening yet?
DeleteI think any tribal member prior to the 2006 election has seen how the love of money corrupts.
Politicians tell you what you want to hear.
Attention Osage People: start thinking now what questions to ask the candidates.
Like the Chief candidate: what would he/she have done differently than Chief Standing Bear? What does he/she think about outsourcing Osage services? Will it always be outsourcing, are Osages trainable? Ask about the Ranch and what plans he/she would change in the way of income coming from it? Ask if he/she thinks there should be some changes in the Constitution. What he/she would change in the Nation's health program, is he/she satisfied with how it is now? And I'll throw in this question, do you plan to claim all the casino's revenue for your new found adventures should you be elected? And what is more important to you, buying a statue or building homes?
If we trained people to build homes (carpentry, etc.) we could have our own company (an LLC) and not only build for our own people but advanced on over and build on other reservations, and not have to wait years for the Federal gov. (or train to build "TINY HOMES" and sell them.)
I think candidates should start campaigning now, it's important enough too.
You don't need 12 bureaucrats for a Nation that is physically the size of Osage County.
DeleteRewrite the constitution into a simplified document, with only 3 representatives, a chief and assistant chief.
Drop the hammer on incompetence and or corruption.
Make generating revenue the primary focus.
The Tribe should have its own branded grocery store and gas station in every town in the county. It should be operating retail centers in every town, using its sovereign status for importing goods to sell, including vehicles/machinery.
The same with pharmacies.
The same with health clinics.
Take over the cattle industry, from grazing to distribution of the final product.
Set up a couple of large scale hog farms, same concept.
Everything that can be offered at a lower cost should be. Every advantage should be taken, including creating a Tribal bank.
Eventually get the entire County in restricted status.
Everybody wins, except for the psychopaths and sociopaths who just want people to be poor and ignorant generation after generation.
Build an airstrip and buy a couple of c-130's. Use them for importing directly into the reservation from foreign countries. The income from tribal pharmacies alone would make this extremely lucrative.
DeleteDouble up as very-low-cost travel airline.
Create an Osage Nation passport, using the same standards as U.S. passport.
An Osage Passport. That's creative thinking...
DeleteI like the idea of an airline too for Osage preference travel among the States and down to the Caribbean. I would prefer jets however. Like Jet Blue service or our own named Osage airline but we need a business that is international in nature that would bring people into the Osage. Some kind of service or commodity that everyone needs or wants or would greatly enjoy all over the world that would draw people in like:
A Native American film festival.
An oil and gas or business conference like Davos in Switzerland.
A partnership with Ree Drummond to fly people in to see her property.
A Native American music festival with a prize for the composition of the best new song, best Tribal drum group and the best singers.
An Educational Week for all the Native American Colleges and Universities to meet the students throughout the State of Oklahoma and whoever would like to fly in from other states for this event.
A yearly Osage battlefield reenactment for a week every September with Osage Nation members participating which will include a real time scalping of those who have accepted signing bonuses and/or yearly salaries plus bonuses higher than that of the salary of the Assistant Principal Chief of the Osage Nation while employed by the Osage Nation or under a personal service contract of some kind that enables them to get a paycheck cut from the Osage Nation. :)))
lol. i'd like to see it
DeleteFrom the Burial Assistance Form here --
ReplyDeletehttps://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/what-we-do/constituent-services
EXCLUSION:
Deceased Osage with only a C.D.I.B at the time of death
Not a tribal member at the time of death
Burial/funeral expenses paid out of an estate (How else would they usually be paid? Out of the Burial Fund for deceased former members of the Micky Mouse Club?)
Burial/Funeral expenses pre-paid by the deceased individual (NOTE: Printed on the form, not once but twice!)
Burial/Funeral expenses pre-paid by the deceased individual
Receipts with alcoholic beverage
Most funeral homes won't wait for a form to be approved by a Native American Tribal government to pay for funeral expenses. You have to pay them at the time that the funeral arrangements are made or no funeral will take place.
Is this Osage Nation discrimination against those who pay for their burial expenses up front when they have had the money available regardless of whether or not they have the money at a later time for any additional funeral expenses at the time when they actually do die?
Let me posit this scenario; the article says that $450,000 has been appropriated for the Burial Assistance fund. What I'm hearing up on the Hill is that there is a big flap brewing about how the Chief is moving money around in any given budget and even between one budget and another that falls under the umbrella of the Executive Branch! Depending on how many Osages die in a given year and how many actually qualify for the death benefit, -- I would like to know who precisely can qualify under these circumstances -- this realistically reduces the amount actually spent out of the Burial Fund appropriation down to what, $0? Back to the scenario, if the employee Merit Bonus bill that just passed is in the neighborhood of $345,000 and there are also employee salary increases on top of that as well, on a yearly basis that range from 1% - 3%, might this Burial Fund bill be a sweet way for the Chief to pad the budget for a burial assistance benefit for "all" Osages that is rarely, if ever paid out, and have this money available as a kind of reserve fund for moving money around if he needs it to pay the employees or for other purposes that we never find out about? The question is, how many of these Executive Branch budgets that supposedly are for Osage Nation membership are being padded like this that the Chief can use for whatever and whenever he wants to with the apparent full support of and backed up by the opinions of the Osage Nation Supreme Court? Also, don’t plan on getting this Osage Nation Membership Death Benefit if you have an Osage Revocable Trust for your headright that includes language which states that funeral expenses have to be paid out of the Trust assets. This is a new provision in recent years that was not included in earlier trusts prepared by the Osage Nation Minerals Office staff.
DeleteI still want to know how much each and every Osage Nation employee is being paid that must be available to us by election time. This is a government, not a private corporation and we, the Osage people have every right to know this information or elect a new Chief and Assistant Chief as well as new members of Congress and Justices of the Judicial Branch who will see to it that we have this information available to us at the end of every session that involves a budget if there is an employee salary which is a part of it. I heard that the Chief's immediate and extended family are bringing down salaries in the neighborhood, plus or minus, of a grand total of million bucks a year! I'm not sure if this includes benefits too. Not even Jim Gray had that much audacity when he was in office. Right? Just saying.
The chief and the treasurer are good friends. The chief got the treasurer his job.
DeleteSomeone has to move the money around and the treasurer does what the chief wants.
The chief despises people that are not related to him and heavily favors certain Osage gals.
$50,000 salary with no formal education beyond high school just for being "attractive' is a sweet gig for the favored ones. Don't even bother applying for any jobs on the hill. Those positions are reserved for family members of the government officials. In fact, most jobs are never listed on the Osage Nation web site. The unlisted openings are always given to family and close friends of the ladies in HR. Those gals have almost all their brothers, sisters, cousins, and inlaws working for the Nation at salaries well above the $50,000 mark. If a job is not available then one will be created for the relative. The Osage Nation government is a cesspool of nepotism, greed, and larceny.
Well at least someone is benefitting from the King's bounty! This will all be rectified and very soon if I have it right.
DeleteThings will be rectified when a decent and respectable people are in office. So far, every chief we have had has done nothing for anyone but themselves, their families, and cronie business partners and politicians.
DeleteThe Nation is mired in corruption. It is nothing but a free for all for egos and easy paychecks.
The Osages are a small tribe and great things could be done for the Osage people but the Nation's reputation for doing good things comes in a distant last place. The Nation was said to promote and create job for Osages but many people are laid off so outside companies can run the education funding, payroll services, and now janitorial services. More cuts are soon to come and more Osages are going to be laid off except for politicians and their families. The Osage Nation is not a people, it is an entity on paper run by mobsters.
The Osages people were duped, the shareholders were screwed out of their rights, and now the politicians and the people on the hill consider themselves the only people worthy of prosperity. The Nation and the people who run it are a cold and heartless breed intent on grabbing all power and authority for themselves.
In the past, the Osages were a strong force to be reckoned with. Today, the Osage politicians collude with anyone for a dollar and forsake the people they promised to help. The current chief is a prime example of corruption - he is the perfect reflection of Washington politics. Are there any respectable people willing to run for office?
A free for all for a Nation that will be rectified alright, If I could get my hands on the bank records and the books and while we are at it ,close this baby down just like Spain's takeover.
DeleteEither that or we have ourselves a constitutional convention.
No accountability, no transparency.
Our Constitution how it is written protects the institution and not the rights of the Osage.
Did anybody do the diligence when the Constitution was written and or did the 31st council do the diligence? For that matter did the BIA even send out letters to the Headrightowners and comprise the Osage Headrightowners to protect their interest? Fact none of you did !!! After all,
You can connect the dots like a jigsaw puzzle, no matter it all fits. Designed and no accident.
Hoping the BIA was asleep at the wheel which they were and then the 31st council still believed in a handshake turning a blind eye an as usual says nothing.
Trust me, had the diligence been there and communication we would not be having this Conversation.
Thus far for all appearance we have had a couple of Chief in a young Government just thinks he is king is absolutely right. My bet the books are extremely cooked and someone is always getting paid to look the other way sound familiar the Dems.
We are better than this get it right or shuuty down our Government because I can tell you outside of the Casino's what capital are we bringing in?
You don't hear about it in the Osage News and sikence is never Golden.
Money can be hidden so easily and this is why you do not make buddies with your accountants just for the reason of impropriety.
DeleteTime the golden goose revert back to the MC the true Government.
Long live the 1906 Act as amended. Long live the Osage Tribe.
"...and now the politicians and the people on the hill consider themselves the only people worthy of prosperity." This is one of the most true statements ever put up on this here blogging board.
DeleteYep, its been said time after time and why is that? And true. The Web is depply tangled here will unravel.
DeleteIf you look at how Many Osages live in the surrounding area, not many less than 2000 according to the census and how many Osage Laws can we come up with to regulate our money for those few who live in Osage County?
"...how many Osage Laws can we come up with to regulate our money for those few who live in Osage County?
DeleteAs many as it takes, as many audits, as many lawsuits, as many legal inquiries, as many so called whistle blowers reporting on illegal/wrongful activities.
History since 2006 election: embezzlement, extortion, thief--(it's been open season), going over the budget, unnecessary spending on materialistic construction (emphasis on public prestige) by-passing the human element (notably the "humans.").
Yep we need more than an audit, now we have another form of puting money to a revolving account to no end, another way of geeting away with not having to account. Really?
DeleteI ask does anyone know other than the Chief how much are we spending per month in relation to our capital. If all we are is spinning our money to the tune of Government sake and think about it because if we are not, you guys are donesky over and out now someone get busy and tell what fortune are we bring in to support our Government other than gaming and gaming should be applied to making money somgive us the real numbers here? Not hard after all do not make us go get a (FOIA)
Oh and as for the materialistic construction on the Pagoda of the Plains, on the southern side of the new building, sections of the soffit under the overhang of the roof have been completely blown away by the wind and in some places are hanging down. This is left standing with no one even fixing the problem! Where did you hear it from first that these roofs in windy Oklahoma would have problems and wouldn't last? That's right. Right here on the Osage Blog. Why do people try and build California style structures in areas of the country where the weather is much less mild? In Oklahoma, it's typical to have rotating supercell thunderstorms that can produce very large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes three to four months out of the year on average. You can tell them but they won't listen. In the words of one Osage I know who has good sense and is capable of using it, "You can lead the Osages up on the Hill to the well of wisdom but you can't make them drink it in." So true. In this case, as in so many others, devastatingly true. When will they listen to the Osage Nation membership and begin to believe that they're not smarter than everyone else? This is the arrogance of our elected officials and we all have had to pay for it countless numbers of times.
DeleteAh charge back who ever designed this ugly pagoda thing. Can't believe its falling apart like this.
Delete..."When will they listen to the Osage Nation membership and begin to believe that they're not smarter than everyone else?'...
DeleteThey won't listen because they don't know what to ask, who to ask, or care about input from reliable sources. As for maintenance and repair, the Nation has a very, very well paid director who's under qualified and whose crew is not at all trained in the construction fields. As usual, any repair involving anything more than the most basic type of home repair is contracted out. The directors main sidekick is a retard who just walks around staring into space all day. And yes, these two champions of the construction trades are directly related to the right people...*ehem*...Osase congress...*cough-cough*. Does anyone feel guilty for approving such worthless buildings? Nope. Because they don't and won't take personal responsibility and simply hide behind bureaucracy.
The pagodas are a perfect representation of the Osage government: disgraceful, worthless, and falling apart.
In the real world, lawsuits would be filed for such shoddy workmanship. But when bribes and kickbacks are involved it's difficult to claim damage because the powers that be have dirty hands.
The Osage government does one thing very well, though:
They embarrass themselves to no end and there is no end in to the embarrassment.
They embarrass themselves to no end and there is no end in to the embarrassment. You got that right but still all the same the Golden Goose is about to end. Their slush funds are coming to a end, kick backs and so forth. Still would like to know what our debt sealing is.
DeleteThe new phrase of late is, "No such thing as a penniless Osage in Osage County." Not right that they get $15-$20 million of Federal funding on the basis of our total numbers USA wide and then quibble about the piddly benefits we get with big funding coming in around time for the election. They are either going to offer a death benefit to all Osages across the board with no restrictions or start using their numbers in Osage County which is 2,500 and not 21,000 plus or minus America wide. Denying us the burial benefit with a ton of restrictions, even after our death, is so low and contemptible it qualifies as a horrendous crime that cries out to heaven. This is going too far and we must seek retribution for this in the ballot box come June!
DeleteRight, only the few benefits from this funding and the entire area straight across the board is flat lining in all areas demographically, the research is there. So, as to the death benefit and health card when you look at the politics behind these benefits you have really no say so how this should be distributed. Its Government telling you how this benefit will be utilized. Well we are telling you we can find better usage of money. Most of us have benefits outside the Nation and they are banking on this anyway.from other forms of insurance. So just give me the 500 let me earn the interest thank you, I can better apply it else where.The burial benefit I think in terms of and this can be expensive and should be capped and used to assist because this is bigger than you and me and this resource should be considered a benefit but available straight across the board but limited to. But once again the Nation is banking on that no one will call for this benefit as well. And as you are pointing out as I have only and maybe there is only less the 20% of Osages that live in the area and now we have a health clinic that will benefit those few. So straight across the board how is this benefits the majority and you can understand that a hell of alot of money is be contributed to this high cost of just supporting the few and personally most Osages probably go else where and why because their benefits are so much better. Simple.
DeleteFlat lining? LOL! I suppose a good case can be made for such a supposition since the powers-that-be behave half the time as if no one other than those who reside in the Osage are living things too. I think what you mean is red lining.
Delete..."The new phrase of late is, "No such thing as a penniless Osage in Osage County."
DeleteEh...no.
The phrase is "There is no such thing as a penniless Osage on the hill."
Osages who are not related to members of the Osage government receive absolutely nothing from the government. The true beneficiaries of the so called programs are reserved for select members only.
The seasonal hams and turkeys go to Osage Nation employees whether or not they are Osage.
Get it?
Non-Osages get food on holidays whereas natural Osages get nothing.
The "Osage Nation" is the people specifically on the hill. The families, relatives, and close friends of those in the government are the one's true members of the Osage Nation. Everyone else is just a number for federal grants.
A dog will sometimes get table scraps but as far as the Osage government is concerned Osages not related to them are considered less than dogs.
Who they resent with a passion.
DeleteWhy only village voters get to vote for the five man board?
ReplyDeleteI call this election a fraud.
Why?
Its all of our money and of course we all wants whats best for the villages.
As it stands they get to vote in our primary elections, MC matters ,hello lets change this now. And for thr future Chief your a Chief not a President quit with the executive orders. We need to change that law to.
I believe the CFR regulations limit village elections to those who live in the village.
DeleteThen the CFR's need to be updated. Because what I am saying is the truth its our mnoey all the same.
DeleteThanks. I will verify. Not just that yes we have vilages but we also are a Nation State.
Rejoice! The long awaited app is now ready for download:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.osagenews.org/en/article/2017/11/01/osage-language-app-wahzhazhe-ready-download/
Celebrate Native American Heritage Month
ReplyDeletehttps://www.doi.gov/blog/celebrate-native-american-heritage-month
Give them your feedback. This is important!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/OsageNews/photos/a.153834188010750.33094.134873493240153/1606251936102294/?type=3&theater
Omg Clintons narrative is so narcissistic. She is exposed by her own staff and proof she bought her democratic primary,funny, considering the person who is exposing her is the one who that gave her questions ahead of the debate between Hillary and Trump. Talk about getting even. She is do corrupt. Sound Familiar?
ReplyDeleteSorry gor the type o, so corrpt.
DeleteBeneficiary Bulletin - November 8, 2017
ReplyDeleteCobell Deadline
Dear IIM Accountholders and Trust Beneficiaries:
Did you know that time is running out to file your Cobell claim and receive a settlement payment? The deadline to file a claim is November 27, 2017. You may be able to file a claim if you had an Individual Indian Money (IIM) Account or if you owned land held in trust by the U.S. Government.
Please contact Garden City Group, the organization handling the settlement payments, to file your claim: 1-800-961-6109.
To search the OST Whereabouts Unknown database, please visit: www.doi.gov/ost/wau
Thank you!
U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians
See http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/last-chance-for-tribal-members-heirs-to-get-money-from/article_4857d450-7c49-5a07-b3e2-6591d2e1e368.html
DeleteSearch Tool for finding Osages who may have a right to Cobell settlement money:
Deletehttps://www.doi.gov/ost/wau
WOW!
ReplyDeleteKillers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI the #1 Book of the Year
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171108005886/en/Amazon-Announces-Books-2017-Naming-David-Grann
25 Year Strategic Plan Snapshot--Since 2006
ReplyDeletehttps://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/news-events/news/25-year-strategic-plan-snapshot
"The approach was also called The Will of the People."
DeleteBWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Glad you didn't miss the irony. The Will of some People -- 20% -- but not all of us.
DeleteFancy wording with no meaning other than to those who are blind the 20% of Osages = 1900 Osages if that.
DeleteHEADS UP! The Osage Shareholders Association will have a meeting on November 19 at 1 PM at Dave Landrum Center. Bill Lynn, Osage Minerals Council Director of Minerals, will be the guest speaker.
ReplyDeleteHow do they get paid and what is it they exactly do? Didn't they lose their tax exempt status?
DeleteI like this idea. I can see that it has benefits.
ReplyDeletehttps://i.pinimg.com/originals/1d/31/3d/1d313dc1051bf34fd6aa349fa29d844a.jpg
LOL! Are one of those sleazebags on the hill seeking repentance?
DeleteFunny. Really funny!
DeleteYeah, they make little huts constructed of bent and bowed acacia bushes and acacia trees with huge thorns and fill in the spaces with cattle dung. The floors are dirt and the huts are just big enough to sleep in at night and sit in to get out of the heat of the sun during the day. These are built inside bomas or fences of thorn bushes to keep the livestock safe as well as themselves from lions and other animals like hyena lurking in the wild. Two days in a hut like that with clarification sessions in a language they don't understand, going on day and night, for those up on the Hill and those under the Osage Nation flag flying on Main Street ought to do the trick and knock some sense into them. Spending every dime we've got and more than we even have besides! They are in need of some repentance and redemption.
DeleteHere Here!
DeleteKeeping up with our good friends from Harvard:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/11/9/ivy-native-council-harvard/
Harvard has a spot for us,” Cominsky says. “And we will always be working for that spot. We call Harvard home. We call each other home. And so we just want to be home.”
DeleteHarvard is not our home, lol.
And what? The article seemed anemic, lol did I miss something?
The employees of the Osage Nation not only get fat pay bonuses every year but they also get a turkey or a ham. Every other Osage not associated with those on the hill get nothing. Non-Osages will have a nice dinner whereas some Osages will go hungry this season.
DeleteOk Osage Nation not only did I campaign fof that turkey voucher some time ago , but jo Osage should go hungry, especially on the Holiday so with that wherecis their Trukey Voucher? Hello is anybody awakevon the hill. $25.00 dollars can go along way people on the Hill. Chief are you listening, Redcorn, Congress? Everyone should bevpicking up and calling on the complaint line. The number is above on this site.
DeleteGeoffrey Standing Bear announces candidacy for re-election as Principal Chief
ReplyDeletehttp://www.osagenews.org/en/article/2017/11/15/Geoffrey-Standing-Bear-announces-candidacy-for-re-election-as-Principal-Chief/
Raymond Redcorn is running too:
ReplyDeletehttp://osagenews.org/en/article/2017/11/14/raymond-red-corn-announces-his-bid-re-election-assistant-principal-chief/
What's up:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/OsageNews/photos/a.153834188010750.33094.134873493240153/1616266798434141/?type=3&theater
I didn't get the Fall MC newsletter and also my Osage News paper did not come in an envelope and it arrived with tab torn that held the paper closed and the absentee ballot form was almost completely falling out of newspaper. Anyone running the store?
ReplyDeleteWhat's going on at Tallgrass Economic Development? 2 CEO's gone in 2 months. 3 board members quit right before a board meeting. Newest board member takes financial control of the company. Same board member begins hiring friends and associates at $100K+ per year salaries. Hard working current employees subjected to hostile attacks by the board and "new" staff. When are we going to start running our businesses like a business and not a retirement fund for thieves!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.osagenews.org/en/article/2017/09/12/three-osages-appointed-osage-llc-board-subject-congressional-confirmation/
Deletehttps://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/news-events/news/tallgrass-economic-development-board-meeting
Which one of these people are you talking about hiring friends and associates? Parris? Bills? or Stuke?
Bills
DeleteRegarding Tallgrass Economic Development: What were the CEO's names and the 3 board members names who quit. We need answers why they quit. Or can you ask them Why? This does not sound good, it sounds like they quit to avoid a corruption of some sort. This is alarming!!!
DeleteSeriously?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.osagenews.org/en/article/2017/11/22/otto-hamilton-announces-his-candidacy-assistant-principal-chief/
What kind of work product in the last four years has this member of Congress been responsible for? Is he an empty suit taking up a chair like I've been hearing for years? Has the Chief dumped Red Corn and formed an alliance with Otto going forward? Is this because Otto will play ball with the Chief and do what he wants him to do or are there darker matters that have surfaced where Raymond Red Corn is concerned?
DeleteTwo useless candidates, no way the people can win. A Trump and Clinton choice again.
DeleteThank you. That adds it up very nicely. I hope the people know this and vote accordingly. So silly of Otto to run because Raymond will win and Otto be out of a very cushy part time job. Just saying.
DeleteUseless realy what have you done and or accomplished? Go back and hang your my little ponies posters.
DeleteAs we speak he is restoring and reversing the bad regs that has plague our M.E. as promised during his campaign. That says alot about him in my book and bringing back food to those tables who worked in the energy sector and a lot of them are in our back yard the mom amd pop drillers shame on you. Not just that what I will be saving on his tax initiative. Do your homework. I live in the real world where truth speaks volumes. And in addition, really I don't want to pay for someone else's health insurance or if they are not a legal resident in the U.S. either. And until you have lived or were by within the vicinity of a terrorist act you would feel the same way as most true Americans do. Yes we are Osage but we are also a American and most of our realatives have left the reservation to serve for you. Show some respect. Our economy is robust, I understand not many understand economics 101 to even trickle down economics. What Trump's doing is better than Reagan and who didn't love him. No one is perfect but he inherited 30 years of garbage that I hope our Tribe has not fallen in thaf aane direction but I as an accountant see something amiss and it's a shame unless our Congress gets on the same page and close those loopholes but in doing so may affect their entitlements.
I believe we're talking about Otto and the Chief who are both Candidates in the upcoming election. T & C are by way of example.
DeleteThe other person was calling Trump useless in comparison and thats not funny.
Delete"When are we going to start running our businesses like a business and not a retirement fund for thieves!"
ReplyDeleteThe Osage government is operating as planned since day one. This government was never designed to help the people. It was created to control the casino revenue for the select families in Pawhuska. $100,000 is the low end or the favored few - more like $150,000+. We have millionaires in Pawhuska thanks to nepotism and favoritism.
Don't expect things to change. The people on the hill have everything locked up for themselves.
Where is the most money going? They've reworked the numbers all over again and are spending as much as humanly pissable!
Deletehttp://www.osagenews.org/en/article/2017/11/27/osage-congress-revises-fy-2018-projected-revenue-again/
The option:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.osagenews.org/en/article/2017/12/01/maria-whitehorn-announces-her-candidacy-principal-chief/
Well folks, here we go again with the empty promises.
DeleteON employees got $350,000 in bonuses while students got reduced funding or no funding to go to vo-tech schools. Families who needed assistance were turned away because "there was no money.
We always hear about the Nation helping the Osage people but only those working for the Nation benefit.
Lies, lies, and more lies from people who control the purse strings,
What kind of assistance are you referring to in your post? I'm asking but honestly I don't have any idea what you are talking about.
DeleteDoesn't matter. It often goes to the employees and elected officials. To qualify for a lot of these programs, they make it nearly impossible. Counting on this fact, they move the money around any way they like to service their needs and wants. It looks like it's being spent on us but in reality, it may or may not be, depending who can successfully apply for the assistance and receive it. I'm hearing that the entire Executive Branch budget is like a slush fund for whatever they want the money to be spent on regardless of what money is in a particular budget for a particular division or department or whatever they want to call it. The budgets are just a way of gaining access to the money they want but how it's spent in reality is another matter altogether.
DeleteWhat choice do you have. Its all in the name and the Nation is a scam and we have been scammed.
DeleteIt's not too late to arrive for Christmas:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.osagefoundation.org/store/product.php?productid=16&cat=0&featured=Y
Not too late to book a Christmas or New Year's Getaway:
http://www.osagecasinos.com/
If you want to hear what a true disaster the Osage LLC / Tallgrass Economic Development LLC fiasco has truly been then you should listen to the recent report to Congress. The problems are not only related to historic activities but also involve ongoing problems with contracts, management, and employees. Any rational group of owners would have pulled the plug on this mess long ago.
ReplyDeletehttps://osage-multimedia.s3.amazonaws.com/media/congress/audio/FY2018/2017-1214_5Con_Commerce-Pt1.mp3
We've been wheedling, cajoling, then carping and reviling for the balance of nine long years. What do you want us to do? Fall on our swords? Build a bonfire and burn a sign with the names of OLLC and TED on it as effigies? When you have people in charge who think more of their egos than they do of the peoples money as a public trust that they are destroying in more ways than one, the only way is to vote them out at the next election and go with others who won't continue to go in the same direction.
DeleteAnd I was just talking about this very same thing I am thinking of running for Chief my goal is to get a deep audit of which is long over due and transparency. I am Osage, my district is Grayhorse. I am tired of the shenanigans. I am the dark horse. All of you who post here have been inspirational. And if I am elected we will settle the dispute in our Constitution who are MC is and what they mean to all of us with intentions of all the support from the Nation. And I have great prospects of bring a economy to our area. Do you want more of the ssme thing or do you want accountability? But all of you are my extended family, haven't been back to the rez oops we don't have one my goal with a few senators I know our status could come back. Economics and the Constraints are Sovereign. If I do, I will only run one term. Depending this is a big step for me but I feel we need someone who knows how to run a business which I have incredible experience with emphasis in hospitality. You guys wanted my father as Chief his untimely death wow what a great Chief ge would have made.
DeleteType o meant to say constituents not constraints. Do you want more of the same thing, meaning insanity or do you believe in strength, heart and hope for our people? I do and we can do better. Has the Nation lived up to the people we the people expectations, lets ask are people I say.
DeleteI am not here to profit I am here for you I won't ask for a dime just a bed to sleep on when needed.
I am here for all of us. Imagine what we can do when we do the diligence how we can all benefit, yes I am the one who didn't get a vote in this Nation, and I am willing yo take a chance to better our people.
I have talked with many Tribes don't be surprised, similar there stories are, we are Osage, Great snd small snd what a culture my Grandmother shared with me and what a story I have and ehat I have to unveil to bring a flourishing economy I look forward if I mske my decision to run.
I have many people to thank one Cynthia Boone, Stephanie Erwin znd who rlse is being honered my nsme sake Maria Tallchief, George Tzllchief, Cecelia Tallchief all leaders, as my father was. Thank you.
A company owned by Ho-Chunk Inc., the economic development corporation of the Winnebago Tribe, landed a $100 million contract with the U.S. Department of Commerce, president and CEO Lance Morgan announced this week.
DeleteAnd how is our Osage llc/Tall Grass Economic development doing?
I listened to the auditor's report and to me, it was so professionally audited. The brother and sister audit team was so thorough, didn't dismiss any findings and reported in detail.
DeleteIt's a shame and it's wrong that the employees of LLC treated the auditors with such disrespect. Any business person knows what an audit consist of and why it's being done. Some of the employee's actions and not cooperating with the auditors have some legal aspects to them. Each employee of the Nation is subject to scrutiny of their ethics because they are paid by the Nation and we are "all" the Nation.
There's been a lack of communication among the MC members, and between the MC and the shareholders. In the audit report, an absolute lack of communication among the LLC employees.
This audit report shows that large amounts of money has gone down the drain due to lack of knowledge in business, lack of communication, lack of team work. But, at the conclusion of the audit it's believed the LLC will survive and has another chance to succeed in profit making.
Audits certainly are needed in the Nation, and without them, we as a Tribe, a Nation, with a past of enduring great loss and hardships will continue on this trail of failures without them. We have to catch the "lack of knowledge or ignorance" in its early stage and turn it around instead of it continuing for years.
Throwing money after money is not the cure or a bandaid. Audits also determine the value of the commpany as well. In short, do the numbers add up, also points out under performance, in turn determines value.
DeleteThe Osage, the constituents should know how their money is working for them, the people are Sovereign not the Government.
I am sure this couple who did the audit no doubt are capable, but any incoming New Chief will do the diligence and should bring a outside agency to do the audit. Any New Chief will take a look at what is working and what is not and save the Osage a dollar or two.
I can do this.
My bet we have a deficit with no ending in a cap.
We see no capital?
We have depts that could use the funding to source their depts right and then we creat a revolving account, really? You might as well write a blank check or give a revolving credit card.
The health card, we can do better, why not just give the people the money? Why should we dictate to them how it should be used? Lets not site tax reasons because it's about control but so widely touted it's your money, give the people the choice. I know I don't use that fund because my ins. pays well.
And I am sure alot of osages do not use that entitlement, so where is the interest going?
The first 24,000 by Trunmps tax law will not be taxed so this $500 could be applied so it will not be taxed.
Our Government, is surrounded by so much love for our Osage Culture, but our Government is some what out of step what the Osage should expect, accountability and transparency, lastly communication. It's been 16 years and thus far our infrastructure was really about Government.
The 25 year strategy plan was nothing about Grandstanding.
Our M.C should believe in our Government they were the fist Government we had and vice versa.
Shame on us.
My prediction with the economy was a year off and I said what are we doing for our economy that is flat lining.
Have you ever heard the saying if we build they will come.
Well, I can.
Bring more work to our infrastructure what happens, wages go up,Jobs Jobs Jobs.
I also believe in vesting in something we know will work, is in our M.C.
Whether it means building their infrastructure, to finding solutions where we all can work together.
With that our Constitution hmm.
Holding our people accountable and closing the loop holes with in this very important document will only creat trust with our Constituency the Osage People.
Long live the 1906 act as amended.
We need to set the example and do what was promised and putting the Osage first.
Lance Morgan came over to the Osage and gave us essentially the same legal operating and governing documents that started Ho-Chunk, Inc at a price tag of around $60K. This is a Harvard business construct that the Osage Nation has no clue how to run and has put in people who have done nothing but take advantage of that way of doing business where the Tribe has no say so and no way to find out what is going on until all the money is gone. Don't put too much stock in Lance Morgan. I'd get a good look at his books too before being impressed by anything he does.
DeleteI would be completely astounded if anyone involved with the operation of these companies has ever read the template Operating Agreement in use, much less to understand it. Even the attorneys involved with seeking recovery of damages are ignorant of the agreement, for if they were not then every member of the Enterprise Board active at the time these failed transactions took place would have been sued -- for they were the Manager. While Carol Leese and Bob Petre had titles customary of traditional businesses, the Operating Agreement identifies the Enterprise Board to be the Manager and the CEO, CFO, or other "officers" of these companies have no real power.
DeleteAt no time has any one of these companies ever been managed in compliance with the Operating Agreement. I know for a fact that efforts have been made to steer the Enterprise Board toward proper operation of not only the LLCs but also the corporation they purchased, but the board members (especially Jim Parris) shut those efforts down.
In hindsight, we now learn that Parris did so to further his self-dealing. He should be prosecuted criminally, for he failed to honor his duty of loyalty.
As to Parris, I've heard about his shenanigans too. He's still in play and is because he will play ball. A mess. I now hear both of them are a mess and will be until they run out of money and the Congress forms a cabal -- finally -- and stonewalls any more funding forcing the both of them into bankruptcy so that we can start over with a real business development plan that has some chance of working successfully.
Deletehttps://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/tallgrass-economic-development-llc-board
DeleteMerry Christmas to everyone.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Congressman. And a Happy New Year to everyone too!
DeleteMerry Christmas to you to.
ReplyDeleteBig news! Congressman Ron Shaw has resigned to become the Chief Executive Officer/Chief Medical Officer for the Wa-zha-Zhi Clinic, Primary Residential Treatment Center and the Treatment Alternative to Street Crime program (TASC). So much for loyalty to the people who elected him. I wonder how much in salary that's going to cost us.
ReplyDeleteI also got word that a letter is flying around that was sent to the Osage Nation Congress that Assistant Chief Redcorn was given the opportunity to resign from the Board of Directors of the Osage County Museum in order to avoid further action after it was learned that he was stealing items from the museum and selling them. What kind of a person would do a thing like that? Can that sucker flat when you see his name on the ballot come next June.
DeleteThe Osage News said way over $200,000.
DeleteGot to be kidding, embezzlement? But can this be verified? By any source? Video, witness? I find it hard to believe Redcorn would soil or tarnish his name like this?
DeleteReally? I think he's capable of anything where money is concerned.
DeleteOsage News? Hardly.
DeleteHe didn't embezzle. He stole objects from the museum and sold them and it was discovered that he was responsible. If you can't read a simple line of text with some level of comprehension and without changing what is clearly written, Lisa, it's going to make it very difficult for anyone to vote for you in your bid for elected office.
DeleteTo your reply poster 10:19pm, Embezzlement meaning Theft or miss appropriate of funds.
DeleteAnd I clearly understand what I read thank you for your honesty.
And to just clarify, we shouldn't be knocking down bridges before they are built.
DeleteOur economy in and around our districts is flat lining no if ands about it. I am about building for the Osage we keep on hearing its our money to the tune of no accounting to or no transparency and in my purview, isn't that what we want what was promised? I have been listening since 2006 to all of you what needs to happen and I can do it, for that matter anyone else can if they have the heart of the Osage in mind. I do. What you get is what you see. And if I do decide to run, it will be for the Osage people. Not for me.
Do we want more of the same or do we vote for change for the Osage people. I am one Osage for fiscal responsibility and hold us to a higher standard by the very oath we stand by. And just to prove it don't pay me we can put that resource and divide it amongst other Depts that need funding.
I am here to work for the Osage and that includes the M.C.
Building communication builds relationships.
Its long over due.
The matter of Redcorn stealing items from the museum was first discussed more than two years ago. It surprises me that he has yet to be criminally prosecuted.
DeleteWhen do they prosecute the deep state lol, what I want to know is these Items that were taken are in addition to wsht he took two years ago
Delete1. I was the President of the Osage County Historical Society.
Delete2. I did resign, and explain why below.
3. I never received a key to the museum. I was offered one. I refused it to prevent this kind of event from happening.
4. I was never in the museum without staff present, as a matter of personal preference.
5. Sometime in 2010 I borrowed 4 photographs from the museum. They were: (a) a photo of the PHS band in the 1920's, (b) a photo of the Class Officers of PHS during the same period, (c) A photo of two cowboys, and (d) a photo of Chinese gardens in its prime.
6. The museum staff urged me to just take the photographs. I refused, insisting there should be documentation of any removal of museum property. A receipt was issued that just said "Four Old Photographs". I was given the carbon copy. The original was retained by the museum.
7. For reasons unrelated to the missing four photographs (vision for the museum, friction with other Board Members resistant to change) I resigned.
8. I was contacted by the museum staff to return the photographs. When I went to retrieve them from where I thought they were, they were not there. To this day, I do not know where two of the photographs are. I located two of the photographs, the cowboys and the Chinese Gardens. Those were returned.
9. By this time the OCHS has retained counsel. I was contacted by counsel (Michon Hughes) and made an appointment to see her in her office in Pawhuska.
10. On the first meeting I asked to see the documentation indicating I had possession of the photographs. She said she would check on that and get back to me.
11. Shortly thereafter Ms. Hughes called me back to her office and indicated the museum had no record of me checking out the photographs. I produced my copy of the document and gave it to her.
12. An arrangement was negotiated and agreed to by the OCHS and me to settle the matter. I made a cash donation ($200) to the museum. I stipulated in writing the two missing photographs were still property of the museum and if ever found, would be returned promptly. All parties signed the agreement.
13. That is the whole of the story. Mr. Paul Allen feels compelled, for whatever reason, to publish reports he knows, or should know, to be false. He has no evidence of his claims because none exists. He has repeatedly sent letters containing this information to news outlets, and claims to have repeatedly – over eight years – sent this information to local and Federal law enforcement officials. No law enforcement official has ever contacted me on this matter and no member of the OCHS has either, as the matter is settled. I went through this same process on Facebook during the 2014 election over the same set of false claims. I’ve come to accept this as part of being a public official. It goes with the territory.
Just what I thought Mr.Raymond Redcorn.
DeleteThank you. I could not see you doing anything intentional of this nature but I do have a problem with the museum losing thier documentation of such importance as to eliminate any impropriety.
Why someone would go to the depths to create a false narrative as opposed to putting reality before emotion is beyond understanding.
Then why aren't you allowed to set foot in that Museum? There are more people in the know about this situation and what you did than you think or are willing to acknowledge publicly. You got caught and negotiated terms with the Museum where the agreement contained a non-disclosure provision. Some subsequent Board members didn't sign that agreement and for the sake of the Osage Nation and your relationship to it, are talking about what you did. I know of no Museum that allows Board Members check out photographs for an undetermined or indeterminate length of time. Whoever took the other two photos isn't the point. The point is that as a Board member you were responsible for them and what happened to them. You always skirt the edges of things Raymond and you always have what you think is a plausible excuse. Some of us know the rest of the story and we aren't buying it.
DeleteWhat was your connection to the former husband of the former head of the Osage Museum, Kathryn Redcorn? Did you have any contact with him during prior and during the period when all this took place?
DeleteI don't have any connection to Bob Block and have seen him maybe once in the last 8-10 years. To your second question, no.
DeleteTo your other claim, I have never been notified by anyone that I cannot visit the Museum.
I acknowledged full responsibility for losing the photographs. In writing. To the Board. Still do.
Well then, I guess you've been notified now.
DeleteI don't know for sure what the amount of the settlement was but part of the settlement was that the board at that time agreed to not tell anyone what really happened. That doesn't keep later board members from talking. By the way, didn't the Myers woman buy in quick, maybe too quick.
DeleteMy thought exactly. A connection maybe?
DeleteA confidentiality agreement executed by one board on behalf of an organization is binding on the organization as a whole -- including future board members.
DeleteThe lack of the basic understanding of how businesses operate and the refusal of board members to abide by the operating agreement of limited liability companies or the by-laws of corporations and the other binding agreements they enter into is exactly why tribal businesses fail.
Do you think the Osage County Museum is a Tribal business or are just using this as your chance to criticise tribes.
DeleteThe OCM isn't tribally owned and has nothing to do with the Osage Nation. This is an issue that defines the character of the sitting incumbent Assistant Principal Chief of the Osage Nation. This is about Raymond Redcorn and is not a tribal business matter.
DeletePoster is confused. The Osage Museum on campus is owned by the Osage Nation. The Osage County Museum out by the railroad tracks is not. How and why Raymond was even a board member there is unknown other than they have had representative Osages from the business community on that Board in the past and may still have today.
DeleteSome issues of character and ethics are more important therefore, they transcend confidentiality agreements. Raymond is in service to the Osage people in his capacity as Assistant Principal Chief and we have a right to know if he is a thief regardless of how he spins it and what agreements he has officially concocted to hide behind. The timing of his big donation last year of his photographic collection to the Osage Nation may have something to do with rehabilitating his image for the election this year. Who knows? With Raymond, you never really know. As the saying goes, "Raymond is for Raymond and his family." This article will inform you on how inequitable things really are with most of the money being spent in Osage County on 17% of the entire membership. This is all happening with huge loans we have to carry now and where we're going to come up with the money for two brand new health care facilities for so few Osages to live large at the expense of all of us without our group say so, is beyond me. No doubt Raymond will support this unwise and potentially fiscally disastrous expansion in a belligerent way:
Delete"... you will see that in 2010 only 17.2 percent of the Osage people live in our reservation area, Osage County. A lot of people don’t know that,” Standing Bear said. “That 80-some percent of Osages don’t even live in Osage County. But, this survey included everyone. Living in Oklahoma, another 32.9 percent, living out of state almost 50 percent of the Osage.”
http://www.osagenews.org/en/article/2018/01/03/standing-bear-announces-construction-new-wah-zha-zhi-health-center-planned-2019/
The current Chief was elected four years ago to stop this fiscal foolishness but he's proven himself to be far more foolish and reckless with our money and loans indenturing it than Jim Gray could ever have hoped to be. The more he does, leaving little if anything to do by way of expansion to future generations born and yet unborn burdening them all with crushing debt for generations to come will hopefully come to roost in the upcoming election in June. Maria Whitehorn, as an alternative and as Chief of the Osage Nation government is starting to look awfully good people. In fact, her stock is rising by the second.
BTW...and all this from a guy who abdicated his Osage Nation Congressional seat this year for undoubtedly a whopping salary above the $65,000 he was getting as a member of Congress. He was the one who advocated a kind of MBOR, (member bill of rights) to vote on whether or not the Osage Nation membership wanted to pay for big ticket items like the Bluestem ranch, the campus plan expansion, the casino hotel expansions, the wellness centers, the senior centers, the unspeakably well-funded child Academies, and so on, all of which cries to heaven with its selfishness and inequity where the total membership of the Osage Nation is concerned. The Chief has even added some "Executive" provisions to the Death Benefit that circumvents and stands in direct conflict with the law as written, making it nearly impossible for most Osages to lay claim to this benefit even in death! Even in death Standing Bear is clearly that selfish with OUR money that he would concoct a put up job funding a benefit with money that he can gain access to for other spending purposes entirely, making it look like this benefit is available to everyone who applies for it when most Funeral Homes nationwide won't accept a delay in payment for a benefit that has to be submitted for a determination as to whether the deceased qualifies to receive it or not! Once you pay the funeral home, there is no reimbursement allowed as so stated on the form (twice) that has to be submitted which is in direct conflict and violation of the law on the books of the Osage Nation as written that provides for reimbursement. Also, if you have an Osage headright trust that includes the provision that funeral expenses have to be paid out of the proceeds of the money being held during the period prior to the transfer of funding to the beneficiary/beneficiaries, you don't get to collect the Osage Nation Death Benefit after your death either because the funeral expenses are being paid out of the proceeds of the estate. This provision too does you out of qualifying even after you die!, meanwhile the "Golden 17%" are whooping it up with stinkingly huge salaries and benefits, facilities they don't need or half the time don't even use in numbers great enough to justify the overall expense. Maria Whitehorn is looking better all the time...
DeleteLets not build a conspiracy here of a bunch of what ifs we know how the truth can lead just to rumors.
DeleteAre,all of you posting on this,dite,afraid to anno3who you are?
It is in my opinion only that I agree that he (Raymond Redcorn) has taken the steps for accountability.
In no way is it appropriate to take any thing out of the museum, do not put words into my mouth I did not say. Thank you.
My point is we have big issues, for the most part our economy and accountability and transparency is long over due.
No what if about it Lisa. If you can't see through a smoke screen even when it's been cleared out for you then you lack the sufficient ability to be shrewd about this situation. If this is true here then it's probably true in other cases where being astute is a necessary quality for those in political elected office. You are losing my vote by the day and that of others, I'm sure of that as well.
DeleteWhat's up with this new Special Session of Congress on January 17, 2018 and this ISDA Master Agreement? Agreement about what?
ReplyDeleteWhats up is exactly right whose vesting in derivatives abroad?
DeleteHEADS UP! THE FILING PERIOD FOR CHIEF AND ASSISTANT CHIEF ENDS ON JANUARY 8, 2018!
ReplyDeleteSee https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/what-we-do/elections
See also https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/election-board
Deletehttps://www.facebook.com/OsageElections/
Another $100,000 for a statue that won't feed a single Osage thanks to Chief Standing Bear:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/osageofficeofthechiefs/photos/a.322965171461712.1073741833.201021936989370/359517301139832/?type=3&theater
Another great reason to look in the direction of Maria Whitehorn.
More facebook pages for future reference are located at
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/osageofficeofthechiefs/
https://www.facebook.com/UnitedOsagesofSoCal/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/296019250895/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/234024393278360/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/yanman/
Final--Osage Chief/ AP Chief Candidates:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/OsageNews/posts/1670553489672138
This isn't just a good film, it's an important film especially for those who are greed driven.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.allthemoney-movie.com/
Minerals Meeting on Friday and the Agenda is here --->>> https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/news-events/news/minerals-council-meeting-information-7
ReplyDeleteQuestions are starting to form over the clean up of the oil and gas areas throughout Osage County and why the Osage Energy Services LLC is trying to get involved with more funding in a bill from Congress when they have done nothing by way of energy services that anyone knows of since they were created as an Osage Nation entity some five plus years ago. What they know about it who knows and no one can tell you what they know about anything on oil spill remediation, clean up and restoration as far as I know either. Looks like just more more money into the pockets of the "Golden 17%" who reside in the Osage at the behest money of the Osage people orchestrated by the members of the Osage Congress and the Chief who support this ideocratic (as in the word idiot) idea where a huge mess will be made by ONES out in the field that will then require us to pick up the tab instead of the BIA. Shouldn't the Minerals Council by rights, as an official minerals matter, be coordinating this effort with the BIA anyway?
I'm also hearing that the elected member of Congress who took a hike for a much fatter paycheck from the Nation as in $200,000 to $300,000 to run the healthcare compact as Chief Executive Officer/Chief Medical Officer is now firmly at the helm. He better have negotiated a golden parachute or all the money up front because the back story is that certain people didn't want him running for Chief and got him out of the running in the upcoming election to further their own political gain with our money at stake and when the heat is on about the astronomical amount he's being paid, those certain people will drop him and fire him for some cause or another before the election in June. IOW, Osage politics as usual. Would you want to take your cause to Osage Court with the way the Osage Nation Constitution is written per Article IV, Section 4?
https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/news-events/news/osage-nation-hires-new-ceo-health-programs-and-services
Smooth operators as always elected in the Osage Nation government and we have no guarantee that this former member of Congress has any government management skills in place other than running a small health care service for one other Indian Tribe in the past or whether or not that was under a compact status no one knows either at this point. I'm hearing that more than half of the Native Americans who are serviced by our healthcare facilities are from another Tribe anyway and why we have to pay for a healthcare service and new buildings for members of a Tribe far richer and vastly larger than ours, I have no idea.
BTW, in the new session starting tomorrow, an ISDA Master Agreement is being put together with a waiver of Sovereignty and approval. WTH? Are we getting into banking involving derivatives now? Come on! Wasn't it derivatives that nearly brought down the US economy and subsequently nearly that of the entire world? Who is doing the thinking on this fiscal insanity? Can't wait to see who the sponsor/s is/are of this legislation in the Osage Congress and if the Chief signs it. Starts tomorrow at 10:00 a.m....
Deletehttps://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/congress-legislative-branch/sessions and click on text as written -->>> 11th Special Session Proclamation
Congress now meets on Main Street in that Bank building the Osage Nation bought with plenty of our money now going to refurbish it to meet their needs at least until another building can be built specifically for them up on the Hill at some future point. Who will be broadcasting tomorrow between the Osage Minerals Council and the Osage Congres that is also meeting at about the same time, no one knows. Have to see what comes up tomorrow at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/multimedia/live-media
DeleteThe Congressional Affairs Committee met today and the first part of the meeting is available to listen to at http://mixlr.com/osage-nation/showreel/ Click on the text 2018-0110_5Con_ConAffairs-Pt1
Hopefully the next part of the meeting will be up soon.
The revised agenda for this meeting is here --->>> https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/congressional-legislative-branch/committee-information/congressional-affairs
Congresswoman Shannon Edwards is phoning this meeting in today. So, when it comes to other members of the Osage Congress phoning it in from other parts of the country outside of Osage County shouldn't become an issue in the future.
Is it true that the Legislative Council for legal matters is making $125,000 a year for what constitutes, again, another scandalously high paying part time job with the Nation?
Congress is not doing anything with the reports coming from OFPR when they get them? WTH is this all about now? Why are we even paying for the OFPR if the reports they generate are being ignored by the Members of the Osage Nation Congress? I'm really tapping my foot now to get a "Notes from the Nation" from Kugee Supernaw on this extremely important matter and a plethora of other issues as well. Who is this person being questioned from the OFPR who is so evasive and says she doesn't have the information at hand when being asked for it?
DeleteThe real question is why are we paying the Congress when they ignore reports from the Osage Fiscal and Performance Review (OFPR) which is a critically important arm of the Osage Congress? Now they are creating a new Congressional subcommittee to change OFPR law and policies and procedures? We fought in the Osage Nation courts to get the OFPR up and running as a tool for the Osage Congress at great cost to the Osage people. I don't believe what I'm hearing here... and more than one member of the Osage Naiton Congress agrees with this assessment!
DeletePay a licensing fee to a company to post our legislation online with cable content? WTH is this about too? Need a waiver to post and publish our own legislation with this company and a direct cost quote involved? I thought we were paying for our own online network and able to get our legislation online for free with our own in-house internet network. Why are we making duplicate payments for one thing after another with this out of control
Delete$26,000 to Code Publishing Company for a licensing each year with a number of different fees involved in the total nickeling-and-dimeing us to death because they own the publishing rights? Is this all-in? How did this situation happen?
Pay Com and the majority of the Congress doesn't even use it even though we are paying for it? Smart Goals? Would that include reading and doing something about the reports coming from the OFPR? I'd sure like to see that document... It surprises me we even have such a thing. Good idea at last...
DeleteWhat is the Osage Academy and how much are we paying for that?
Part 2 is up now and they are voting on a resolution on this Smart Goal program whatever that is. Good get the Congress involved so they can begin to set goal and check them off one at a time when completed. Wow! Shouldn't this have been happening way back in 2006? My lands! What will we learn about next that the elected officials of the Osage Nation aren't doing that they should have been doing all along?
DeleteSet goals I meant to say and meaning more than just one.
DeleteDang!
DeleteOK here's the deal. ONCA 17-112, An Act to authorize and appropriate three hundred forty six thousand five hundred dollars ($346,500) to Osage Nation Energy Services, LLC; and to establish an alternate effective date. (Otto Hamilton) was passed and signed into law by the Chief on October 4, 2017. Edwards and Whitehorn voted no and Tillman, Mason and Norris were absent. All the rest voted yes!
Deletehttps://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/congress-legislative-branch/legislation
WTH do they need more money now for and what have they blown through this much money on since early October of last year?
BTW, it's my understanding that Kugee has been seriously concerned for a long period of time about the inaction and inactivity of Congress on more than just OFPR Reports that involve fiscal matters reported to the members of the Osage Nation Congress. I also understand that he's far from being the only one who's been concerned about the lack of engagement of some of the more lazy and feckless do nothing members of our Congress. Let me remind you that the pay check and benefits exceed $65,000 a year for each and every one of the 12 of them. Are we getting our money's worth?
DeleteHardly. When Otto loses his bid for Vice Chief we'll be rid of one of them there and other than just medical matters, now that Ronnie has left too for better traces on the path to great wealth courtesy of the Osage people, that will be another one gone. Losing Whitehorn will make a difference as she is fairly engaged so we should push for her election as Chief. I'm hearing for sure that a compact with the Osage Nation on the development of the Mineral Estate is going through at some point in the next 5 years so bye-bye trust and money coming into the Federal Trust account? It's likely. How much will a headright owner receive in a quarterly payment if the trust account is empty and has 0 dollars in it? Won't that blow Sonny Abbott's mind when he no longer gets any money in his quarterly checks from the Osage mineral rights? Worth the price of admission for that particualr moment in time, let me tell you!
DeleteChief, on pain of losing in the next election, how much have you agreed to pay former member of the Osage Nation Congress, Ron Shaw to run our health care? All-in and tell the truth now... Is this a personal service contract or some other kind of employment agreement? And don't even think of telling us that we don't have the right to know because we damn well do.
DeleteAs for our money's worth, two Congressional meetings in November. Four meetings in December and two for January not including the Special Session scheduled for tomorrow.
DeleteCheck it out at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/congress-legislative-branch/calendar and click on the back arrow to review the activity of your representatives in the Osage Nation Congress in the past months.
How much is the running total of the loans we have on the books now and have to pay back?
Delete91 days with only 8 days of partial work and one day of a Special Session that may close out tomorrow before 5:00 P.M.? So each one of them get roughly $5,400 a month and for three months so called work, that's $16,250 for 8 part day's work and one day that make take 8 full hours? How sweet is that?
DeleteFirst National Bank Building, 100 W Main, Pawhuska, OK.
DeleteKugee should be concerned as are a lot of us. At least he and a few others in Congress still have their eye on the ball. I'm glad to know he's still keeping watch on things going on up there.
DeleteWhere is our "Notes to the Nation," Kugee? We need a clarification about a lot of these issues and what is really happening as opposed to what is being falsely advertised by the Nation. Please get on the computer and let us know what's going on.
DeleteWho is doing the diligence? Is Kugee the only one whos is concerned and this is telling who is being bought for their vote? I smell corruption if we cannot get a word edge wise from our leaders in Congress how do we hold them accountable and Maria is the jight and shining armor who is going to rescue the Nation I don't think so. Whonhands are deep into the pockets of the Nation. $175,000,000 reasonsnot tp vote for her.
DeleteIt's the Chief and the Executive at the highest level who negotiated those loans, what they were to pay for, the amount and the interest rate, not a mere member of the Osage Congress. Do you understand how a Constitutional three branch form of government works?
DeleteYou're right on Kugee though. He still has our backs and a huge Thank God! for that.
DeleteMinerals Matters on the Osage Blog are located at https://osageblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/osage-shareholder-matters-january-2018.html
ReplyDeletePlease post accordingly. The Special Session is coming up on January 17, 2017, not today.
Here's our competition queuing up in Arkansas:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.indianz.com/IndianGaming/2018/01/09/quapaw-tribe-joins-partnership-to-author.asp
No wonder some Quapaws don't want us building casinos in Arkansas!
Chairman Berry is aware of my involvement of restoring the Osage Sovereign presents in the State of Arkansas.Arkansas is the Natural State for Osage Opportunities.Since August of 1988,as an commission agent,given under the authority granted by the 1881 Constitution by the Executive Chief Charles Pratt Jr. to seek and maintain a sound financial revenue for the Osage People and its governmental bodies.It has been my honor to maintain my great grandmother's last wish not to bring harm to the Osage Shareholders.Defending and protecting Osage Sovereignty is not hard or an impossible vision but when a stands alone Osage Warrior has to defend against other Osages the very rights they refuse to maintain for all of the Osage.It used to be not long ago Osage did not fight among themselves for the future of the Osage.Yet today we still see a few Osage shareholders seeking to destroy basic Osage rights of continued existence.
DeleteYou've got that one so ass-backwards John, you better go back home and forget all about it.
DeleteNot on our side, is he?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.indianz.com/News/2017/12/12/trump-team-reinstates-delay-for-landinto.asp
The Special Session is about to start at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/multimedia/live-media
ReplyDeleteThe Agenda is located at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/congress-legislative-branch/sessions
THIS IS OF EXTREME IMPORTANCE TO THE FISCAL FUTURE AND FISCAL HEALTH OF THE OSAGE NATION!
It involves a some sort of banking tool that is a banking swap to manage our variable interest rate on the loan we now have for the construction of our new casino. It requires the waiver of Sovereignty, approval, and signing of an International Swaps and Derivatives Association Agreement of some kind but I don't know if we have access to the terms and conditions of the actual swap tool product language and fine print of that agreement or not. We should not go there if we don't know exactly what is involved in this agreement. Remember this is one of the same kinds of products that brought down the Wall Street Banks in 2007/2008 over that derivatives and credit swap catastrophe that took place that nearly brought down the U.S. economy and that of the entire world. Maria Whitehorn is the sponsor of this legislation, ONCR 18-01. I would recommend a call to her about this bill as soon as possible. I am calling her today. Her phone number and e-mail are located at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/congress-legislative-branch/contact
The actual resolution, ONCR 18-01 does not give any hard information on how much this swap tool product will cost either and until we know what that will involve, we don't need to be spending money for that either. It appears to be like a kind of insurance policy tool that helps us manage our risk when the interest rate goes up on our loan but these kind of agreements are very complicated and should be carefully looked at at arms length before we get involved in anything as complicated as an investment and mortgage product like this one or anything involving real estate mortgage investment derivatives and or credit default swaps.
DeleteThe legislation can be found on this page at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/congress-legislative-branch/legislation
DeleteSee See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIwuT8TGEik&feature=youtu.be
DeleteThis gives a primer on the subject but the last sentence of the article states, "The takeaway: a prudent borrower should do a cost/benefit analysis to determine that the possible savings in interest over the life of the loan outweigh the upfront expenses by a margin that satisfies the borrower.” See https://www.steeglaw.com/financing-interest-rate-swap-agreements/
DeleteIt appears that perhaps the lender wants us to buy this swap interest rate hedging-of-risk management tool as a kind of insurance in order to secure his interest in the success of the payment of the loan. Does this involve, permit or enable the lender’s ability to sell this loan to another lender and have it packaged up as part of a real estate derivative investment security together with a tranche of other loans like it that could be sold to anyone anywhere in the world that is looking for this kind of investment product to buy? I have reason for large concern if this is indeed the case because we don’t want our lender to be a government or pension plan for a company located somewhere in outer Slovenia that in future may buy this security and then have no way to find out who the true owner of the mortgage actually is in the years to come. This is exactly what happened with these derivative products sold all over the world and now there are real estate properties all over the United States that are sitting empty because they went back to the bank in foreclosure and no one can find out who the actual bank or whoever actually now owns the actual mortgage that was sold, packaged up and is now listed hundreds deep in a tranche recorded in the fine print of some real estate derivative security the owner of which is now is the true owner of the property with no way to find them. Insane to the MAX but it's the truth of the matter all the same.
Recommended reading on this subject is the book "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis.
On careful reflection, we really need to read the fine print of what we are buying in this swap before we get involved with purchasing it.
DeleteOh good! Trust Geoffrey to get us into a floating variable rate loan to finance the Bluestem Ranch and the Casino Expansion. Trust Maria Whitehorn to try and get us out of the fix we're in with a crazy loan like that. How much is this loan for? $160 Million? She's like the one they call on when they want to muck out the ignored elephant and its stall right inside the Chief's Office. Lands!
DeleteYou have got to listen to the second half of this Commerce Committee Meeting at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t96B1LPo_1g In it, the man giving the presentation makes the statement that our entire debt level is $175 million! This is broken up into the loan for the Bluestem Ranch at $67 Million, the Casino expansion in Tulsa at $58 Million and a line of credit for $50 million !!! !!! !!! We have just now started to dip into the line of credit with a draw from the bank of $5.6 million. I'm presuming this is from the line of credit.
Delete"Entering into this or that derivative product." ?!? So this IS about more than just a swap.
DeleteIn all this, does anyone know if we have a variable interest rate cap with the commercial loans we have and if so, what is it?
DeleteIf the rate could have been locked in at the time the rates were being quoted when the decision was made to choose between a fixed or variable rate loan, what would the interest rate have been with a fixed rate loan then? My guess is that it was far lower than what we were then and are now paying with the variable rate. It may take us a number of years in the future before this variable rate may even exceed the fixed rate mortgage rate that was available two years ago or more since this mortgage deal was put together. We've probably saved a lot of money in the last two years and will probably save a lot more than that until we reach the fixed rate threshold that would have been in place then and through to today. Throwing our profit that we have realized in the past at some financial product with a premium or cost that will, in effect, take back all we have gained, does not make economic sense to me. When the interest rate moves over that fixed rate threshold, if we had chosen and locked in a fixed rate loan back then, then we might take a look at a swap program at that time in the future because then it will make sense.
DeleteI'm seeing 8.5%-15.7% for a fixed rate Commercial mortgage in August of 2016. We probably couldn't qualify at that rate spread to even have a commercial mortgage at all back then. It's going to take a hell of a lot of rate hikes from the Federa Reserve, LIBOR or what-have-you before we get anywhere near 8.5% at the very bottom of the scale.
Deletehttps://www.tcw.com/en/Insights/Monthly_Commentary/09-13-16_Commercial_Mortgage_Market_Monitor
Meant Federal Reserve. Sorry Julie and all else. Can't buy into this especially when that interest rate payment over and above the owed variable rate to the bank may have to be deferred down the road years and years into the future with some kind of swap product.
DeleteLooks like Maria is going to withdraw the Resolution. Good for her! Wise decision especially since some of the members of Congress have only just heard about this deal in the last three days. Not enough time to make an INFORMED decision. Thank you Maria and a huge thanks to Congressman Supernaw who did the due diligence in The Congressional Commerce Committee by asking the right questions about what the Congress knows, what it doesn't know and what it should know before a major decision like this is taken. You are still the man who makes certain that the Osage people's financial interest is protected. Well done and outstanding as usual!
DeleteOh another thing... who says the bank/s we have the loans with will even negotiate with the Osage Nation on a rate that the swap team try to arrest or cap at a certain interest rate? What if the original loan documents prevent or prohibit such interference in the fine print? A lot of questions need to be asked and answered and UNDERSTOOD before this swap product is agreed to by any elected official of the Osage Nation.
Delete"My guess is that it was far lower than what we were then and are now paying with the variable rate." Sorry. Meant far higher than what were paying then and are now paying.
DeleteThank you Kugee for doing the diligence. Why didn't Maria do the same vefore she submitted this legislation?
DeleteAnd she wants to be Chief?
I think Maria is trying to fix the problem created by the variable rate loan that was arranged for by the Chief in the first place. Word from a number of different quarters is that Chief is for the legislation, that he's neutral or that he supports the Gaming Board's decision in the matter. Who knows what's the truth there. Maria is trying to run an intervention on that loan and the interest rate climbing but I'm not sure this is really the right direction to go in overall. Warren Buffet got himself involved in one of these derivative products and can't unwind it for the next 25 or so years. If he doesn't like them at his level and what he knows about finance, we should be very cautious and all things we can know about this swap should be known by the Congress and the Executive Branch, by the way, too before we make any commitment. The conversation was about more than one tool available in the swap agreement and I'd like full disclosure on exactly what these tools are and what they do to hold the interest rate and keep it from climbing. In addition, this is only concerning the LIBOR rate which is only part of the total variable interest rate and not much of it if I understood this correctly. It may not be worth the cost unless the whole interest rate including both parts ( the fixed margin and the variable rate index) could be frozen (LIBOR) or a reduction in the fixed margin be made available somehow but such is not the case. They want to buy a swap for a partial portion of the total amount ($175,000,000) of the loan that they want to have it apply toward.
DeleteSee https://www.collegeavestudentloans.com/blog/what-makes-a-variable-rate-variable/
I see your point to which tool they are discussing, the details should be made aware of before a formidable decision is made no doubt.
Delete(OTC) Higher risks associated but has more flexibility, this is the way I would go for us the risk on our part is secured because we can meet the criteria thats not the point or is it? But still we need to see what it is we are dealing with to make that kind of judgement.
DeleteSpecial Session is live again and the Commerce Committee is now live at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/multimedia/live-media
ReplyDeleteInterim Gaming Board member Julie Malone is speaking. Julie is a particular favorite of mine if that's allowable to write here. The concern is getting our security people armed in our Casinos by Osage Nation Statute. We no longer have a cross-deputization agreement so this is a sticky issue. There are also Federal considerations of some sort because the Casinos are on trust land.
Osage Health: Worth noting is this article from the National Institutes of Health at https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/hibernating-ground-squirrels-provide-clues-new-stroke-treatments?
ReplyDeleteConsider serving the Osage People and run for Congressional office:
ReplyDeleteSee Filing for Osage Congressional candidates starts Feb. 6
http://www.osagenews.org/en/article/2018/01/19/filing-osage-congressional-candidates-starts-feb-6/
NOTICE! Extremely important information is being exchanged at https://osageblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/osage-shareholder-matters-january-2018.html
ReplyDeleteIf you are a headright owner, there is a proposed transfer of the now independent Office of the Special Trustee (OST) to repatriate it to the BIA where it will be under the auspices of the Bureau in the near future. See https://www.indianz.com/News/2017/12/12/major-changes-in-store-as-trust-reform-o.asp
This is an important developing situation that we are following closely and suggest that you do so as well.
It may not be over yet. In fact, it may happen all over again because this time it's fomenting in China and because we are so interconnected worldwide financially, it may begin there in the next year and a half and spread here:
ReplyDeleteChina’s watchdog gets its teeth into banking ‘bad boys’
http://www.atimes.com/article/chinas-watchdog-gets-teeth-banking-bad-boys/
Are you kidding me?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.atimes.com/article/japan-ready-trust-tepco-nuclear-power/
In our face...
ReplyDeleteThe newly built WIC Clinic in Tulsa --->>>
https://www.facebook.com/OsageNews/photos/a.153834188010750.33094.134873493240153/1683456818381805/?type=3&theater
More new buildings with our money that don't benefit the Osage underprivileged 83% and do benefit the "Golden Osage 17%."
Yes, of course, this is the same WIC department that took that cruise to Belize to find out how to -- professionally -- tell the pregnant Osage women not to drink or take drugs while breast feeding.
If you are in need of WIC, heating assistance, or other federal programs you need to see what service area you are in and go apply. WIC and other public assistance is income based and available to all Native enrolled people within Osage county (the service area). These federal assistance programs are not just for Osages.
ReplyDeleteI have no response as to the new building or the Belize trip.
My concern is you feel you can't get services because you live outside Osage County. You can't receive assistance through the Osage but you can apply to through a county or Tribal service area no matter where you live.
No. My concern is all this money being disproportionately spent on one facility after another in Osage County when 83% of the entire membership goes without!
DeleteLet me repeat this statement: My concern is all this money being disproportionately spent on one facility after another in Osage County when 83% of the entire membership goes without!
These properties cost money after they are built and that's even more money being disproportionately spent on the "Golden 17%" by the Chief, the Assistant Chief and the Osage Congress who let loose the money by appropriating it for all these spending projects on buildings being built one right after another when the true number being serviced by these buildings are either not even Osage or not large enough in number to justify the cost. Who says that they can't rent space in a building already built if needed? How many meetings of WIC take place per week and for how long? This is part of a cost/benefit analysis that is never properly done to be presented to the Osage Congress by the Office of the Chiefs at the time they want these appropriations handed out right and left. Not to mention the competition between one logistical area whining about what another area in Osage County gets to have that they don't, despite the fact that the numbers of people serviced who will use these facilities don't justify the cost to build them or maintain them after they are built.
Every time you feel your unborn infant kick or feed your child at your breast think about this...what the elected and appointed officials of the Osage Nation Constitutional government have done for the last twelve years is to saddle your Osage infant, born and yet unborn, WITH CRUSHING DEBT AS AN OSAGE NATION MEMBER FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES AND FOR GENERATIONS TO COME. This is the serious concern and it's worth being concerned about.
DeleteLol. You out of state Osages are always crying about something. If you think the Osage Nation is going to write you a monthly check for being enrolled then you are living in La La Land. I think it is a waste of money to send Osage employees to the California, Texas, etc. meetings to teach people "how to be Osage." Admit it, your only connection to this tribe is your headright interests.
DeleteI'm named in the Tribe. Oh and by the way, poopie head, you had to learn how to be an Indian too. You were born just as naked and poor as rest of us. When Jim Gray took his entourage to France on our nickel and dime, they couldn't distinguish any of the "real Indian" Osages apart from any other tourist who passes through on a bus. If you think that cooking for 100 or hopping around an arbor 12 days out of the year, hitting the drum with a suede covered stick or raising your voice in song just because you live in Osage County has made you so all that an Indian, you might want to rethink that thought. The old ways have passed in the Osage and you probably haven't a clue as to what they even were. Go blow your smoke somewhere else. I don't buy it and neither should anyone else. There are still real Indians in this country who live and abide in the old ways. You and your fools gold 17%, don't even come close to being numbered among them. I'll bet when you get out in real Indian Country, it makes you nervous when you meet a real Indian. Admit it. Ha!
DeleteI think you hit a nerve when you held that one accountable for all the debt his Osage county children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will have to bear up under as a result of the rampant greed going on. It's probably one of the elected officials who wrote the comment.
DeleteStop the spending and a lot of it will go to health and who is that serving, not 80% of the Osages.
DeleteStop the spending on the few to the detriment of the many. Equity in government is what we expect not what we're begging for.
DeleteCongratulations, Julie! I'm so happy you've been appointed to the Gaming Board. You go girl and please help this out of control spending to be brought back into line for the sake of the Osage Nation membership.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/julie.malone.127
Well Julie is only one vote on the board. The Chief tells that board what to do. I don't know her but if she as much character as you say, she won't last long. Honest people don't last long with so much corruption around them.
DeleteLol, honesty doesn't pay.
DeleteMy strongest hope for the sake of the future of the fiscal well-being of the Osage Nation is that Julie will be the first one to report the Chief, or whoever is involved from the Executive Branch including the Assistant Principal Chief if the task is assigned to him, to the AG with an attorney in tow for interfering with that enterprise business board per “Article X - Code of Ethics, Section 8: Independence of Boards and Commissions: Tribal officials and employees shall refrain from using tribal positions to improperly influence the deliberations, administrations, or decisions of established board or commission proceedings.” If the AG does nothing then she can trot right over to the Congress and lay her case before them asking for a Congressional hearing beginning with an investigative process exactly like what happened with the last Chief we had who got thrown out of office. The AG is subject to the same rules and regulations and has an obligation not to look the other way. If the AG does then the AG is subject to the same Article in the Constitution. In fact, if the current AG falls there is still the same guy that got demoted for not doing what the powers that be wanted him to do or so we’ve been told. If he had stood up, we wouldn't have two of them and be paying for two of them in office doing pretty much the same thing. They couldn't cut the old AG loose because he has some Federal Court designation that required that he work for the Nation or some Tribe in the capacity of an AG or Assistant AG. The word is up on the Hill that the powers that be tried to replace him after he came back with a determination that the Minerals Council don't have to submit oil and gas leases to the Chief for his review and approval because the Osage Constitution does not provide for such a requirement in the language of the governing document. When that came down, somebody up top got Royally P.O. I’m told and but good! The AG in place should have taken a stand right then as soon as he knew he was being replaced. The tools are there. We just need to demand representation and that our elected and appointed officials start using those tools that are available to them. It's happened before and it can happen again. Wanting to put in his own people in as a newly elected official establishing his own team is pretty thin an excuse after an opinion that went against what the Chief's office wanted to have happen by way of having power over the Minerals Council in a way the Constitution just doesn't give the Executive Branch. It may come down to Julie. I hope she has the strength and the chops to protect her team from interference from the the Office of the Chiefs if that’s what’s really happening. Her mother had that strength and I’m counting on Julie to have it too and to step up for the Osage people and do what’s right to make sure the money side of our Tribal business enterprise is free from interference so that the Gaming Board can go about their daily activities without fear of malice and retribution coming from certain people up top in the Executive Branch. It's a matter of conscience.
DeleteThe color of authority and it abuse of power. When people do right there can be no wrong.
DeleteGo Julie!
DeleteI played around with this app after downloading it from the Apple App Store. This is BRILLIANT! It's just simply wonderful and every Osage should have it. I am not kidding you. It looks beautiful and it performs in a fabulous way. It's the most perfect introduction and primer to the Osage alphabet and language words and phrases you could ever hope to have...in a word OUTSTANDING!
ReplyDeleteIt works with both tablets and smart phones. WOW...is this thing great! Don't be intimidated. Work with the Osage letters and get them down phonetically first before you go to try and pronounce the language, otherwise it'll be a lot more difficult. You'll need to memorize the sound of the letters initially and then use the word and phrase spellings written in the Osage alphabet as you move through each page.
ReplyDeleteOsage Blog Conversation continues at https://osageblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/conversation-january-2018.html
ReplyDelete