The law of the Rez - a new chief in town

“Laws control the lesser man... Right conduct controls the greater one.” - Mark
Twain

“Nobody has a more sacred obligation to obey the law than those who make the law.” -- Sophocles


Wow. What a day.

If you have read the Messenger website, then you already know. Mille Lacs Band Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin has been removed from office effective as of 11 a.m. this morning.

I wont go into details — you can get that from the news story. I hope you read it all and keep going back daily for updates as they happen.

I cannot say one way or another if I think Melanie Benjamin is innocent or guilty of the accusations of the petition. Because I don't know that. Nobody does, really. Except for her.

I will say that no formal criminal charges have been filed therefore no convictions have been made. All I can tell you is there is a federal investigation "ongoing" regarding some pretty big amounts of money (Millions) being miss-appropriated by at least one department of the Mille Lacs Band. Solicitor General Rjay Brunkow confirmed there is an investigation by the Federal government, but when I call the federal people I get the standard FBI statement, "I can neither confirm nor deny such an investigation exists."

Please.

Anyway, more on that later.

So Melanie presented a court order at the removal hearing in the Band Assembly chambers this morning, issued by the Band's Chief Justice. The court order basically said the hearing for the removal of Benjamin from office was canceled for the day and would proceed at another date.

The Band assembly said they didn't have to oblige the court order. They said that they have power over the court in this matter.

OK. That deserves a big "What the???"

Did the Band Assembly really say they are above the law?

Apparently they did.

They said that the Minnesota Chippewa Tribal Constitution gave them the power.

After conversations with several Indian legal law professors and a bunch of other people all day, I have a sore ear for one. But I learned a few things.

The MCT Constitution was written a long, long time ago for the six tribes of Chippewa residing in Minnesota. About 25 or 30 years ago, the Mille Lacs Band members voted to create there own Band statutes. The MCT said they could, so they did.

Mille Lacs Band was (and is) still a member of the MCT in good standing. While they were guided by the MCT, rather still under the umbrella of the MCT, they created their own government and they became a sovereign nation.

They are the only one of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribes who have a separation of powers government. They created three branches of government — judicial, legislative and executive and called it a separation of powers. Each branch was created to have co-equal power. If there were problems between any two branches, the third could step in.

The rules, or laws, of the MCT still govern the Mille Lacs Band but they created their own set of laws and statutes that are in addition to the MCT Constitution to govern the entire Mille Lacs Band. These statutes are the law.

Under the Band statutes it says under no uncertain terms, if the Mille Lacs Band Court issued an order, it was an order. "The rule of law is supreme in an orderly society," Jay Kanassatega said. He is the guy who wrote the Mille Lacs Band statues in 1983 and was the first Solicitor General for the Mille Lacs Band under the new separation of powers.

He told me today that any government body that acts against a court order is a very serious circumstance.

The Band Assembly publicly ignored a court order today. Kanassatega is concerned about what kind of a message that will send to the Band members? How can they banish some Band members under the Band statutes, but ignore the Band statues when it suits them? Can they pick and choose which laws to obey and which laws to ignore? Is the joint
session above the law?

"The legal process should be allowed to play out," Kanassatega continued. "We don't take the law into our own hands."

But Brunkow said that because of a case law Nixon v United States (Not Pres. Nixon) the MCT Constitution delegates authority to the RBC - Reservation Business Commission, or the 5 elected officials) and because of that the judicial branch has no authority when it is a non-jurisdictional political question. Which in his eyes this is.

So what happens now? What is in store for the Band members with the newly appointed interim chief executive Herb Weyaus?

Only time will tell. He has officially only 141 days in his newly "appointed" position. That is unless he chooses to run in the special election for the position of Chief Executive. He will have 81 days to file if that is his plan. We don't know yet.

Stay tuned.

Peace.


“Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.” -- Plato