Miwok & Lost Lake Effect

 

Miwok Elections: Selected Suggestions for Tribal Leaders 

Real Talk

You Miwoks and some of you reading know the story of us natives in California. Some 300,000 of us natives lived here in what is known as California prior to the gold rush (LOC, n.d.). After the gold rush there were only 30,000 natives remaining (AE, n.d.), I’ve heard other estimates of only 13,000 to 15,000 people. Perhaps you are wondering why so many of us all died? You likely know already, however in this moment let’s not dwell on this thought.

We persist and now, we prosper in wealth, as for culture that’s another matter. In the present tense and without crying about our tremendous loss of the past, some 700 of us in this small Miwok tribe are thriving. I suggest we should look forward. Yes, forward despite the money guilt (perhaps you too) I have about being alive and receiving money based on the elders who have endured and those many who have passed on. One of whom signed the paperwork establishing our Rancheria.

The election season approaches, and it seems that some individuals and some families in the tribe regard each other as enemies or potential enemies, not all of course. As an adult in the real world of conflict, compromise, and realpolitik, you would recognize a source of this present-day tribal turmoil is embroidered or deeply imprinted in that real past the elders lived through. Surely some of those past experiences have scarred some of our elders. I recall an elder who spoke at the Miwok Language symposium, who was in his 70’s said he only realized a few years earlier why, as a young boy, his native community always anxiously sent all the children away to hide when any unrecognized vehicles came nearby. His community was afraid of the children being separated from their families and sent to so called American Indian Boarding Schools a notorious legacy of the recent past (Lajimodiere, 2023).

The internal animosity that currently exists in the tribe is certainly a function of bad historical events as described above as well as events from our own internal tribal history dynamics both legitimate and illegitimate. However, if we are to heal if we are interested in thriving as a cohesive community into the future then we must find ways to again look forward with a mind towards building solid and friendly relationships with one another that will help us achieve future success for ourselves, our families, and the health of our tribe.

Political Leadership Style

This article will conclude with some suggestions for Miwoks seeking and winning elected positions. However, let us first consider what kind of leader you would be. History provides many examples. Say you’re the son of a farmer and a teacher and you successfully manage to develop wealth in the range of $30 billion dollars, (you’d have a hard time developing this kind of fortune in our tribe), nevertheless you could be this kind of leader like Pablo Escobar (Montgomery, 2023). Let’s say drugs is not something you would be involved with while leading our tribe, you’d rather arrange to accomplish your financial and power grab goals in a technically legal manner. You could consider operating with the letter of the law to increase your wealth and influence and fame very much like George Washington Plunkitt of Tammany Hall. Plunkitt became very wealthy by manipulating the political system and trading political favors for insider information, he referred to these practices as “honest graft” (Sands, 2024). A third example and it's one many American politicians participate in legally (Antle, 2011). For details read Peter Schweizer’s 2011 book, “Throw them all out: How politicians and their friends get rich off insider stock tips, land deals, and cronyism that would send the rest of us to prison”. As a tribal leader you may have an opportunity to benefit as Schweizer suggests from stock tips with a big vendor, land deals you might have influence on, and of course the ever present (like death) “cronyism” defined as the appointment of political hangers-on to positions without regard to their qualifications (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). For any of the above methods one important legal tool is non-disclosure agreements as used by both Harvey Weinstein (Farrow, 2017), Sean Diddy (Montero, 2024), and R. Kelly (Wagmeister, 2023). Two last thoughts in this vein you can read, “The dictator's handbook: Why bad behavior is almost always good politics” (Bueno de Mesquita and Smith, 2012) or watch the television series narrated by Peter Dinklage, named “How to Become a Tyrant” (Netflix, 2021). On the other hand, I’m sure you realize there are also many examples of good or at least honest so/so leadership as well.

Selected Suggestions for Tribal Leadership (in no particular order)

Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA)

Is our tribe creating such NDA agreements for our own tribal members? These legal documents may or may not be appropriate in similar fashion to Weinstein, Diddy, and Kelly as mentioned above. The suggestion here for transparency is that there should be a record kept of such documents and the date issued, the number of members it applies to and the basic purpose (i.e., financial) and length. Too many of these NDAs may be a red flag that our tribal leadership is oriented towards not disclosing information rather than offering transparency.

Transparency on Employment Compensation

To be clear, a report with actual data, year over year (or quarterly), with the information would accomplish this suggestion. Something that troubles me is that I’ve heard there are one or two tribal members that get compensation from multiple entities, “double dipping” so to speak. 

Tribal Office - Salary/Compensation Disclosure

For every tribal member employed by the tribe, salary and any other compensation provided by the tribe. This document should be able to be viewed at the tribal office.

Casino

For every tribal member employed by the tribe, salary and any other compensation provided by the tribe.

Compensation from Multiple Entities

For every tribal member employed by the tribe that receives compensation from more than one tribal entity.

Transparency on other Compensation

It should be a mandatory reporting requirement that Tribal Members must disclose in compensation in the form commissions, rebates, or discounts received from facilitating business with any Tribal entity. As an example, if a tribal member introduced a beer manufacturer or distributor to the casino Food & Beverage Manager or Purchasing Manager and then in turn received a commission, rebate, or discount as a form of compensation then the value of that compensation must be reported to the tribe. More importantly, this is a practice that should be restricted so as to prevent unethical behavior.

Cultural Suggestions

• Visits and Tours to the Rancheria – we should insist as a matter of policy or tribal encouragement that we ask every new member to physically visit our Rancheria.
• Host an annual visit day or week to the Rancheria.
• Xmas Party - set up elder tables, have the young people come up and visit the elders.
• Dance group - it’s embarrassing as I understand that we don’t have our own dance group.
• Tribal Song – create one.
• Large Tribal Map of The Rancheria with the Name of the Families Living There on the Date the Tribe was recognized.
• Drone footage with native music of the Rancheria would be beautiful, powerful, and certainly touch many hearts.

Honor All Tribal Leaders

Let us all honor all the previous chairpersons and leadership. The animosity towards present and past chairpersons is almost tangible and uncomfortable. Yet they have all so far led us to our current prosperity. Let us as a tribe honor and recognize their individual and group contributions. I’d like to see tasteful, complementary, and high-quality painted portraits of these former leaders. Cohesiveness is a valve that makes sense for people that value leadership over long periods of time, that’s us!

Medicine Man and/or Women

I’m not certain of our historical heritage on this topic. It seems to me, however, there is room for a leadership position in this area. I would think preferably an elder who has knowledge or is willing to learn and communicate Native Spiritual Values. Ideally, someone who is connected to every family, our land, and nature. This person would have the knowledge, ability, and desire to connect us to one another and ourselves in a traditional native way. They should be able to minister to us as individuals and groups. Should there be a person with these skills and abilities we should pay attention and make plans when the timing is right. 

Sovereignty

This is a concept, definition, or word, that our chairpersons and council members think they understand, yet I happen to think there will always be big money and powerful influence that would influence in a way that is sweet and comforting to them. You must know, depending on the situation, twisting your arm is easy. As a leader you must resist individuals, organizations, local governments, big powerful companies, and governments – don’t give an inch, they will take a mile. Read just a little of any native history and it’s obvious. Resist any encroachment soft or hard.

Actuary and Tribal Forever Fund Idea

Imagine you are close to retirement, how much money will you need for housing, healthcare, and other expenses to live comfortably? The tribe has an opportunity to think this way as well. How about we set up a fund that thinks the same way, how many people do we have now, how many do we expect to have in future, what will be our income and our expenses, including the investments we intend to make. In other words, just how much do we require to be able to fund us forever (theoretically) into the future? One idea is to send out a request for proposal to an actuary (these are people who do this kind of math for insurance companies) and an accountant (perhaps internally) who can together calculate this figure and then suggest with leadership how to go about accomplishing this goal.

Opportunity Investment Fund

The economy is somewhat of a puzzle at the moment, yet the stock market is doing very well despite high inflation. At some point in future the economy will turn down as it always does. If we had a fund set up specifically to purchase assets in a downturn, we could reap lucrative return on investment if carefully executed. During Covid for example a Casino General Manager told me a story of how several hotels and casinos were purchased at bargain basement prices.

Elders

Lastly and most importantly, go out of your way to contact every single elder in the tribe. Establish and elder day at your office perhaps with other tribal leaders. Be the person who shows the most care towards elders. Also, if you ever open a new tribal casino or any other tribal entity always invite the elders first and not non-tribal people! You will be judged severely if you do not put elders first. No lip service, leadership by example is imperative! If you love our people and our tribe, you’ll find the time.

References

American Experience (AE). (n.d.). The Gold Rush Impact on Native Tribes. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldrush-value-land/ 

Antle III, W. J. (2011). BOOK REVIEW: ‘Throw Them All Out’. Washington Times. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/22/legislators-and-honest-graft/

Bueno de Mesquita, B., & Smith, A. (2012). The dictator's handbook: why bad behavior is almost always good politics. New York, PublicAffairs.

Farrow, R. (2017). Harvey Weinstein’s Secret Settlements. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/harvey-weinsteins-secret-settlements

Ginsberg, D., Laufer, J., Pasht, J.B., Dinklage, P. Bekhor, J. (2021). How to Become a Tyrant [TV series]. Netflix. https://www.netflix.com/title/80989772

Lajimodiere, Denise K. (2023). Legacy of Trauma: The Impact of American Indian Boarding Schools Across Generations. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). https://www.pbs.org/native-america/blog/legacy-of-trauma-the-impact-of-american-indian-boarding-schools-across-generations

Library of Congress (LOC). (n.d.). The First Peoples of California. https://www.loc.gov/collections/california-first-person-narratives/articles-and-essays/early-california-history/first-peoples-of-california/

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Cronyism. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved May 20, 2024, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cronyism 

Montero, D. (2024). READ: Diddy's Ironclad Non-Disclosure Agreement His Employees Had to Sign. Radar Online. https://radaronline.com/p/read-the-ironclad-nda-sean-diddy-combs-used-to-silence-his-artists-employees/

Montgomery, R. (2023). The Criminal Mystique of Pablo Escobar. Western Museums Association. https://westmuse.org/articles/criminal-mystique-pablo-escobar

Sands, Eric C. (2024). Plunkitt of Tammany Hall. Ashbrook Center. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/plunkitt-of-tammany-hall/

Schweizer, P. (2011). Throw them all out: How politicians and their friends get rich off insider stock tips, land deals, and cronyism that would send the rest of us to prison. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Wagmeister, E. (2023). R. Kelly Silenced Aaliyah and Her Family With Non-Disclosure Agreement After Marriage Annulment, Docuseries Reveals. Variety. https://variety.com/2023/music/news/r-kelly-aaliyah-nda-marriage-annulment-1235478393/