Northern Cheyenne President ousted

By Clara Caufield,

NSNT Staff Writer

Serena Wethertlet (courtesy photo)

On Tuesday, February 6^th, after a six-hour hearing, the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council voted by 8-2 to remove President Donna Fisher who was elected in November 2020. They found her guilty of for “gross neglect” of duties. Under the Tribal Constitution, a two-thirds majority vote of the Tribal Council is necessary to do that. Of the ten-member Council, the dissenting votes were from Phillip Beckman, Busby District and Melissa Fisher, Ashland District who is also the former Tribal President’s daughter.

The hearing, at which Fisher had the opportunity to be represented by legal counsel stemmed from a formal written complaint filed by Tribal Vice-President Serena alleging that Fisher did not discipline or terminate a tribal finance employee for improper use of a tribal card, totaling about $7,000 brought out at the hearing. The funds involved were related to the COVID relief funds provided to the Tribe, the use of which has been widely questioned throughout the tribal community. Thus far, no public accounting of the exact amount of funding received or the use of those money has been provided, spurring speculation about “hazard” pay, bonuses, etc. for tribal officials and employees.

The hearing was aired through the Tribal broadband system, but due to acoustics in the Tribal Council chambers and the “masking” it was difficult to follow the dialogue and debate during the process.

In later February, the Tribe has announced that an AARPA assistance payment of $1,000 will be made to enrolled members bringing the total to $2,000 as an earlier payment of $1,000 was made in 2021.

The Tribal Constitution requires that the Tribe hold an election to fill the vacancy within 90 days. In the interim, Serena Wetherfeld will serve as the Acting Tribal President. Should she successfully run for Tribal President, the Tribe would then be faced with another special to fill the seat of Vice-President. If she does not run or runs unsuccessfully, she would still hold the seat of Vice-President.

For several decades, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe has been plagued by this type of political upheaval. At one time, the Tribe had two Tribal Presidents who each served for decades: John Woodenlegs and then Allen “Chuggy” Rowland who retired in 1982. In the ensuing years, 9 of 12 Tribal Presidents have been removed from office by the Tribal Council for a variety of charges, falling into the category of “gross neglect, failure to perform their official duties or moral turpitude” a large umbrella. Recently, Tribal President, L. Jace Killsback resigned, rather than go through tribal council removal process, later found guilty of misusing federal and tribal funds, facing prison time. The Tribal Council also considered and tried to remove the three without success. Those three completed their full four–year terms, but were not successful in getting re-elected.

Thus, at Northern Cheyenne it does not seem to a question of “if” the Tribal Council will attempt to remove a Tribal President, but “when,” making for political instability.

Tribal member Max Small, a former Tribal Council member commented “It’s the old crab in the bucket story. When someone of us is successful, the other crabs pull it back into the bucket. No wonder we can’t get anywhere.”

(Clara Caufield can be reached at acheyennevoice@gmail.com)

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