Tester's Own Abramoff Scandal Part I: Windy Boy Slams State Democrats into Brick Wall

Montana's Senator Jon Tester is the new Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. He will be charged with running the campaign efforts of Senate Democrats from here on.  Senator Tester has a dark secret, as well as the Democratic Party regarding their continued allegiance to Montana State Senator Jonathan Windy Boy who is the Ward Churchill of tribal officialdom.

This emerging scandal may dwarf the Jack Abramoff scandal that brought down Senator Conrad Burns.  It is up to Senator Tester to fix the problems his neglect during his entire tenure has contributed to in the controversial manner Windy Boy interacts with Montana Democrats.  He is a man that likes to throw his weight around, and uses his Cree numbers to intimidate state officials. This matter stems from the federal government usurping the sovereignty of the Rocky Boy Band of Chippewa, of which I am a descendant and of primary heritage.

Jonathan Windy Boy is an enrolled member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe.  The Chippewa Cree is a euphemism created by the federal government to shield the massive enrollment fraud that has plagued the small band of Chippewa since the band emerged in Montana after having been driven out of Red Lake over a land dispute in the late 1800s, shortly after the creation of the Red Lake Indian Reservation.  The Chippewa Cree is a FAKE tribe; it is not a historic American tribe, only the Chippewa have treaty rights in the United States.

Jonathan is not a Chippewa, and only 10% of the enrollees in Rocky Boy are descendants of the original band, as it was enumerated in a 1908 census (Wheat Census).  Jonathan cannot even legitimately say his family are members of the Little Bear Band of Cree, who sought asylum in the U.S. after instigating the Frog Lake Massacre.  

Jonathan's predecessor swam across the Saskatchewan River and evaded the RCMP, and made his way to the Rocky Boy Reservation after it's creation in 1916.  Windyy Boy's ancestor was on the run and to evade prosecution--hid in a badger hole at one point to deceive the Mounties who were in hot pursuit.   (Oral History of the Robert Gopher Family).Windy Boy's first appear on the Rocky Boy roll in 1927. (Interior Department Records).

Jonathan is rumoured to be enrolled simultaneously in the Ft. Belknap Gros Ventres-Assiniboine tribes, being of Assiniboine heritage.  He is also Cree, and is enrolled in a Canadian First Nation, to my understanding.  Most of the Cree, who make up the majority enrollment in Rocky Boy are already enrolled in Canadian First Nations, and are subject to Canada's Indian Act, which is the source of the Indian Registry.  There is nothing wrong with that I suppose, Canada has much more progressive attitude in treating aboriginal people than the U.S.

So, Jonathan and his brother Alvin, have been prominent "tribal leaders in Rocky Boy" despite the lack of biological lineage in the Rocky Boy Band of Chippewa as recognized by the U.S. Congress in 1908 and 1916.  It is helpful to know that there are different points of origin, Rocky Boy's people are thought to originate in Wisconsin, while the Little Bear Band of Cree originate in Frog Lake, Saskatchewan.  Louis Riel, who led the Riel Rebellion--fled Canadian authorities from the point of Duck Lake, Saskatchewan.

The realities of the three divergent groups will tell us there is no such thing as a Chippewa Cree Tribe, yet due to misunderstanding by white politicians, media and academics--this is a mythical creation that has persisted over time, much to the dismay of my own people who possess a sovereignty interest to address our grievances.

The Rocky Boy Reservation was created in the fall after Rocky Boy's death in 1916.  For lack of a better term, one can say Chief Little Bear (Cree) was only too eager to "take over."  The U.S. government was eager to end the "Cree problem" it had in Montana and wanted resolution.  The Crees took over the establishment of the newly created reservation--even though it lacked a treaty with the U.S. government, and is not considered a historic American tribe.  (The U.S. treaty making era ended in 1870).  The Chippewa began to assert their sovereignty.  Chief Rocky Boy's last words were "Little Bear is trying to let (Riel's mixed bloods) in, it is for my people (Chippewa) to decide if they want to let them (Crees and Riel's band) in."

No one heeded Chief Rocky Boy's dying words.  Instead, his people were subjected to a sinister plot by the Cree, one of Chief Big Rock's (Rocky Boy's legitimate Chippewa successor) son's was poisoned in the Ft. Assiniboine camp.  The federal government, failing to protect the band, fled under cover of night, to Chief Mountain on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.  They stayed there until the early 1920s.  The Chippewa had suspicions about the untimely death of Chief Rocky Boy, who took ill unexpectedly in the Ft. Assiniboine camp.

These suspicions persist to this day among the Chief's lateral descendants.  It was later found out that Little Bear did possess knowledge on poisons, (Sweetgrass First Nations research) Where a similar death is believed to have occurred at the hands of Little Bear.  It is the opinion of the Chippewa people that Chief Rocky Boy was assassinated in the critical months when word was received the reservation was to be established.  He died in April 1916.  Following these two deaths, the Chippewa lost favor with the federal government, who seemed more intent on pleasing Montana residents who had grown weary of the "Cree problem."

THE CREE PROBLEM CONTINUES TO HAUNT MONTANA

Only the federally tecognized tribal body can determine its members.   In 1917 the federal government established its own roll that became the basis of the "Chippewa Cree tribe."  While this has proven convenient for the federal government, it is contrary to standing federal doctrine on tribal sovereignty.  It would have been wise to heed the wise Chief's words and respect the Chippewa.  Now this recklessness is something the Chippewa people toil to correct.

It is his words Rocky Boy's people cling to.  Only the Chippewa people can decide their membership, like every other tribe in the United States.  It is not the place of the federal government, the Cree or Metis.  The federal government used a band-aid approach since 1935 under the Chippewa Cree constitution created under the auspices of the Indian Reorganization Act.

The Chippewa people are at the present time challenging this constitution as illegal 1) It created an at large voting schema that favors Cree and Metis, who are the majority on the reservation (they were allowed to refer to themselves as "adoptees" by the Interior Department.  2) The Cree and Metis led Business Committee established by the IRA constitution adopted discriminatory enrollment provisions and did not provide for lineal descent in the original Chippewa band recognized by Congress.  The basis of membership criteria is illegal and violates the sovereignty of the original Chippewa band. This effected a near paper- genocide of Rocky Boy's original band.

Near being the operative word.  The Interior Department does not have authority to alter a tribe's identity, nor can it terminate a tribe.  Nor can it determine a tribe's membership.  The Rocky Boy band is fighting back.  Given the spate of numerous criminal convictions in federal court of "Chippewa Cree tribal officials"  the latest being John Chance Houle, a former Chairman who pled guilty to fraud, and embezzlement, the Chippewa people want to be heard loud and clear.  These criminals are NOT Chippewa of the original band recognized by Congress.  They are all without exception, self proclaimed adoptees.

There is a problem of entrenched fraud that was sanctioned by former Senator Baucus, who used Jonathan Windy Boy as his campaign poster child.  Now the trend seems to be continuing with Senator Tester.  He was asked on Friday to include $1,000,000,00 in the crominbus legislation to direct the Billings Area Office of the BIA to address the Chippewa demand for an enrollment audit, and to designate legal fees to the Chippewa people to begin to reverse the course of this massive defrauding of Chippewa identity and loss of our land and finanical resources.

Jonathan's Cree faction have skillfully hid behind immunity as a "sovereign nation."  However, the Interior is not immune from voting rights claims, this appears to be a voting rights issue, even though the federal act has been gutted, we are studying and believe we can proceed under the intact sections of the law.

To that end, we are negotiating with the NAACP to bring suit on behalf of the Chippewa.  We remain hopeful the Democrats will back down, the Obama administration take some corrective action and work in a spirit of cooperation.  If we must fight in court, we will.  We will seek an injunction on the validity of the Chippewa Cree constitution and have it suspended by a federal court.  We will seek tribal funds be frozen pending the outcome of an enrollment audit.

Jon Tester does not hear his constituents in Montana; he did ensure his lawyers for the DSCC increased campaign contribution limits of wealthy donors from over 90,000 to well over 775,000.  He aided Wall Street to override key provisions of Dodd Frank.  In fact, it was his law firm that denuded what was left of McCain Feingold campaign finance reform.

There is a problem here, of credibility, sincerity and competence, this has been a consistent theme in dealing with Democrats on this issue going back to 2000.  While Senator Baucus was deflecting for Jonathan and Alvin Windy Boy to remain entrenched in Rocky Boy, Jonathan was breaking the law. Did Senator Baucus or his staff deflect for Sen. Windy Boy with regard to tax evasion, and unaddressed charges of rape and sexual abuse of minors?

Still more troubling, at least one Montana Democrat is alleging then-Attorney General Steve Bullock, now our Governor; shut the MT ICAC investigation of Windy Boy down as a political favor to him. If this did occur, should Bullock be in the Governor's office?  Why are investigations of Windy Boy being shut down, (his victims are told by FBI agents that at least two federal FBI investigations have been ordered closed by powers in DC)?

 One uninvestigated allegation stems from a period Jonathan was tribal chairman, that would be 2008 to 2010.  This would mean while Jonathan was strutting around, as a member of Obama's campaign tribal chairman's circle, he was covering up a rape allegation made by the parents of a minor child on the Rocky Boy reservation.  It was his own nephew, the tribal police chief, that shut down the investigation before it could reach the federal level, according to reservation residents knowledgeable with the matter.  This is a continued tactic of the state party at the present time to deny and deflect.  This ends this week.

In the coming days I will be taking these matters in their entirety to the state party chairman, I am in contact with the Democratic National Committee Vice Chairwoman Donna Brazile, and I will be contacting the other members of the DSCC.   I most certainly will be contacting the man who rammed through the provisions of the CRomnibus, Marc Elias.  Given Tester's refusal to address these matters over seven years running, I have to question whether he is fit to lead the DSCC.

WindyBoyGate is a scandal of or exceeding the scale of the Abramoff debacle that ended Burns' Senate career.  We will not let this go, I will not let this go.  I expect Senator Tester and the Montana Democrats to have answers and to begin a process of correction of all these related matters because when someone denies our right to exist, we have no choice but to challenge that.

I want to make it clear I expect Sen. Tester to act prudently and quickly on this matter.  I am personally pissed off at him because we asked for his help back in 2007. That is an awfully long time to wait for action.  I will be forcing action by the Senator and I am dragging this out in the public for all to see because there has been enough secrecy.  This is just the tip of the iceberg in the manner the state democratic party elites have abused their power, state party resources and have misled the public.  It is clear the party will continue to rack up losses unless we all commit to a spirit of reform.

I am calling for reform of the state party at this time.  This week, we are asking the state party chair and the Senate minority leader to begin the effort to push Windy Boy out and to seek his resignation from the state senate.  I am asking the state party leaders to back a long sought criminal investigation of Windy Boy.  We are asking the state party to back out of court mediation of the Rocky Boy tribal issues, a corrective Executive Order by President Obama and federal settlement legislation compensating the Chippewa people for 98 years the federal government allowed squatters on our land.  Most important we are asking for an enrollment audit, and a path forward by the Billings Area Office to enroll all of the lawful biological descendants of the Rocky Boy Chippewa band who have previously been denied enrollment.

In essence the Montana Democratic party have been duped into dealing with and now doing the criminal bidding of a FAKE tribal official.  This is egg on their faces, it makes them look stupid and hungry for votes that on the face of it really are not there.

#EricGarner #MikeBrown #JohnTWilliams #MistyUpham, et. al. countless victims

REQUEST TO MEDIA TO RESPECT THE MEMORY OF THOSE LOST

This is a request to all media to respect the memory of the deceased individuals whose premature and untimely deaths have transfixed the nation in recent weeks.  They are human beings who are missed by their families, the voids they leave can never be filled.

In their memory, please refrain from covering stories about Joe Scarborough's early morning rants on Morning Joe, or Peter King's cruel comments.  I am asking the media to boycott those that inflame the passions and will vie for airtime on major networks to display their white arrogance in the wake of these numerous deaths at the hands of police, and who are otherwise dead due to police misconduct and negligence.

This plea is being made to all media organizations to focus on the proactive efforts of the millions who have demonstrated throughout the nation,.  Even in hard hit places like the war-stricken city of Gaza, many have expressed their solidarity with the victim's families, and honored the memory of the fallen.

This plea to the media is to boycott from the airwaves those that fan the flames of hatred, commentators such as former NYC mayor Guiliani who contribute nothing to the advancement of equality in this country.  We do not need voices that tear down and destroy at this time.

The media should be covering the largely peaceful demonstrations and giving voice to the proactive; and not those that seek to further divide this nation at this difficult time.  Please be responsible in the coverage of this particular subject.  For all of those that want to hear commentary dripping in and marinated in racial hatred, there is a whole network devoted to that, it is called Fox News.

I am pleading for responsible journalism to cover this continuing unfolding struggle to achieve human dignity for us all.

Melinda Gopher,
Political Activist, Screenwriter
Former Democratic Candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from MT