Osage Congress Petition of Protest
By Sandra Akins Osage Member and Constituent
March 19, 2008
Reference: Congressional Affairs Committee
Subject: Meeting held on March 17, 2008
Mr. Speaker and Congress Members,
Attending the first meeting of the Congressional Affairs Committee, I must protest the actions taken for the Chair Anthony Shacklford Travel Expense presented at this meeting. It was obvious that the other members were unaware of this request for payment.
The travel request presented, postfacto, from three trips made, two to Tulsa and one to Oklahoma City.
This is a violation of your rules and Osage policy for notification prior to travel. You have allowed previous transgressions by some Congress members and Committees while time restraint could be better used in proper planning and open discussions.
I am stunned, by the actions of the members of this committee, Faren Anderson, Mark Simms, Kugee Supernaw and Eddy Red Eagle voting to provide payment to Mr. Shackelford, when he himself conceded, that he knew his request to be improper.
It is at this point that I must ask for a complete accounting of expense activities for each Congress member. It is time for the Osage Congress to be responsible and accountable to the people that elected them.
Mr. Speaker, Archie Mason, I respectfully ask that you respond to this petition by April 3, 2008.
Respectfully,
Sandra Akins, Osage member
Answer: This petition was not circulated to all Congressmembers as requested. One must assume that this reply was written by staff and signed by the speaker, as this was/is the mode of operandi on the Osage Nation website. I can only ask if this assumption is correct. As an Osage member we have the obligation and the right of responsibility to question our elected officials on their due diligents and to be answered truthfully without being patriotized and skirting the actual question. It is obvious that our elected officials and staff believe the people are stupid without thought or the ability to think or reason. I intend to review my 65 posts and conduct an inquiry with the department directors and congress. April, 24,2008
Memorandum
Date: March 25, 2008
From: Archie Mason, Speaker
To: Sandra Akins cc:
Re: Response to Petition of Protest
Ms. Sandra Akins,
I appreciate your attention to the business procedures of your Osage Nation Congress. Your presence is always welcome to our sessions. I am responding to your recent inquiry dated March 19, 2008, or our Congressional expenditures regarding travel. The approved FY08 budget for Congressional travel is $70,000. Your Congress has spent a total of $6,024.00, year-to-date (January 31, 2008), according to the financial record presented to us from the Treasury Department.
Ms. Akins, travel by your Congressional members is government related for the benefit of our nation. We keep our travel transactions and receipts and turn them in to the proper department upon our return. We will continue to address the rules and procedures in order they may accommodate all areas, departments, divisions, and your Congress for better implementation of your government.
Respectfully,
Osage Nation Congress
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