Congress vs. Constitution update April 2010 -2008

#119

Raymond,

What is the problem with this Congress, those of you running again for Congress actually believe you will be reinstated again? Raymond, I am not including you in this question.

What can the people do at this point?

These idiots - have absolutely no idea of the consequence of their actions and the jeapordy they are causing the Osage Nation as a whole. You know other Tribes are setting back and having a good laugh at the way we run our business, we are a joke!

Most Osages- are smarter and wiser than those in Congress specifically - Supernaw, Simms, Red Eagle, Revard, Anderson, Branstetter, Shackleford and Mason, we must show them the error of their ways and this will happen at election time - it couldn't come to soon for the Osages.

We need to make sure the Osage News prints their voting record on Constitutional issues and other very important issues including the potential economical breakdown this decision will cause.
Last yearI (via e-mail) I requested Archie Mason to poll Congressmembers voting "NO" for their reasons on Constitutional issues and when they overide the Chiefs vetos becasue it is important to the people and it is their obligations to the people. There has never been an answer..

Sandra

--- On Thu, 4/8/10, Raymond Redcorn wrote:


From: Raymond Redcorn
Subject: Update #119
To: rredcorn@gmail.com
Date: Thursday, April 8, 2010, 8:11 AM



Update #119

The views, opinions and commentary in this update are those of Congressman Red Corn. They are his alone, and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the Osage Nation Congress.

Osage Congress fails to confirm Gaming Enterprise Board

Yesterday the Osage Congress effectively removed all three Gaming Board members by failing to confirm them. The vote was by secret ballot, which was opposed by three Congresspersons; Freeman, Atterberry and myself. I voted to confirm all three appointees.

No longer serving are George Pease, Frank Oberly, and Elizabeth Homer. I spoke in favor of retaining the appointees, as did Congresspersons Atterberry and Freeman.

Most noticeable was the lack of warning that a
majority of Congress had intent to make such a move. I sit on the committee of jurisdiction (Commerce), and no committee discussion has been held during any meeting regarding the unsuitability of any of the appointees. Mr. Pease and Mr. Oberly have both served 3-year terms, plus a 6 month extension provided by law. Ms. Homer, a former commissioner on the National Indian Gaming Commission, was an interim appointee, replacing Mr. Tom Slamans, who resigned last fall.

The consequences of having no board are not clear, but here are a few things I’ve learned in the past 24 hours. All MDE payroll checks must be signed by the Chairman of the Board. The Gaming Enterprise Board approves all distributions to the Osage Nation, and all gaming vendor payments (the cut that goes to owners of gaming machines that represent the majority of machines on the floor of MDE casinos).

I asked our
Congressional counsel if he had been asked to render any opinions on the consequences of having no Gaming Enterprise Board seated. He said he had not.

Immediate concerns aside, there are other pressing questions that deserve answers. What impact will this have on seating a new board? Ms. Homer is a former U.S. Justice Department attorney who was appointed to the highest Indian Gaming authority in the U.S. during the Clinton administration. If she is unqualified to hold a position on the Osage Gaming Enterprise Board, who is qualified? Are there truly capable and experienced people that will be willing to serve on this board after this event? What is the reasoning behind this decision by a majority of Congress?*

During Motions and Notices I asked for confirmation that we were indeed without a Gaming Enterprise Board. The answer was
yes. I then asked if any members of Congress had any idea of the impact of having no Enterprise board would have on the Nation. I was cut off by an immediate motion to adjourn.

As always, please share your opinions and thoughts with me at your convenience.

With respect,

Raymond Red Corn
Osage Nation Congress
918-287-7400
rredcorn@gmail.com
rredcorn@osagetribe.org




Raymond Red Corn #118

Attorney General bill fails

The bill to create an office of Attorney General failed yesterday on a 7-5 vote, with the co-sponsor, Congressman Red Eagle, voting against it, joined by Congresspersons Supernaw, Revard, Branstetter, Anderson, Shackelford and Simms. Voting yes were Congresspersons Mason, Red Corn, Atterberry, Edwards and Freeman.

In debate, objections were made to the failure of the bill to require the A.G. to be Osage. However, no amendments to that effect were offered in committee, and none were offered on the floor. It was pointed out that the Congress would have to confirm the first A.G., and therefore would have full control over whether the A.G. was, or was not, Osage. After that, the Osage people would decide whether or not the A.G. was Osage. Such facts did not persuade the majority, and the Nation is left with the status quo; settlement of inter-branch disagreements via expensive lawsuits.

Commissioner Chissoe sends notice to Congress



Gaming Commissioner Richard Chissoe has notified the Executive Branch and Congress that he will not accept another nomination for Gaming Commissioner of the Osage Nation. The post will be vacant until an interim appointment is made.

The Gaming Commission is the watchdog agency that regulates the Osage Nation Million Dollar Elm casinos.
Comment: Due to this action the Congress in Session fired the complete Board, which would put the Gaming in jeopardy.
Legislation to increase Congressional compensation reviewed by Government Operations

Congressman Supernaw’s bill to increase the compensation package members of Congress receive may be expanded to cover all elected officials. The Government Operations committee took up the bill yesterday, and the bill was tabled so that amendments could be drafted that would expand the measure’s coverage to all elected officials and members of the Judiciary.

The expansion amendment may be considered at the next GovOps meeting. I oppose the measure.

From: Raymond Redcorn
Subject: Update #117
To: rredcorn@gmail.com
Date: Wednesday, March 31, 2010, 5:23 PM


Update #117

The views, opinions and commentary in this update are those of Congressman Red Corn. They are his alone, and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the Osage Nation Congress.

Ethics amendment defeated

The Congress voted down an amendment to the Ethics law this morning that would have placed the Congress on the same footing as all other elected and appointed officials in the Nation when it comes to filing ethics complaints. The vote leaves in place a special requirement that any complaint against a member of Congress must first be heard by members of Congress.

The amending bill failed on a 6-5 vote. Voting yes for the amendment were Congresspersons Freeman, Edwards, Mason, Atterberry and Red Corn. Voting no were Congresspersons Anderson, Red Eagle, Revard, Shackelford, Simms and Supernaw. Congresswoman Branstetter was absent.


Bill introduced to increase Congressional compensation



Sandra's Comment of facts:  This has become a priority for Congress member Supernaw.  He wants this to pass a law for the Retirement for Congress members using this money per each and wants the Nation to match or add to this retirement.  This is a very bad idea,  I believe there are other ways and means to have a type of retirement and not one to be taken care of through the Nations H.R. department, because the Congress works under their policies.  I believe they could have an IRA account run by the Congressional OFPR department.   This man (Kugee) is dangerous

Congressman Supernaw has introduced a bill to increase the amount of compensation members of Congress receive. If the bill passes as introduced, the Osage Nation would expend an additional $2800 per Congressperson per year (maximum) to match contributions made by members.



Tribal councilpersons (or in this case, tribal congresspersons) may not contribute to Social Security, nor may tribal nations pay in Social Security taxes (FICA) on behalf of tribal elected officials, according to the information provided to members of Congress. If I understand it correctly, this bill authorizes the Nation to match retirement contributions by members of Congress (up to 5% of base pay) in lieu of Social Security contributions.

I oppose the measure.

As always, please share your opinions and thoughts with me at your convenience.

With respect,

From Sandra Akins to;

Raymond,

Attorney General, I would like to see an Osage member be the Attny. General, however, in the recent past and history, we can not guarantee that the membered Attny. General would be effective in all matters for the nation without personal views, as what has happened with this Congress. This is a double sided sword and a difficult decision to make. I would like to see this bill passed so this can be done, we need an attny. Gen.


Thanks for the update on the Health Card. Sandra
--- On Thu, 3/25/10, Raymond Redcorn wrote:


From: Raymond Redcorn
Subject: Update #116

Update #116

The views, opinions and commentary in this update are those of Congressman Red Corn. They are his alone, and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the Osage Nation Congress.

U.S. Congress exempts Indian Health benefits from taxation

Recently some Osage citizens were troubled by a questionnaire included in the application for the Health Benefit debit card. Many believed it went too far and did not provide any assurance of personal privacy.

The last meeting of the Health and Social Services committee addressed the questionnaire and the rationale used by the Executive branch for its development. In short, the Executive claimed the reason for the questionnaire was to blunt any future claim by the IRS that the benefit was taxable.

Fortunately, the need for the questionnaire has been eliminated by the new health bill (H.R. 3590) recently passed by the U.S. Congress. The new law clearly exempts “Indian health care benefits” from the definition of “gross income” in the IRS code.

What does this mean for you? It means a wide variety of potential health benefits that could be offered by the Osage Nation are exempt from taxation. This will offer clear advantages over per-capita payments, which are taxable under the IRS code.

Amendment to eliminate special treatment of Congress goes to floor

ONCA 09-05, which would end special treatment for Congress in the Ethics Code, was referred to the Congress from the Government Operations committee with by a 3-1 vote earlier this week.

The majority of the Congress passed a floor amendment to the Ethics bill in 2008 that carved out a special process if an Osage citizen wished to file an ethics complaint against a member of Congress. The original language in the bill had all complaints going to the Osage prosecutor, but the adopted floor amendment required all complaints to be filed with committees within the Congress. I opposed the floor amendment in 2008, and am the sponsor of the new amendment that seeks to reinstate the original language of the bill.

The recommendation for “do pass” received “yes” votes from Congresspersons Mason, Red Corn, and Freeman, and one “no” vote from Congressman Supernaw.

This was presented and it was voted down by the same Congress members that do not want to accept the resposibility for their actions:     Supernaw, Simms, Revard, Branstetter, Anderson, Red Eagle, Shackelford.

Resolutions calling for constitutional amendments to be put before the people are coming up for a vote – again.

Three resolutions that would lower the petition signature thresholds in the constitution were scheduled for a vote Thursday, but I have requested they be withheld from the agenda until Friday. The reason: two members of Congress will be absent on Thursday, and the 10 necessary votes are difficult enough to get (no resolution of this type has ever passed) without having members absent.

More resolutions to put constitutional amendments before the people in June were also sent to the floor from Government Operations. Included were two resolutions from Congressman Supernaw; one to change “eligible for membership” to “right of citizenship”, and another to lower the number of votes necessary to override a veto from nine to eight. The former got a “do pass” with a 4-1 vote, (Congressman Freeman voting “no”) and the latter was referred unanimously with “no recommendation”.
There will not be any amendments to the Osage Constitution - Raymond Red Corn keeps trying - he has a good idea, but this Congress will not pass anything that will give the Osage People the right to call attention to their responsibility and/or transparency.

Attorney General bill also reported out

The Attorney General bill was debated and amended today, also in Government Operations, but from the sound of the comments from other members of Congress it may not fare well on the floor. Very few amendments were offered, however, and the bill passed out on a 5-0 “do pass” vote.

An amendment was offered that changed how the first, and then subsequent, Attorneys General will be chosen. As we are very close to the election, the committee approved the amendment which would make the first Attorney General an appointment of the Principal Chief, with the confirmation of Congress necessary for that person to assume office. All subsequent Attorneys General would be elected by the people. I plan to offer a floor amendment to the bill that will delay the effective date until after the winner of the upcoming election for Principal Chief is sworn in – to be safe, more than a month after a possible runoff election.

Choosing the first Attorney General via appointment and confirmation will allow the Congress a little less than two years to refine the law prior to the first election of an Attorney General. It would also place the Attorney General’s election in the “off year” where only six positions in Congress are now scheduled.

The law as originally written had no requirement for the Attorney General to be Osage, or even Native American. The bill was amended to require the Attorney General to be a member of a federally recognized tribe.

There was lively discussion on the subject of whether or not to require the Attorney General to be Osage. It was suggested that any congressperson believing such a requirement be made offer floor amendments to make it so. If you have an opinion on this issue, please share it.

Once again the majority would not accept the possibility of any authority that would set in judgement  against their control.

We will have to elect those that are considerate with the common sense for the Osage People and not afraid to stand up for their transgressions against the Osage People.

As always, please share your opinions and thoughts with me at your convenience.



With respect,

Raymond Red Corn
Osage Nation Congress
918-287-7400
rredcorn@gmail.com
rredcorn@osagetribe.org


To Whom It May Concern:

Many others and I enjoy the Osage Newspaper, This newspaper is important to all Osages everywhere and those within the boundaries of Okla. that are not actively involved in the comings and goings here in the Osage. 

The Congress's action in cutting the Executive Branches communication budget used for mailing the Osage Newspaper will represent a large hole in the hearts of our people.  

I know that articles submitted for publications were printed exactly as submitted for the Osage Newspaper.

These Congress members (Supernaw, Shackelford, Simms, Revard, Red Eagle, Anderson and Branstetter) has excluded and ignored the population of the Osages worldwide.  The shame is on these individuals when their decisions for not serving the very people that put them in office. And now, they are thumbing their noses at us by their actions.

You Osages that are unhappy with this group must stand up and be counted and tell them to stop with their personal feelings  toward the other branches, and do what they were elected to do.

Mark Simms made the statement that they the Congress speak for the people. I for one informed him and those in the committee meeting that he does NOT speak for the Osage People and me.

What can we the people do to as a Nation to let the Congress know how dissatisfied we are in their actions and the abuses they have carried out with false information, their personal causes that has brought a barrier between the branches.  We all must remind them that they work for the people through the peoples Constitution.   It is my personnel opinion that letters will only inform them of their treachery to the people, we are going to have to go that extra step in making them pay attention and know we will no longer stand by and witness their personal grievance’s.

Membership vs. Congress vs. Constitution

Section 1.  Base membership roll - is defined to be that from  the Act of June 28, 1906 – specifically  (34 stat. 539).

Some members of Congress and other vicious  that do nothing but argue, complain or have personal grievances’ on a continual basis- this type of behavior is not what the people voted for and do not want for representing the Osage People.  We are the majority and those with this affliction are few but are hurtful to the People.

Concerns from Osage member outside of the rez.

  thanks for your info and you can bet when I do make it back there I will let you all know, and I will be coming to the rez,  I haven't been back since  junior in high school, but I am really looking forward to it in more ways than one. 
 
I will keep you posted I am hoping early this sping before thing thaw out in Alaska, because once that happens the building will start and I wont be able to leave. I am keeping my fingers crossed that things fall into place, because this is something that is very important to me.
 
Take care of your selves,
My reply:
Hi , I am glad to keep you and others informed because I believe everyone needs to know what is going on. There has been problems with the live feed and recordings in this session. In spite of Kugees e-mail, we all know that I do not lie and have no reason in doing so. I haven't decided if I want to acknowledge or respond to his last e-mail, because the facts remain the same.I would like to see you if you have time, and if you have a desire to come to the rez. that would be great too.

I am starting up my website again: osageforum.com. I believe it needs to begin - because of the elections coming up next year - it won't be long. I think I will begin with what is going on now and go backwards, because I think everyone has a right to their own opinions and comments.

I am so glad you will be coming to Oklahoma



 Subject: Re: Update #84
To: "Sandra Akins" Date: Monday, September 21, 2009, 2:30 AM

 Thanks again for keeping me in the loop, it means a lot to me since I can not be there.  I am going to try and
 come out early spring if things work out. I will be staying with an old class mate from Will Rogers High. I would really love to get together with you while I'm there, and if you think I should go to the Res. we can talk about doing that. Again thank you. Take care of You.

From: "Sandra Akins" To: "
 Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009

 Hello > I am so sorry to have to report such abuse of Power - the conduct of our own elected officials. It is all true and you can review and listen to their meetings- both committee and sessions.Their interpretations of the Osage Constitution are abominable and self serving.
As far as I know I am the only Osage that asks questions for our concerns and they forget and or do not care what we think and believe they are not accountable to us.

 Only a few questions I have specifically asked: Doug Revard: Why are you recommending a new bill that is in
 direct conflict with bills already passed and become law. His answer: The state of Oklahoma has thousands of bills
 that do the same and that is just government. My answer back: That is the state of Oklahoma is 100 years
 old with a constitution and they have been legislating much longer than the Osage, and why would you want to repeat their mistakes instead of learning from them. We are still young and have the opportunity to review these bills that become law prior to making so much confusion for the future....

 Gaming: Congress members, William Supernaw, Doug Revard, Anthony Shackelford, and Jerri Jean Bransteader - Lied to gaming personal in order to obtain access to proprietary records that was not available to the Congress. Soon after the NIGC hearing -Mark Simms submitted an amendment to the Ethic's bill where the Congress is only responsible for itself and not to the people, any and all grievances are submitted to the Congress to decide the punishment if any- and there is no codes or judgments spelled out in the rules or regulations. Doug Revard - used his position as a Congress member to try
 and get a Manager fired because she did her job.

 William Supernaw - is a renegade all his own and the most dangerous Congress member and leader of the group of followers. He has started ridicules bills that have been tabled and unsuccessful in getting out of committee.
 Faren Revard Anderson: Congress Appropriation Chairperson, has held up appropriations on many programs even after a bill has been passed and the Executive Branch has been unable to proceed with programs.There is much more, and as I have said before - you can confirm these facts in investigating on your own through the website.
 I will continue to ask questions and attend the meetings as before. The Budgets will be review Sept. and I plan on attending most of those and the sessions. The committee meetings is where I can ask questions and find out what they are doing. These are also videoed and you can listen to via the website.

 The above is summarized. I hope this helps a little, but these kinds of things are rampant and needs to be addressed
 during the next election. We have to be diligent in the next election, before we elect others that would harm us ALL.
 Sandra

-- On Tue, 8/25/09, >
 Subject: Re: Update #84
 To: "Sandra Akins" > Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2009, 2:39 PM
 Sandra,
 Again I thank you for keeping up dated.  What in HELL is going on, this stuff is starting to scare the you know what out of me. I have been getting the stuff from super k but I need a balance.

New Subject:
 ----- Original Message -----
 From: "Raymond Redcorn" To:
osageslalu@sbcglobal.net
Date: Sun, 5 Jul 2009 11:08:17
 Sandra,
I must respectfully disagree with your assessment of the intent of these bills and resolutions.  They in no way represent attacks, either personal or political, against the Principal Chief or the Executive Branch of our government.

 ONCR 09-09, 10, and 12 are resolutions that set up elections where the Osage people make the decisions,not the Congress.  In each case 10 members of Congress must agree to put the question before the people, and 65% of the voters voting must agree that the constitution must be changed.  Each helps assure the validity of those portions of the Constitution giving Osage people a voice via the petition process.  Without these amendments, two sections of the Constitution are truly without and value to the people.

 If you are referring to Update #85, where I call upon the Principal Chief to nominate the election board, I stand by my statement that the election is endangered by the failure of the Principal Chief to make those nominations. The Osage Constitution, passed in 2006, clearly calls for the creation of an election board. Congress passed the election code
 (ONCA 08-27) last fall, meaning the Chief Gray has had three years (since 2006) to prepare for these nominations and has been  authorized for nine months (since last fall) to make them. We will have elections in less than eleven months, the
first of their kind (the last were put on by the Reform Commission), and we have no election board to budget, plan, train, make rules, establish the Voter Registry, print material...the list goes on.  As to "why" the nominations have yet to be made, the answer is left to our imaginations.

The bill to set a term for the Treasure (ONCA 09-49) is nothing more than a housekeeping bill.  He is appointed, but there is no term. Logic dictates that a political appointee's term of office should coincide with the term of the Principal Chief.
 As for ONCA 09-50, this is exactly what Chief Gray asked for in his veto message; a clarification that oil from the Mineral Estate was not meant to be covered by the Anti-alienation Act.
The remaining piece of legislation, a resolution to create a "lockbox" amendment, may very well be supported by Chief Gray; that remains to be seen. I can't speak for him, but this legislation, despite your accusations, actually protects long-term assets from easy access by Congress.  Please read the bill again,and if you have questions, please write me.

As to your claim that Congress protects itself from ethics charges, I believe you know which side of this issueI have been on from the very beginning.  I vigorously opposed floor amendments that required complaints against members of Congress be filed with Congress, and have entered amendments to take the legislation back to its original form, making Congress accountable directly to the people. Those amendments are in committee.
As to your claim that Congress raised the salaries of  its own employees, that is true.  That action was taken by the Congressional Affairs committee, and I did vote yes for the increase.  Congress also appropriated $150,000
 to the Executive branch nine months ago to implement a pilot program for the Merit System.  Chief Gray signed
 the legislation.  I've asked several times if any action has taken place, and to my knowledge, none has. It was hoped that the pilot program could be implemented with the budget process this fall for FY2010, but at this point it looks very doubtful, even though Congress has done its part.

 I always appreciate your input, regardless of whether you agree with my position or not.  If you have any additional questions or comments that I can address, please let me know.
Regards,
Raymond Red Corn
Osage Nation Congress

 On Sun, Jul 5, 2009 at 9:33 AM,
 wrote:
Raymond,
  I am tired of seeing these proposed bills and amendments that continue to attack and limit the Executive Branch efforts to maintain a working government be controlled by this ONC.  These continued personal efforts are hurting the people and the programs set up by the Executive Branch.  Once again this Congress needs to get over their  controlling, spiteful innuendos of the "peoples"  principal Chief.   You mention in this message and previous ones the election of the Principal Chief as a unit of one and that you and those other Congress members have the full support of the Constituents, Well, you are wrong in assuming that the majority Osages believe that this Congress while being immune from that same election.  As far as I can see the abuse of Power comes directly from this Congress.

 The proposed bills are sloppy, incomplete, and are offensive to good government.    This Congress must not forget amendments; such as: 1. Protectionism for each member of congress in your ethics\ bill - which is a direct insult to the Osage People.

Called for the NO NEW HIRING in the Executive Branch - while the Congress continued to hire. 3. Congressfroze salary increases for the Executive Branch while at the same time gave their employees exorbitant salary increases (with the primary excuse; waiting on the merit system,(BA HUMBUG).    These are only a few here, but the list goes on and on.  This is a direct insult to the people.

 You need to review your (congresses) own handy work and cease personal attacks on the Executive Branch.  It is a reality that this Congress can not and will not work with the Executive Branch and this is unforgivable in your positions of elected officials.

The Osage people are not stupid and have been watching and will elect a NEW Congress, and will ask questions and seek out those that will work cohesively with the Executive Branch and the Osage People, while paying more attention to a better government. After I sent an e-mail and pointing out Kugee's being a bad influence on other followers in Congress- I no longer receive his notes to the nation, and quite frankly I don't miss his notes.

 Respectfully yours, Sandra Akins
 On Mon, 6/29/09, Raymond Redcorn > wrote:

 From: Raymond Redcorn > > Subject: Update #84
 To: rredcorn@gmail.com
 Date: Monday, June 29, 2009, 1:17 PM

 Update #84
 
 The views, opinions and commentary in this update are those of Congressman Red Corn.They are his alone, and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the Osage Nation Congress. An quick look at new filed legislation
The following six bills and resolutions (copies attached) have been pre-filed for the fall session.  As sponsor, I may modify the bills or resolutions at any time prior to the day they are ‘read in’, most likely the first day of the fall session.
Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

 Note:  Resolutions 09-09, 09-10, and 09-12 are very similar to resolutions introduced in the fall of 2007 for the same
 purpose. One significant difference is that if passed, the ballot questions would be voted upon in the 2010 general election as opposed to holding a special election as provided in the earlier resolutions. Ten votes are needed to pass this type of resolution. \

ONCA 09-49: Amending the Treasury bill. 
The Treasury bill was written without a defined term of service for the Treasurer, who I appointed by the Chief and confirmed by the Congress.  This amendment establishes that term and the details related to it.

 ONCA 09-50:  Amending ONCA 09-03, the Anti-Alienation Act.
 The original act was intended to prevent theExecutive branch from selling or transferring certain types of property without the consent of the Congress.  The Executive branch complained that a strict interpretation of the bill’s language would place
Congress in the position of approving oil and gas leases.  This amendment clarifies that ONCA 09-03 as no effect on the Osage mineral estate.

ONCR 09-09: Authorizing an election to amend the Osage Constitution to lower the number of signatures required to cause an election to amend the constitution.  It would change the requirement from 25% of the electorate to 25% of the number of voters voting in the last general election in which the Principal Chief was elected.   If a group of Osage constituents wished to circulate a petition today to bring about a vote to amend the constitution, they would need approximately 2150 signatures to accomplish the task.*  That number represents about 86% of the Osages who voted in the last election.  Such a requirement is without logic, especially considering it would take only 65% of those voting
 on a constitutional amendment to pass it.

 This problem exists because the constitution  calculates the number of signatures necessary based on a percentage of the “electorate”, defined by law as all members of the Osage Nation over the age of 18.  This amendment, if approved by Osage voters, would calculate the number of petition signatures necessary based upon the number of voters voting in the last general election in which the Chief was chosen.

 Some may ask “why not just use a percentage of  voters from any general election?”  Those paying close attention to the Congress know that many efforts to establish elections to amend the constitution have fallen short by one vote. Placing the
 standard slightly higher** may help capture that one vote needed to put this issue before the people.

 ONCR 09-10: Authorizing an election to amend the Osage Constitution to lower the number of signatures necessary
 to initiate the process of recalling an elected official.

 Another effort to lower the number of signatures required, this time for recalling elected officials.  One notable difference; the number of signatures required would drop from 15% of the electorate (about 1300 signatures) to 25% of the voters voting in the last election in which the Chief was chosen (about 625 signatures using the 2006 vote totals as a basis).

 ONCR 09-11:  The “lockbox” amendment.

 The proposed added sentence to Article VI, Section 12 would give the Osage Congress an important tool.  The best way to explain how it would work is by  example. Let’s say the Osage Nation Congress wished to established long term protection for an important asset.  It could be land, long-term investments, an educational trust, etc.  Let’s assume that in doing so, they write a law that requires 9 of 12 congressional votes to access that asset, thereby protecting the asset long term.

 This particular type of protection is meaningless.  Why?
Because even though it takes 9 votes to access the asset, it would only take only seven votes to amend the law an lower the supermajority requirement. With such a constitutional amendment, if any law is passed that requires 8 or more votes to access an asset, it will take the same number of votes to amend that law and lower the number of votes required to access the asset.

 
 ONCR 09-12:
 Authorizing an election to amend the Osage Constitution to lower the number of signatures necessary for initiative petition or referendum.

 Same issue as 09-10 and 09-11, except this amendment would lower the number of signatures required for Osage citizens to write and pass laws by initiative or to overturn laws through referendum.

 As always, please share your opinions and thoughts with me at your convenience.

 With respect,
   Raymond Red Corn
 Osage Nation Congress
918-287-7400
 rredcorn@gmail.com
 rredcorn@osagetribe.org

* “Electorate” in the Osage Nation is defined
 as all persons holding membership cards (not CDIB cards) who are 18 or older (around 8600 people as of this writing).  25% of 8600 = 2150.
**Conventional wisdom dictates more signatures would be required if percentagecalculations were based on a general election in which the Principal Chief is chosen as opposed to the off-year elections such as the one in 2012, where only
 six members of Congress are elected.  In the first instance the Principal Chief, Assistant Principal Chief, eight members of the Minerals Council and six members of Congress are on the ballot.  One may assume more voters wouldturn out for this election, thereby increasing the number of signatures required for petitions in the years immediately following.  If just the term “general election” were used in the amendment, the number of signatures required would most likely drop for the two years between an off-year election like 2012when only six members of Congress are on the ballot) and the larger election in 2014.