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Mashpee tribal council candidates cite need for change
By Tanner Stening
Posted Feb 8, 2019
MASHPEE — Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe members will go to the polls Sunday to decide on six tribal council seats that are up for grabs at a critical time.
The election comes as the tribal council struggles to secure the tribe’s reservation land, save an embattled casino project and quell internal doubts about its current leadership.
Nine candidates are vying for the seats, including three incumbents: Carlton Hendricks Jr., Edwina Johnson-Graham and Yvonne Avant. The other candidates are Denise Johnson-Hathaway, Aaron Tobey Jr., Brian Weeden, Joanne Frye, Rita Pocknett Gonsalves and Marie Stone. The race includes faces familiar to the council and newcomers like Weeden, 26, who said he wants to bring significant reforms to give tribe members a greater say in their government.
“I don’t believe that a handful of people should be making decisions on behalf of 3,000 people,” Weeden said, adding that he’d like to see the tribe adopt referendum-style voting on important laws and ordinances.
Weeden said he would push for a long-dormant ethics ordinance that would require, among other things, tribal council members to disclose their personal business interests.
“This is something we’ve (the membership) been asking for repeatedly,” he said.
Weeden also wants to see more financial oversight through the creation of a finance committee that would act as a check against government fraud and waste.
Frye, Gonsalves, Avant and Johnson-Hathaway could not be reached for comment, and Stone declined to speak to a reporter when reached.
Several of the candidates who responded to interview requests alluded to the ongoing turmoil in the upper echelon of the tribal government.
Last month, tribal council Chairman Cedric Cromwell was temporarily stripped of his fiduciary powers after news surfaced of problems with his personal finances, including $37,000 he and his wife, tribal council member Cheryl Frye-Cromwell, owe the IRS, and business interests that were subpoenaed in the course of their divorce proceeding. On Wednesday, the tribal council reversed itself, voting to restore Cromwell’s fiduciary responsibilities and to rescind a vote of no confidence in his leadership.
“Cedric has got to go,” Tobey said. “We need new leadership — a clean sweep.”
There is tribal money that is unaccounted for, according to Tobey. If elected, he would initiate an investigation into Cromwell and the leadership, he said.
“He’s been very lucky to avoid any accountability, but now it’s about time he’s held accountable,” Tobey said.
Tobey said he would also push for an amendment to the 2008 Intergovernmental Agreement between the town and the tribe to give tribe members living in Mashpee a property tax exemption. The tribe owns the original deed to Mashpee, encompassing 25 square miles, as well as parts of Falmouth and Cotuit, he said.
“The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has been an absentee landlord for quite a while,” he said. “We have a deed to Mashpee. It is an enforceable deed, and there should be some kind of compensation for that.”
In an interview, Hendricks also zeroed in on Cromwell’s administration, saying debt incurred by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Gaming Authority has risen to roughly $507 million, more than $60 million more than the last figure reported by the backer of the tribe’s casino plans, Genting Malaysia.
The gaming authority is a five-member board, headed by Cromwell, that a recently released 2016 audit described as a “discretely presented component” of the tribe responsible for overseeing its stalled gaming operation. Members have long called for more transparency into the entity’s finances.
The tribe’s planned $1 billion casino resort in Taunton has languished since neighbors there successfully sued to overturn a decision by the Obama administration to take land into trust for the tribe. A federal judge remanded that decision to the Interior Department, which declined to take additional action on it. A bill pending in Congress would secure the tribe’s reservation land and bar additional legal challenges but it faces significant opposition.
No gaming authority money has been “set aside” specifically for tribe members, Hendricks said.
“We haven’t had one profitable tribal business in over 10 years,” he said. “And Cedric’s made a lot of money for his personal businesses.”
In his ongoing divorce, Cromwell failed to produce financial documents associated with several of his private companies, according to court documents.
The tribe’s finances, meanwhile, have also continued to suffer. Expenditures from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 of 2018 left the tribe with $83,670 in its general fund, according to a statement of its expenses and revenue for the year obtained by the Times. The tribe had to lay off 31 people last year and Cromwell said more cuts were expected this year, although its unclear how much is currently in its coffers.
“The question is, was he serving the tribe or himself,” Hendricks said. “I’m trying to bring integrity and transparency back to this tribe. Hopefully we as a people will elect councilors that will serve the people and not themselves, and will hold this administration accountable.”
Cromwell previously dismissed concerns over his businesses, saying they are unrelated to Genting and the tribe. After the tribal council voted to reinstate Cromwell’s financial powers, he said it was “difficult” to see his credibility called into question.
Johnson-Graham, who’s been on the tribal council since 2009, said she’s focused on the legislation to secure the tribe’s land, noting that the looming threat of losing tribal trust lands is the most urgent issue.
“We just went 10 steps backwards with this new administration,” she said about the Trump presidency. “I don’t want to leave my kid with a landless tribe.”
Johnson-Graham also wants to focus on helping tribal members suffering from addiction, and on economic development initiatives.
Sunday’s election will take place at the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Community & Government Center, at 483 Great Neck Road South. All enrolled tribe members are allowed to register on or before election day. Election results will be posted Monday at the government center.
https://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20190208/mashpee-tribal-council-candidates-cite-need-for-change?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GHM_Daily_Newsletter_Cape_Cod_Times&utm_content=GTDT_CCT&utm_term=020919
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