Re: Finley is lone incumbent to survive tribal election

Please keep abreast of the situation going on with the $193 million settlement. There are things happening that are newsworthy and many hope will unseat those council who have been keeping themselves removed from the discussion demanded by our tribal members. At an important meeting that was called two weeks ago, only four council stayed the entire day to listen to members’ concerns. There is talk of working on recall petitions for Mr. Finley and those others who have been disregarding our people.

Not sure what will happen, but this is a very important time for our people. Please visit the Colville Tribe’s Facebook page to see more. Those who negotiated the settlement, including Mr. Finley, are not telling the truth when they are trying to scare members on public assistance by telling them that if we get the entire 100 percent of the settlement, they will lose benefits, when in reality there is federal law and regulation that says that trust monies do not affect the programs.

Mr. Finley and others negotiated away rights that they had no ability to negotiate away, so they could be able to use the funds from the settlement for “tribal business,” but our membership is tired of mismanagement and is starting to rally together to keep them in control. We shall see what happens, but I hope to see that you can investigate and report on this story as well.

Laurie Kanzleiter Sison

Auburn, Wash.