CONCHO, Okla. – Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal Gov. Janice Boswell suspended the tribe’s Lt. Gov. Leslie Harjo with pay the week of May 24-28. The suspension memo was delivered to Harjo and everyone employed by the tribe via the tribe’s global e-mail system, which reaches all employees within the tribes’ service areas.

“Your actions on Friday May 21, 2010 leave me no choice but to suspend you with pay beginning Monday May 24 through Friday May 28,” Boswell wrote in the e-mail. “If you are unable to deal with the stress inherent in public office, you may want to consult a mental health professional ... Therefore, any further outbursts, threatening confrontations or insubordination will result in an indefinite suspension without pay.”

Harjo said she was suspended for speaking up about being taken out of the administration’s chain of command. Harjo said along with her and Boswell’s campaign promise of transparency, the governor promised to make sure the lieutenant governor knew everything she did.

Harjo said she has been omitted from communication and decisions made on behalf of the executive branch and that a May 20 memo excludes her from the chain of command.

“I don’t know if we can resolve anything if we can’t communicate,” Harjo said.

The May 20 memo was sent from Debra Woolworth, the Tribal Enrollment Department’s executive director, stating that “any other requests for information from enrollment should follow the chain of command, per memo of April 16, 2010 from chief of staff Ida Hoffman, which states: ‘The chain of command is as follows: governor, chief of staff, executive directors, program directors, staff … deviation from protocol will result in disciplinary action.’”

Harjo said she believes part of her suspension stems from writing up Hoffman for disciplinary action more than once and questioned why no action had been taken.

Harjo has also filed documents in tribal court against Boswell and Hoffman questioning Hoffman’s employment. According to a 1996 tribal resolution, Hoffman is barred from being employed with the tribes due to allegedly attempting to “deliver fabricated minutes … to the superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).”

Harjo’s court document states no appeals have been made with the tribes’ court or the BIA regarding the 1996 resolution and the tribes’ Third Legislature deemed the 1996 resolution to have been properly passed.

She said she has also questioned the employment of five other administration employees. Harjo said those employees have criminal histories with the tribes, including some who were convicted of embezzlement.

“I know what it feels like to work with retaliation … I don’t want to work with people who steal … I don’t want to be in that category,” Harjo said. “We don’t need to lie to the people. As lieutenant governor I want to be in compliance with what I promised the people.”

Harjo added that she could not be suspended because she’s an elected official and has filed an injunction to keep Boswell from suspending her again.

According to the tribes’ constitution, “… A governor or lieutenant governor subject to removal shall be provided with adequate notice, be informed of the charges in writing, be given an opportunity to address the legislature in a public hearing, and be given an opportunity to contest the charges, and prepare and present a defense including presenting witnesses and other evidence …”

The Native American Times attempted to get a response from Gov. Boswell, but Public Relations Officer Lisa Martin said the governor declined to respond.

 

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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

TO:  NATIVE AMERICAN TIMES

FROM: GOVERNOR JANICE BOSWELL

CHEYENNE & ARAPAHO TRIBES



LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

I would like the opportunity to correct the information reported by Dana Attocknie in her recent article, "C&A governor suspends lieutenant" published June 8, 2010.  Lieutenant Governor Leslie Harjo was suspended from May 24, 2010 to May 28, 2010; however, relevant portions of Ms. Harjo's suspension memo were omitted from Attocknie's article.  I believe that some of the omitted material could have provided useful context for Native Times' readers.

Ms. Harjo stated that she was suspended for "speaking up about being taken out of the administration's chain of command."  I would like to clarify Ms. Harjo's characterization of her suspension.

The suspension memo to Ms. Harjo cited two repeated warnings issued to Harjo for official misconduct and unprofessional behaviour, including Harjo's public outbursts, threatening confrontations and multiple instances of insubordination.  Harjo was not suspended for "speaking up."  Rather, she was suspended for the manner in which she voiced her objections to my recent Chain of Command Executive Order.

Harjo was suspended with pay.  Essentially, I gave Harjo a directive to take a week away from work while I was away on business.  As Governor, it is imperative that I be able to rely on the Executive staff to maintain operations whether or not I am present at the Concho Tribal Complex.  In order to clear up any questions with respect to the Lieutenant Governor's authority while I am away and to avoid any misunderstandings caused by Harjo's repeated attempts to exceed her authority over tribal employees, I made an administrative decision to suspend Harjo pending further resolution on the issue.

Attocknie also reported that Ms. Harjo has applied for an injunction from the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal Court to prevent me from suspending her again, stating that she cannot be suspended because she is an elected official.  After researching public records online, I can find no instance where Harjo has applied for an injunction against me to prevent future suspensions.

Although she did not cite to the salient constitutional provision, Attocknie did reference a constitutional due process requirement for removal of elected officials.  I would like the record to be absolutely clear:  I have made no attempt to remove the Lieutenant Governor from office.  Article VII, Section 1(a) of the Tribes' Constitution requires the Lieutenant Governor to be subordinate to the Governor.  The Constitution outlines numerous powers and duties of the Governor, but does not, likewise, outline, implicitly or explicitly, any rights, powers or duties of the Lieutenant Governor, except to provide that the Lieutenant Governor is subordinate to the Governor.

Ms. Harjo is not subject to any retaliatory acts whatsoever.    Ms. Harjo's suspension has been lifted and she is back to work - in light of her education and background, I have instructed that she continue assisting the Attorney General with Indian Child Welfare matters.

The Native American Times is a trusted resource that is relied upon by the tribal community.  The journalistic ethics consistently exhibited by your publication compels me to set the record straight on the foregoing issues.  I believe it is important to note that the author of this aforementioned article, Ms. Dana Attocknie, was recently terminated as editor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal Tribune.  It surprises me that Ms. Attocknie was assigned a story involving the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes on the heels of her termination.  Such an assignment could certainly be perceived as a conflict of interest and the circumstances related to her termination may impact Ms. Attocknie's ability to maintain journalistic impartiality.

 

Editor’s note: Dana Attocknie (Comanche/Ohkay Owingeh) earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from Cameron University in 2003. She majored in journalism and minored in radio/TV. While at CU, she worked on the college newspaper (The Collegian) staff and served as managing editor of the university magazine (the Wichita). As editor the university won its only national award when the magazine was recognized as best collegiate magazine from New York’s Columbia University School of Journalism. Attocknie remained on the dean’s and president’s list at CU and was inducted into Lambda Pi Eta, the National Communication Honor Society. She was also recognized as a Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities. While at CU, Attocknie was also a founding member of the Society of Professional Journalists for that region.

After graduating CU, Attocknie began work at the Altus Times as the city/government reporter on a Monday and Wednesday of that same week she was named assistant managing editor. She also continued her academic career and earned her Master of Arts degree in Communication from the University of Oklahoma in 2006.

During her collegiate career, Attocknie received several awards from the Oklahoma Collegiate Press Association including best feature story and photography, in addition to later helping judge high school entries.

Attocknie has participated in and received scholarships from the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute and the Freedom Forum’s Chips Quinn Scholars. Her internships and career have taken her to the Missoulian newspaper in Missoula, Mont. (Lee Enterprises newspaper), the Star Banner newspaper in Ocala, Fla. (The New York Times Company newspaper), USDA Radio in Washington D.C., Cotton Election public relations in Walters, Okla., and KFOR-TV and Oklahoma Publishing Today/Capitol News Network in Oklahoma City. Attocknie is a member of the Native American Journalist Association and the Oklahoma Press Association. She was also nominated/selected as part of the inaugural class for National Education for Women’s (N.E.W.) Leadership – Oklahoma, through OU’s Carl Albert Congressional and Research Studies Center.