PAWHUSKA, Okla. – After a week of witness testimony, closing arguments are set for Monday in the removal trial of Osage Principal Chief John D. Red Eagle.

The Osage Nation Congress is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the six removal counts that span more than two years, including allegations of abuse of power, interfering with an Osage attorney general’s investigation, refusing to uphold tribal law, withholding at least one contract properly requested under the Osage Nation’s Open Records Act by two different newspapers and breaking federal and tribal law by using tribal funds to pay a contractor more than $70,000 to maintain his personal website.

In accordance with the tribe’s policies, in order for Red Eagle to be impeached, at least 10 of the 12 members of Congress must decide that there is “clear and convincing evidence” to support at least one allegation.             

“This is not about the Osage culture or Osage family ties,” Osage Nation attorney Mark Lyons said Monday during opening arguments. “This is not about who Chief Red Eagle grew up with. This is about who is best equipped and agreeable to carrying out this tribe’s government.”

Despite protesting that there was insufficient evidence to move forward with removal proceedings – and threatening twice to walk off of the witness stand -- Red Eagle admitted under oath Thursday that he broke the tribe’s Open Records Act when he ignored properly submitted 2013 records requests from the tribe’s newspaper, the Osage News, and the Bigheart Times, an independent weekly newspaper based out of Barnsdall, Okla., for copies of a contract between the tribe and pipeline consultant Rod Hartness.

Hartness, who is not a tribal citizen, represented Red Eagle’s office in negotiations with several labor unions about potential pipeline jobs coming to the Osage Nation. 

Neither paper received a copy of the contract for several months, prompting the Osage News to file a lawsuit in tribal court.  The suit was eventually settled, but the administration’s reluctance to release the document would eventually become part of the Congressional inquiry that lead to the removal trial.

“It breaks the Open Records Act,” Red Eagle said of the decision to not release the contract within the law’s 10-day response window. “In that instance, I did it. I broke the law.

“We suspected they would write something negative if they (the Osage News and the Bigheart Times) got his contract.”

Even the Osage Congress had to resort to legal action in an effort to see the contract, going so far as to issue a subpoena for it that was ultimately quashed.

“Congress would have wanted ONES (Osage Nation Energy Services) involved and they already messed up four other deals,” Hartness said Friday afternoon. “They didn’t know who I was talking to.

“I just didn’t want anyone else getting involved if the contract got out.”

As shown in court Thursday and Friday, Hartness’ contract did not specifically mention any businesses or unions the consultant had to meet with or was prohibited from talking with.

Red Eagle defended his office’s silence based on the number of jobs Hartness’ negotiations brought to Osage County – estimated at about 200 – and testified Thursday that if presented with the same situation, he could not guarantee his compliance with the law.

“I did it for the benefit of the Osage people,” Red Eagle said. “I did it so they would have jobs. If it’s a request that might hurt the tribe’s negotiations, I might do it again.”

Red Eagle also defended his decision to pay former contractor Paul Allen more than $70,000 in tribal funds over two years to develop and maintain a website for the principal chief’s office, despite being unable to show any evidence of Allen’s work.

A volunteer on Red Eagle’s 2010 chief’s campaign, Allen was fired from the Osage Nation three months before signing a contract with the principal chief’s office due to job abandonment.

“I didn’t terminate him because he was attempting to do work,” Red Eagle said. “He promised me he’d work on the website like we talked about.”

Despite being among the more than 25 witnesses on the trial’s initial subpoena list, Allen did not appear before the court, prompting the prosecution attorneys to read his Congressional inquiry testimony into the record. A member of the Osage Nation Police Department testified that despite multiple attempts over several days at his known addresses in Pawhuska and Barnsdall, the former contractor could not be served with the subpoena and had been tracked to an address in Benton, Ark., more than 300 miles outside of the Osage Nation Police Department’s jurisdiction.

Earlier in the week, Red Eagle denied attempting to interfere with an investigation by the Osage Nation Attorney General’s office into potentially fraudulent time sheets submitted by former Osage Nation employee Macy Williams Mashunkashey, Red Eagle’s grand-niece.

He acknowledged calling the Office of the Attorney General about the matter, but testified that he only wanted to know what was going on and why the matter warranted a criminal investigation rather than a referral to the tribe’s human resources department.

He also denied allegations of threatening to fire the investigator, Brian Herbert, if he did not drop the investigation.

“We take care of our family members,” Red Eagle said. “We Osages are very family-oriented, unlike you non-Indians. We take care of our own.

“I wasn’t interfering. I was only wanting to be informed.”

Monday and Tuesday’s sessions will be webcast live through the tribe’s temporary website, www.osagenation.co.

Due to instructions from Supreme Court justice Jeanine Logan to not discuss the proceedings, Red Eagle, the witnesses and the members of Congress have not been available to comment on the trial.

If found guilty of at least one of the six counts, Red Eagle will not be eligible to hold any elected or appointed positions within the tribe. Prior to the trial’s start, Red Eagle filed paperwork to run for a second term. He is one of four principal chief candidates on the ballot for the Osage Nation’s primary election in March.