Las Vegas property purchase, properly unjustified

What happens in Vegas leads to tribal public dollars staying in Vegas

My name is Todd Hall.  I am an Awaxxawii Nux Baga also known as the Gros Ventre Band of the Hidatsa Tribe. I am also an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota. I am a private citizen. Tribal officials will be quick to say, that I have “No say.” I do have a voice and an opinion, however.

Through public media, I learned of the recent 15-acre Las Vegas land purchase — known as “the Village property” from MGM Resorts International, for an undisclosed sum of money — by the current MHA Nation Tribal Business Council. I, like many, many others, am shocked, appalled, and fully opposed to this purchase. 

“…I refuse to support any plans for future development or any proposed entertainment venue on this property that would dishonor and belittle the memory of my fellow Americans who perished and those who survived…”

Todd Hall, referring to the purchase of the MGM Resorts International property by the MHA along the Las Vegas Strip

I oppose not only its purchase, but I refuse to support any plans for future development or any proposed entertainment venue on this property that would dishonor and belittle the memory of my fellow Americans who perished and those who survived the horror of Oct. 1, 2017 on this notorious property. The memory still hurts so many.

Three Affiliated Tribes Chairman Mark Fox has been quoted as saying there is not any plan for the property. So how then, does he justify this expenditure of funds or explain how it serves the public purpose of the Tribal Nation and its members? All the Tribal Business Council appears to have done is purchase MGM’s “bad luck.” I, personally, am calling for an immediate Tribal divestment of these real estate properties as a result. 

Historically, when tribal capital purchases are made above a certain value, there has had to be proper justification and a clear demonstration as to how there is a quantifiable explanation to the “benefit of” and how such purchases are “in the best interest” of the tribal nation and its members. After all, these are tribal public dollars the tribal administration is tasked with managing and more importantly, safeguarding.

“So far, the only reasoning given by any tribal official to the media for the purchase, sounds more like the ramblings of a highly caffeinated high-stakes gambler, playing with real estate, rather than cards…”

Todd Hall, on the provided reasoning for the purchase of the MGM Resort land parcel.

Every enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes is a vested stake-holder in tribal dollars, and in tribal assets. We the People — every enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes — are the collective owners of these dollars and assets; they do not solely belong to the Tribal Business Council or its sitting officials. In other words, they belong to the tribal public.

So far, the only reasoning given by any tribal official to the media for the purchase, sounds more like the ramblings of a highly caffeinated high-stakes gambler, playing with real estate, rather than cards, who is proceeding on a hunch, led by misguided instincts rather than a solid business plan and/or clear-headed, deductive reasoning. 

The problem? These are tribal public dollars tied to tribal public assets; and not any one person’s personal piggy bank being leveraged, gambled and pissed away. 

As a result, this purchase may be unlawful and fall outside the jurisdictional scope and authority granted to the Tribal Business Council by the Constitution and Bylaws of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation.   

These lands are obviously not within the exterior boundaries of the existing Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, nor are they within the historical territory of the Hidatsa, Mandan, or Arikara People. Therefore, this purchase could have or should have been subject to a popular referendum vote of the people and approved by the general membership, prior to its execution.

Chairman Fox has stated to different news outlets that the actual purchase price to the property is subject to a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) which would be a violation of the Tribal Constitution.    

Therefore, I question the legality of the NDA, on the premise that Article 6, Section 5(c), of the Constitution states in part: “All expenditures from the Tribal Business Council fund shall be by resolution duly passed by the Council to such effect, and the amounts so paid shall be matters of public record at all times.”

Further adding to the alarm; there have been no financial audits or accounting of tribal assets conducted since 2018. Except for one, which the Tribal government, failed. So where is the money coming from?

Financial audits are required at least once a year, according to the Constitution and Bylaws.  The Tribal Business Council has been either grossly negligent and/or willfully ignorant to the basic performance of its duties and responsibilities owed to the Tribal membership. Basic governance has been severely lacking, in addition to a string of bad business.

For instance, currently, trust property landowners, known as allottees, have been forced to deal with issues of trespass by at least one multibillion-dollar Big Oil corporation upon their property without the support and protection of the law or the Tribal Business Council, which is a violation of the Tribal Constitution on the most basic level.

Article 6, Section 3 (a) POWERS of the Constitution states: “To present and prosecute any claims or demands of the Three Affiliated Tribes, and to assist members of the Tribes in presenting their claims or grievances before any court or agency of government, and to employ legal counsel; the choice of counsel and fixing of fees to be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior.”

“The Tribal Business Council has been either grossly negligent and/or willfully ignorant to the basic performance of its duties and responsibilities owed to the Tribal membership.”

Todd Hall, on the Tribal Business Council’s purchase of the land with Tribal money.

Contrary to the Tribal Constitution, more and more, individual Tribal members are finding themselves defending their basic rights — human, civil, treaty, and otherwise. Meanwhile, the Tribal Business Council seemingly ignores or outright opposes those members who defend those rights.

The Mark Fox Administration, in the meantime, continues to seek out and draw alliances with “big business” and Gov. Doug Burgum to the detriment of the tribes and its individual members. It has been said that the Three Affiliated Tribes is on a fast-track to becoming transformed from a treaty tribe to a Public Law 280 tribe as a result. 

In another instance, the Fox Administration has sought to claim and usurp allottee water rights.  In another, the Fox Administration continues to claim and usurp riverbed minerals that rightfully belong to Allottee families. 

These are, what I call, “right and wrong issues” that go right to the heart of the original Fort Laramie Treaty signed with the United States. The federal government’s hands are not clean on any of these matters. 

It makes a person wonder. Just who does the Fox Administration represent?

The administration, in its role as a functioning governmental agency, and exemplified by this blasphemous purchase appears to have gone full rogue. Council members have apparently put their own individual wants and gluttonous self-interests above the basic needs and necessities of the tribal nation and its members. 

With all the latest news coverage of this deal, the Fox Administration has made our Tribe famous by this head-scratching, bewildering purchase; and not in a good way.  Apparently, we are now known as the biggest “marks” in Las Vegas.  A mark, according to one Urban Dictionary, is another term for sucker. 

For who but a fool would propose to build a casino, or whatever, upon the blood-stained, consecrated sands of our fellow Americans

Todd Hall lives in New Town, N.D., on the Fort Berthold Reservation. He can be reached at 701-260-5770