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MHA Nation Business Council candidate enters chairman race, seeks accountability in spending
Photo by Buffalo's Fire.
Ronald Brugh launched his campaign for tribal chair of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation of the Three Affiliated Tribes saying he plans to bring transparency to the TAT Tribal Business Council and community.
“We need accountability. We definitely need transparency and we need some honesty about what’s going on with our government,” Brugh told Buffalo’s Fire.
Brugh is a long-time MHA Nation resident of the West Segment on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. His professional background is in business and rodeo. He grew up in Mandaree, N.D. and belongs to the Knife Clan, or Mee-cirooga.
As one of five contenders for the Three Affiliated Tribes’ top elected spot, Brugh opened the campaign this week with a live internet Q&A Zoom session for the public, a candidate forum sponsored by the Fort Berthold Legacy Vision group.
Brugh is listed on the official Three Affiliated Tribes candidate list for tribal chairman. Three district representative seats and the at-large chair position are up for this election season, attracting a total of 15 candidates.
Brugh graduated from the University of Mary with a bachelor’s of science in business administration. He is the owner of War Pony Land and Energy LLC, handling land titles and construction for companies that work with oil.
The Fort Berthold reservation sits on the Bakken Formation, one of the country’s largest deposits of oil, and the MHA Nation has more than 2,644 oil wells within its borders. Brugh noted that the revenues from recent deals between the Three Affiliated Tribes Tribal Business Council and the oil industry have not been made public or clear to his community.
During the public Zoom call, a community member asked how he would exercise the will of the tribe’s people in political matters if elected chair. “I believe they’re the essence of the tribe,” Brugh said. “We elect our members to represent them in matters, and in doing so we communicate with them and make them a part of those decisions that are to be made on behalf of our tribe.”
Brugh raised the issue of a $6 million box suite investment the current Tribal Business Council chair and administration allegedly made in Las Vegas. The candidate questioned other instances in which the tribal government failed to disclose business plans for millions spent on special projects. For example the MHA Nation now owns a $12 million parking lot in Las Vegas. Brugh said the purchase lacked tribal citizen input through a referendum vote. No business plan or referendum had taken place in regard to these deals.
In a previous news story, Chairman Mark Fox said there were no immediate plans for the Las Vegas property, which he described as prime real estate.
One of the Fort Berthold Legacy Vision Zoom participants asked what steps Brugh would be prepared to take to resolve the problems the tribe currently faces. Brugh proposed outsourcing an investment banking group. This is important, he said, because an outsourced group would fall under federal supervision.
Similarly, he proposed a new accounting agency for the tribe to prevent revenue spending manipulation by the chairman and other entities. “That would help immensely because we have monies that are coming in and people are going to the chairman,” asking for money, Brugh said.
Money is being spent without a sustainability plan in place. It’s important to have sustainable plans now because oil is a limited revenue option for the tribe, he said.
“I’m concerned that if I don’t speak up and say something, then my children’s children, my grandchildren, my nieces and nephews are going to be walked over by an administration of people that are not wanting things done correctly,” he said. “And it’s not really not fair.”
References:
Official Candidate List, Three Affiliated Tribes. Aug 17, 2022. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22139425-mha-2022-official
Minot Daily News, ND oil production back at 1 million barrels, July 21, 2022. https://www.minotdailynews.com/news/local-news/2022/07/nd-oil-production-back-at-1-million-barrels/