At least three candidates vying for a spot on the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation Tribal Business Council call for government transparency. MHA elected officials spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually with little-to-zero accountability to citizens on how and where money goes.
In a Tuesday campaign speech, Carol Good Bear called herself a “mom in moccasins,” running for a position on the MHA Tribal Business Council. She and two other candidates seeking incumbent Councilwoman Monica Mayer’s seat in the Sept. 17 primary election have delivered letters to the TBC challenging the spending.
First, they question the council’s withdrawal of $250 million from the tribe’s People’s Fund. Second, they spotlight Mayer’s lack of transparency in the spending of tribal funds in the North Segment.
Speaking in Bismarck at Sertoma Park, Good Bear singled out Mayer for approving the $250- million withdrawal. Before a roomful of listeners, Good Bear asked that Mayer “step down.”
She, Scott Satermo and Carolyn Spotted Horse are competing with Mayer to represent North Segment, the largest of six MHA Nation districts. Other segments are Four Bears, Parshall, West, White Shield and Twin Buttes.
The candidates’ hand-delivered two joint letters to TBC Chairman Mark Fox. One letter seeks to halt the $250 million transfer from the People’s Fund, which the council authorized on Aug. 6 by Resolution 24-248-FWF. The Aug. 20 letter requests a special council session for tribal citizens to learn about the action and provide input before any withdrawal.
The People’s Fund account holds money for “an annual distribution to all duly enrolled members of the MHA Nation.” It accrues from oil companies operating on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. Its purpose is “to benefit the members of the Three Affiliated Tribes for many generations to come.”
“Just the huge dollar amount associated with this has us as tribal members astounded and flabbergasted by what is taking place.”
Carol Good Bear- candidate running for a position on the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation Tribal Business Council
That letter states that approving the move in a “closed session violates the spirit and plain language of our Constitution & Bylaws. The level of disregard demonstrated by the TBC in passing a $250,000,000 resolution depleting the People’s Fund without any knowledge or input from our Tribal members is truly unprecedented.”
The second letter delivered by the three candidates Aug. 20 requests a “Review of Expenditures and Receipts of the North Segment.” Its recipients are Fox, Mayer and MHA Nation Treasurer, Mervin Packineau, council representative of| the Parshall Segment.
Mayer’s three challengers told Buffalo’s Fire that transparency and communication are recurring problems at the TBC. Whoever earns a majority in the primary race will become the segment’s council representative. Otherwise, the two top contenders will face off in the November general election.
“For them to not tell us, and to do it in secret, it’s wrong. It’s not fair to the people.”
Carolyn Spotted Horse- candidate running for a position on the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation Tribal Business Council
They said that since Chairman Fox took office, more major decisions have been made in closed sessions. They are voicing citizens’ fears that the council will squander the fund’s savings.
Mayer and Fox did not respond to Buffalo’s Fire inquiries.
Meanwhile, Good Bear is a plaintiff in a 2023 tribal court case over the council’s alleged unauthorized expenditures from the fund.
In addition, on Tuesday, she took part in a separate complaint filing at the court in New Town on the Fort Berthold Reservation. The filing is a motion for a restraining order to stop the People’s Fund transfer from the August resolution.
“This was again passed in a closed session, and they call it an executive session, and just the huge dollar amount associated with this has us as tribal members astounded and flabbergasted by what is taking place,” said Good Bear in an interview with Buffalo’s Fire.
Spotted Horse wants to see a change in the council’s practice. “For them to not tell us, and to do it in secret, it’s wrong,” she said. “It’s not fair to the people.”
The council directed the chairman to “work directly” with the federal government’s Bureau of Trust Fund Administration to carry out the resolution, saying the disbursement would improve interest returns for People’s Fund beneficiaries. However, the terms “don’t show costs or any type of financial situation of the businesses that are in place,” said Satermo. “That’s what the membership wants to see. That’s what they’re telling me, and that’s why I’m running.” he said. “It’s not fair to the people.”
On the same day she joined in the motion for the restraining order, Good Bear addressed about 20 people at the Sertoma Community Center. She said she held her campaign event in Bismarck to engage off-reservation tribal citizens.
As of August 2024, the Three Affiliated Tribes had 17,460 enrolled members. Most don’t live on the reservation due to housing and employment opportunities, among other reasons. Good Bear said she wants a “homecoming” for them. “I just want you to have a voice and want you to participate,” she told the audience.
Attending the event, Karen Skye, an MHA citizen who lives just south of Bismarck in Lincoln, North Dakota, told Buffalo’s Fire she plans to vote for Good Bear because she feels “ripped off” by current leadership. “They don’t care about who we are as a people, and we are the ones put them in there – and we are the ones that can get them out.”