Tribe denies petition; supporters upset over procedures

The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe’s election board rendered a decision regarding a petition submitted in November 2007.

According to the board, whose members are Katrina M. Jacobs, Christine Horn and Marlene Bero, the group behind the petition failed to gather enough signatures in order for the petition to be valid.

The petition, which was submitted by Melvin White, asked signatories if they believed the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Council Constitution was valid.

“The Election Board has accepted receipt of the Petition formally presented to us on November 7, 2007,” the Election Board wrote to White. “We have reviewed the Petition and have determined that the Petition contained 1087 valid signatures and therefore must be denied for failure to obtain the required number of signatures.”

According to a press release issued by the SRMT, 25 percent of eligible voters – or 1,907 signatures – must have been obtained in order for the petition to be approved.

However, the individuals behind the petition argue the SRMT’s decision on more than one point.

According to White, although the petition had been submitted, he and the others involved were not finished gathering signatures and currently have several hundred in hand ready to also be submitted.

Dana Leigh Thompson said past practices involving petitions were that signatures would be handed in to then Tribal Clerk Carol Herne who would validate signatures or deny signatures and hand the petition back to the organizers. Then, more signatures would be added and re-submitted.

That wasn’t the procedure followed this time around.

“It’s not complete but they want to stifle the process,” Thompson said.

The petition organizers, who along with Thompson and White include Ray Cook and Larry Thompson, have also criticized the procedures followed by the SRMT and the Election Board in reaching the petition decision.

White said he plans to issue a letter to the SRMT asking what procedures they’re following in making their decision.

“They’re going to say that it’s the ’94 Procedures Act,” Dana Leigh Thompson said. “But the 94 Procedures Act was never ratified.”

Dana Leigh Thompson and White also said that different documentation they have states that only 20 percent of eligible voters are required to make a petition valid, not 25 percent.

“Ask them for the original documents they’re following,” White said.

A third concern they have over the decision is that the Election Board only validated 1,087 signatures, which they said is roughly 500 less than they submitted. They checked each name themselves for residency issues, etc., they said, so they want to know how 500 names could have been found invalid.

“What criteria did they use to invalidate 500 names,” White asked. “There is no way that 500 names are invalid.”

“It’s one thing to be denied a vote,” Larry Thompson said. “It’s another thing to be denied to sign a petition.”

White said he personally asked the SRMT to have all the names returned to him with explanations as to why they weren’t approved, but thus far he has only received a denial letter from the Election Board.

The parties involved with the petition said that the form of government followed at the SRMT is not legal and is still an open issue as it’s still before a court.

“The issue is very complicated,” Dana Leigh Thompson said. “But the obvious thing is that the people don’t have a voice. We’ve been working diligently on this. It’s not that we don’t have anything to do.”