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Bloomington, Indiana (AP) 4-08
Five members of the state’s American Indian affairs panel who resigned from the group during April say Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration hobbled the panel’s ability to tackle important issues.
In a statement released with their April 17 resignations, the five said Daniels and his administration broke “many, many promises” made to the 15-member Native American Indian Affairs Commission.
Among other things, they said the panel was left gridlocked and powerless by the administration’s failure to fill all the vacancies on the commission. The members also said the group never received computers or the Web site it was promised by the state.
“In good conscience, we decline to be associated with Governor Daniels and his administration any longer,” they said in their statement.
The panel is supposed to include 15 voting members, but only 14 people were appointed: seven American Indians and seven representatives from state agencies. The state government members often voted together or abstained.
With no way to break a tie vote, the group repeatedly failed to reach agreement on proposals such as holding a dinner with lawmakers.
The members who resigned said they had been promised another American Indian would be appointed.
Dark Rain Thom, one of the commission members who resigned, said the panel is hamstrung and is accomplishing nothing.
“It was all fairy tales. They talked a good game, but they absolutely roadblocked us,” said Thom, a Shawnee Nation clan mother who’s married to historical novelist James Alexander Thom.
Daniels’ spokeswoman, Jane Jankowski, said it’s not unusual for committee members to resign, but it is rare to receive five resignations in a single day.
Jankowski said the office will use the resignations as an opportunity to review the purpose and effectiveness of the commission.
“Subsequent to the resignations, we have had a number of people come forward who are interested in serving,” Jankowski said April 22. “Previously, we’ve had a difficult time finding people willing to fill those positions, because of internal strife in the commission.”
The commission, created by executive order in 2003 by the late Gov. Frank O’Bannon, first met in 2006. As a state advisory group, it studies and makes recommendations to federal, state and local governments about housing, education, civil rights and other issues of importance to American Indians.
The 2000 Census found about 20,000 Hoosiers of American Indian ancestry, some of them members of indigenous tribes such as the Miami or the Wea. Others are members of the Potawatomi or Shawnee who moved to Indiana from nearby states under pressure from white pioneers.
Former committee chairman and Miami Chief Brian Buchanan, who also resigned, said there are more than 42,000 American Indians living in the state.
Although the American Indians on the panel said it was difficult to pass initiatives, they made some progress, including helping to develop more accurate American Indian education programs for elementary schools and organizing town hall meetings about Indian issues.
Buchanan, who worked for free, said few panel members sought compensation for their work.
“You give a lot of your free time,” he said.
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1. Written by JACK EAGLE LEWIS, on 30-07-2010 19:41
Correction for the above story. Dark Rain Thom was not a Clan Mother when this story was written in April of 2008 which she states. She has not been a member of the tribe for at least 7 years let alone being one of our Clan Mothers. I just wanted to set the record straight.
Thank you.....Eagle
Shawnee Nation URB
Sub-Chief
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