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CONCERNED CADDO'S RESPONSE TO LARUE'S CAMPAIGN LETTER Many Caddos have received a multi-page campaign letter (see first two pages here) from current chairman, LaRue Parker, to convince them that she deserves four more years. We urge you to read our responses and to understand that we can not afford four more years of doing business the way the tribe has been run under LaRue. Her letter attempts to * take claim for some accomplishments during her tenure and explain her view of how the council works * try to explain away concerns in Laura Jarvis's letter which gives her viewpoint on the status of the tribe. * take personal and political potshots at the motives of the Concerned Caddos This is a family business, we need to hold our elected officials to the same standard that any board member demands of a CEO of any corporate entity in the private sector anywhere in the business world. Bad management at the tribal level? It starts with the chairman and goes down the line. Misuse and abuse of power for personal and political gain on the part of elected officials is not what we want. We want honestly and accountability in our business. We want employees who do their job accurately and don't act inappropriately. Under LaRue's leadership, along with her friends on the council we are dealing with the loss of a whale of a lot of Caddo money and the complete disregard for the Caddo constitution with civil right infractions. In order to prevent these things from happening again or worse, the right people must be voted into their seats. Please vote for a change. See our recommend candidate list. (Weller, Daugomah, Factor, and Noah. LARUE'S CLAIMS AND ACCUSATIONS OUR RESPONSES An eight page letter came to many Caddos with a cover letter from LaRue begging for support for four more years. * Do all candidates have equal access to addresses of tribal members to send out Campaign letters? NO. Only LaRue has access to our addresses for her political gain. * In January, she sent a letter to some Caddo friends asking for support on tribal letterhead. Can she be writing these letters on tribal time and tribal letterhead, using tribal computer? * What did she do in the first 4 years? Successful economic development? A Casino? A Smoke shop? Housing Program? Education funds? Education building? All suspect. LaRue claims many accomplishments under her leadership. However, she admits she cuts corners to get things done her way. * The Caddo membership deserves to have documentation and proof for those accomplishments. Let's have something of substance and make sure it is not something that was already in the works before the chair was elected. * We should look at these issues to see whether or not good and sound business judgment has or has not been used and if there is accountability to the members. LaRue claims to have the "assertiveness" and "poise" to represent the Caddo Nation and to be a honest person. Yet, she admits she cuts corners to get things done her way. * The OATH OF OFFICE states "I, LaRue Parker Colorado real estate blog , do hereby solemnly affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, and will carry out faithfully and impartially the duties of my office to the best of my ability and will promote and protect the best interest of the Caddo Indian Tribe in accordance with the Tribal Constitution and Bylaws". * She took out a loan for the higher education building without tribal approval, signed it stating that she HAD gotten approval from her membership. She not only broke the Caddo Constitution she has broken the federal banking laws. * We have seen her disrespect and ignore Caddo people at meetings and other places. We have seen her break confidentiality rules so she could make herself look better. * At one membership meeting Parker loudly proclaimed that we owe the guy who gave us the casino almost $30,000 and "we are not going to pay one penny of that." We guess this is the way she wants to do business. * Parker did in fact admit in her opening letter to the Jan. membership meeting that there are illegal class 3 machines operating in the Casino. NIGC shut us down May 28, 2003. LaRue complains about how the tribal council functions. Says the council should meet 1st and 3rd Tuesdays. Complains about council members voting as a block against her. * At the first meeting in June 2003, she announced there would be no meetings until after the election, July 12, She was yelling that the council should ,"get out". When the council showed up for the second meeting in June, she called it illegal. * She is saying that these council members who were elected by their constituents do not have the right to hold a council meeting, to take care of our business. By not holding the meeting, she is saying the tribal business is not important. The constitution does not read : only if the chairman wants to have a monthly meeting one will be called. This is yet another violation of the constitution. * Yes, some on this recently elected council have questioned LaRue's actions. No one individual or group has taken on this task to this extent before. Her actions against the constitution have gone into corruption and cannot be addressed without strength of will and firmness of determination. She does not want the council to hold her accountable for the loans she made against the constitution, the opening of an illegal casino, the agreements she made to give away the right to our constitution and seal, etc. * She uses "the Chair only votes in case of a tie" to avoid responsibility. When a vote comes up that may not go her way, her voting block has left the room to avoid a quorum. When the quorum is against her, she cancels meetings. * Many of us here have also been attacked by Parker and her gang at the tribe where it involved jobs, personal security, personal information, and personal safety. Caddos know if they talk out against LaRue, they will be hurt in some way. We have already been hurt badly and repeatedly and we are angry about that for sure . * We Concerned Caddos will not be intimidated. We will do what has to be done to get our tribe back on a firm ground and will keep it there. We believe in making people accountable for any wrongdoing. She attacks the Concerned Caddo's intentions. She claims it is only a personal vendetta of ex-employees. * We Concerned Caddos have never been unclear as to what we want. We want honesty in the governance of the Caddo tribe. We demand it. We demand respect and adherence to the Caddo constitution by all Caddo members. We demand free speech for the Caddo membership as well as for the individual Caddo LaRue's is concerned about firings of employees by the Concerned Caddos. * LaRue continues to frighten employees with threats of the council and other Caddo members, "firing employees. Laura Jarvis's petition to fire employees is not being carried. * Yet, under any honest administration, those who are doing their job can relax and do their job. Those who aren't or don't know how, that is something else. * However, under Ms. Parker first term as chairman, her first move was to terminate several employees. Based on LaRue's comments about them, Laura Jarvis was involved in the termination and later found these employees did not deserve to be terminated but it was her goal to remove them when she became chairman. These are all good Caddo people but had a mind of their own. Now she wants to scream that the Concerned Caddos want to fire Caddo people. * We do believe we have a few unqualified people including convicted felons, and clerks who don't keep accurate records. For example, o there is no excuse for our tribal records to not be updated and entered into a searchable computer database and made available to the Election Board. In the past, we have had family members that did not receive the absentee ballots they have requested. There was a deceased man of 4 years that received one. o Caddos are being stopped for not having their car registered properly. We need someone to take responsibility, completing each and every step in the registering of that vehicle to assure when necessary, that the vehicle is currently registered to that Caddo person. o We know people in the fire fighting program have gotten into some legal trouble while out on fire business. Are these people involved in these incidents still with the Caddo fire fighting program and was any disciplinary action taken? * You see, this is the very kind of thing that has caused so many problems under this administration. Does she not know "you have to take care of business" daily. You have to supervise the performance of your employees. Believe that is why we are where we are right now, this administration either does not know or does not care. Concerning the issue of the enrollment of Shirley Gouge into the Caddo tribe she merely provides evidence that Ms. Gouge is Caddo. * She doesn't defend the issue that Shirley was not eligible to be enrolled into the tribe. Allowing the enrollment of Shirley Howery Gouge (enrollment clerk) is against the constitution. * This was done after she told the council she had not received any monies from the Summit county Comanche tribe with whom she was an enrolled member. There is now a letter proving she did in fact receive money as an enrolled member of the Comanche tribe. She fails to mention that Laura Jarvis voted for the enrollment after Ms. Gouge told the council she received no monies from the Comanche tribe. * Ms. Gouge's Caddo heritage was not in question. The violation occurs if she was enrolled in another tribe and received a share of land or money from that tribe; if that occurred then she is not eligible for enrollment in the Caddo tribe. LaRue claims that Laura Jarvis doesn't know the exact figures on the Tribal Budget and where the money is being spent. * Do know the finance department were told not to give anyone, other council members included, any information out of that office. Finance needs to remember and realize that the chair has no right to post such a memo. The council has rights to information that pertains to any program in the Caddo tribe. It is hard to get accurate numbers. * Would you say she may have something to hide? Tell us Ms. Parker - about the BIA review June 30, 2003 and how your four years have got us in debt for our higher education funds. (Documentation to come.) * Without the council and membership knowing what the chairman has financially obligated us to, the council can enter into new debts- not knowing what we already have. She says the Concerned Caddos ran off her education director and replaced him with Lavonna Weller She says funds are available for student education funds. Every single student received a grant for college tuition * The chairman is now blasting the current education director because she has uncovered some things that were done wrong in that office. * The report from the BIA audit of the 638 funds will probably show that the tribe can not show where all the money was spent. Documentation of this will appear on this site when available. She argues about whose fault it is that the HUD housing program is in trouble. The tribe's HUD money to build and repair Caddo homes had to be returned. * The reason we have no housing program is because the Nahasda director and the Chairman claimed more houses than we actually had, got more money that we had to pay back and refused to give the Gracemont housing authority any money for the maintenance and operation of that housing authority. * On May 8, 1998 , the Gracemont housing gave them the information which stated 91 homes- the housing director signed for it (we have a copy) and then turned around and claimed 215 homes. Then, with the money they received, the tribe used the money to rehab some homes. One belonged to a seated council member at that time, and who is running for reelection this year. The homes all cost $48,000 plus to rehab. That's enough to build a new home. We have no accountability where the money was spent. * The Caddo tribe ended up owing HUD over $400,000 for the houses they didn't have. * The council voted not to continue the HUD program instead of providing documentation to HUD. LaRue was chairman when this happened. She would rather give up "your" housing program than follow the regulations required by HUD. She did cast the deciding vote to not have a housing program. Matter of record. She claims the distance learning center is an achievement. She admits borrowing $77,679 for a large distance learning center * Interestingly enough, she admits the education building was purchased, and that there was $45,000.00 for this project but she borrowed the money to buy a bigger building for $77,000 with $89,000 payoff. * The fact remains that she borrowed it against the constitution, and at her own doing. Now, who has to pay? We all do. The constitution clearly states that the membership of the tribe are the only ones who can authorize any debt. The council must receive their permission to do so. The chairman, along with the business manager signed this loan, and attested to the fact that a meeting was held to authorize such debt. The chairman of the tribe does not have the authority to borrow money. This is a legal issue. * Go to the home page of this site and click on "Chairman obligates tribe " then look at page #1 you will find LaRue's signature and read the paragraph above the signature. LaRue never got the tribe's approval. Think about it! LaRue claims INFCA had value to the tribe. Blames the Concerned Caddos for losing the partnership. * The Colorado Caddo membership was not aware or involved in any of the ground work and most certainly would not have given Mr. Moore the permission to use the Caddo charter, the Caddo seal, the constitution, letterhead, address, etc. (copy available on our site). Look at the INFCA site, tell us what you think of the Caddo constitution they have displayed there. * If there was value in this partnership, it doesn't justify making the deal against the constitution and without membership approval.