Indian Preference
Dexter McNamara and I have long been strong supporters of "Tribal Preference." In fact, our support for Tribal preference is stronger than current Tribal law. We believe that Tribal Preference should apply to hiring and retention of employees. A stronger Tribal preference law was recently vetoed that would have required both hiring and retention of Tribal employees. If retention was part of the Tribal preference law today our citizens would be protected during layoffs. Our operations are supposed to be a family business. Dexter and I would take care of our families first.
We also support some form of preference for spouses of Tribal Citizens. The Tribal Council had hearings on Tribal preference where the citizens made it clear that they supported a preference for Tribal spouses. In the current economic crisis, this philosophy would have lessoned the impact of layoffs on Tribal households.
Dexter has a long history of supporting Tribal Preference. As a member of Tribal Council he has always voted on behalf of Tribal Preference. In fact, day in and day out Tribal Citizens are calling on Dexter. At the end of the day, they know he is an advocate for Tribal Preference. Dexter is a continuing supporter of our Tribal members.
I also have a long history of supporting Tribal Preference. I practice Tribal Preference regularly in my business. In May of 2001, I documented and devised a plan for our Tribal Members to build the Government Complex. The plan utilized Tribal Preference and would have created a work force made up of 100% Tribal or Tribal Preferred workers. I also included mentoring as part of my plan. Eventually, Council voted unanimously in favor of the concept and it even made the "Red Letter." Unfortunately, political opposition derailed the plan.
As written in my candidate statement our Tribal Government work force is approximately 76% Tribal Citizens. This is a good start, but I see room for improvement. I am dissatisfied that only 24% of the work force at the Casino consists of Tribal Citizens. Is this what they mean by Odawa Indian Owned and Operated? If our Casino's work force was 75% Tribal, that would be approximately an additional 225 jobs for our Tribal Citizens. We need to trend in this direction.
"Indian Preference" is more than just words. Our business is a family business.
This means Indians helping Indian families obtain and retain Tribal jobs. The utilization of Indian preference will unite our people and protect our sovereign nation now and for the next seven generations.