CARNEGIE — With a budget election approaching in just over a week, Kiowa tribal members will decide a portion of the conflict between its leadership.
Voters will cast ballots Aug. 22 on the line-item election of the legislature’s proposed 2020-2021 Fiscal Year budget. The move follows a July 30 ruling for an injunction by Bureau of Indian Affairs — Court of Indian Offenses (CFR) Chief Magistrate Shannon L. Edwards brought to the court by the legislature. The injunction froze the money from the $19.7 million awarded to the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma by the U.S. Department of the Treasury through the CARES Act.
Chairman Matthew Komalty said the injunction has frozen accounts that include other aspects of COVID-19 relief such as the distance learning programs. He said it will take 130 days for the appeal process to make its way through the court.
On Aug. 7, the legislature, issued a statement about its purpose in filing the injunction and in scheduling the line-item vote of their proposed budget. A line-item budget proposed by Komalty failed a July vote by tribal members.
The two branches of government are at odds regarding how the CARES Act funds should be distributed to tribal members.
The chairman calls the legislature’s budget “severely flawed,” and claims it fails to allow the tribe to help its virus-affected citizens. Komalty called statements to The Constitution by Angela Chaddlesone-McCarthy, District 1 Legislator and speaker of the legislature, “propaganda.”
In his response, Komalty said the tribe’s constitution does not allow the legislature the authority to spend the federal assistance. The budget he submitted on Jan. 30 to the legislature happened before the pandemic crisis arrived in March and federal assistance didn’t arrive until May 6.
After Komalty’s budget failed to pass on July 18, he blamed it on the legislators campaigning to vote it down. He believes the tribe’s actual gaming revenue will be about one-third of the projections and the proposed budget amounts are incorrect and will leave millions unbudgeted and unable to be spent by the Dec. 30 deadline this year.
“A cloud of mistrust should exist on the legislature’s budget,” he said.
The proposal by the legislature to provide a $1,000 payment to every tribal member from the COVID relief funds goes contrary to the CARES Act guidelines, Komalty said.
“The CARES Act does not allow for a per capita payment,” he said. “The legislators say it is not a per capita payment. … Giving each person $1,000 is just that and not allowable.”
The Chairman said the CARES Act assistance isn’t listed correctly on the legislature’s proposed ballot.
Komalty also said the Kiowa Indian Council (KIC) knew of the assistance available through the COVID-19 Response Center that had opened shortly before the injunction. At that time, Komalty said, there 1,200 tribal members who had applied for assistance and received it but that at least 300 checks are waiting to be delivered and another 1,500 are awaiting processing.
Chaddlesone-McCarthy responded to Komalty’s allegations against the legislature. She said the chairman is fudging the facts, not the legislative branch.
“I don’t feel like it’s appropriate to get into a war of words with the chairman,” she said. “As long as the facts are stated, then our tribal members can determine whether or not it’s propaganda.
“The hairman wants to do some mudslinging and that’s not what the tribe wants to hear. They want to know when he’s going to help them.”
The speaker said that Komalty has the power to cover payments that were cut off by the injunction against spending the federal funds.
“He has $4.5 million sitting in the bank he can borrow from and cover those payments he cut off,” she said. “He knows he can reimburse those funds when the COVID payments are approved by the KIC.”
Chaddlesone-McCarthy said the legislature has tried to work in good faith with the chairman to negotiate a plan to get the funding to the people through an “equal and fair distribution” of the relief funds.
There is an overarching animus that Chaddlesone-McCarthy believes is due to an impeachment process brought by the legislature against him. A CFR Court injunction filed by Komalty halted an impeachment hearing on July 30 just as the legislature deliberated their vote on its outcome. The case is awaiting a decision by the court.
“We haven’t heard anything from the court yet,” she said. “We are all patiently waiting for her (Chief Magistrate Edwards) order.”
