22 Days Until the New Election: Pants on Fire!

Our evening did not go according to plan.  We had a blog ready to go, until we got a phone call and had to write a new blog.  Because if there is one thing you can’t do to us here at Cherokee Truth, its call us up on the phone, act surly, and lie to us.  And that’s what happened tonight.

We got phone call(s) that said, to the best of our note taking ability: “For 12 years Chad Smith has refused to audit the casino’s finances but Bill John Baker will order an independent audit to make sure that casino money goes for services to the Cherokee people and not to line the pockets of campaign contributors and vendors.  I hope that Bill John can earn your vote in the upcoming election.”

As readers of the Cherokee Truth know, this is a lie and worse-- Baker knows it is a lie!  As we showed everyone in May, 53 Days before the June election, the Cherokee Nation and its businesses are audited every year and win awards.  Mr. Baker knows this, because the audit is not only presented to the CNB Board (of which he is an advisory member,Resolution R-52-10) but also the council’s executive and finance committee just a few months ago.

Not only are the audits for the past 10 years available online, but video footage of Baker sitting and listening to the audit being presented is also available online!

The auditor even talks about the special audit of JUST THE CASINOS, which is sent to the feds every year for compliance purposes.

There’s also the Tulsa World story that cites a national rating company for praising Cherokee Nation for its "careful and conservative governmental financial management" and for its "ability to manage cash flow issues." It goes on to tout Cherokee Nation's creation and expansion of non-gaming businesses like health care and information technology. 

To sum up:  The casinos are audited every year.  They win awards for their clean audits.  Baker knows this and lies about it anyway.  Apparently he thinks no one will notice that he’s not telling the TRUTH. He must think we’re all stupid and can’t look up readily accessible public information that shows he’s lying.

We’re sure the Cherokee Nation isn’t perfect, and Baker can certainly point out all the flaws he wants, but if he has to lie to people to create problems with the Cherokee Nation, that says more about him than it does anyone else.