Baker’s First Council Meeting (kinda): A Matter of Trust

Tonight will be Bill John Baker’s first tribal council meeting as Principal Chief.  At the last council meeting, he voted on legislation as a member of the Tribal Council, then he ended up signing the legislation as Principal Chief.  Surely the first and hopefully the last time we have so few days between the election of a chief and the time he/she takes office.

Aside from his first state of the nation speech, addressing the council and the public, there are a couple of interesting agenda items.  One is a dividend increased proposed to specifically go towards health care, a measure Baker has been in favor of.  The other is a measure makes it illegal for the chief to allow any other tribe to use our trust land or put land into trust unless two-thirds of the council agree. 

George Wickliffe

Considering how often Baker is hugging George Wickliffe, bossman of the UKB, and how cozy Baker is with Larry E. Hawk, the assistant secretary of Bossing Indians Around (BIA), who is doing his level best to give the Cherokee Nation’s treaty rights to Wickliffe and company, who are already handing out bonuses to themselves for getting land into trust, even though they don’t actually have any, it’s probably a good thing the council is getting involved to make sure things don’t go too far.

Tonight’s tribal council meeting starts at 6 and is available online.

Watch it and tell us what you think.