The elections for Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians are this
month, and as Chairman Mark Macarro, the diminutive long term chairman may lose
to a felon, we thought we'd look at his legacy.
While most in California
will know Macarro as the face of tribal gaming, having appeared in many
commercials promising increased benefits for California , most may not know of what he has
done to his own tribe.
- Oversaw the illegal termination of 25% of his tribal membership, in order to consolidate power and increase the monetary gains for he, his family and the remaining tribal members. While tribes determine enrollment, the council overruled the people's desire to end all disenrollments.
- Refused to lead in handling the corruption of the Pechanga Enrollment Committee, which shuffled papers around so rightful members could not get enrolled. A quid pro quo was exposed.
- Hired his 2nd wife's lobbying company without a vote of the General Council. Her company has received over $1,250,000 of tribal funds. As a spouse, Macarro would benefit.
- 1,000+ Class II slot machines went missing under his watch. Did not seek criminal charges against the perpetrators.
- Mark Macarro lied to Congress in testimony concerning the Great Oak property. Told Congress the tribe would not build on culturally sensitive land, yet, the tribe has a golf course on that property. His smaller brother called it a 'zoning change'.
- Made two unsuccessful attempts at stealing water rights from allotees, again misrepresenting the facts as to how many lived on the reservation. He said no allotees had been disenrolled, while avoiding the facts that Hunters resided on their original Pechanga allotment.
- The
most prominent tribe when discussing disenrollment, which is the stripping
of citizenship of Native Americans. While not the worst, the Pechanga
tribe is certainly the focus in
- Set up the reservation as an Apartheid Reservation. Having disenrolled children forcibly removed from the tribal school.
Amazing how BIA, NCAI and NARF turn a blind eye to the corruption of tribes like Pechanga and leaders like Macarro, don't you think?
10 comments:
Monday, December 16, 2013
"Tribal Leaders Don't Trust Lobbyists At Tribal Nations Conference. Can Holly Cook Macarro Only Wear ONE HAT?"
"So, NOT ONLY is Pechanga not satisfied with stealing per capita from members they disenrolled, they want to keep other tribes from gaining gambling. Pechanga has stolen over $400 MILLION from terminated members.
Sources say Rosemary Morillo, chairwoman of the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians, couldn’t believe what had happened. Apparently, she felt tribal lobbyists with their own interests had been able to have more of an influence with the federal government than the elected tribal leaders of sovereign nations. And it had hurt Indian country’s economic and sovereign interests.
Sources have said that after the deal was dead, Morillo expressed her exasperation toward tribal lobbyists on a conference call set up by national Indian organizations with tribal advocates from around the country to assess the Carcieris ituation. She said they should be ashamed of themselves for their role in the failed Carcieri fix dealings. Their work had caused Indian country to lose its unity on an issue that should be a no-brainer, she said, since all tribes should be treated equally on land-into-trust matters. "
The truth is the truth, but hey Macarro should stay in and fix everything. "ALL IS ALL" the book can be rewritten and the truth can replace the lies. We will see.
Friday, November 30, 2012
"UPDATE: Will Pechanga Require Allottees To Wear A Yellow Star To Designate Their Status"
Not only that but how about fractionalized allotted land being gathered by Fed. government and resold to Bands, Bands who have practiced Aparthied greed and now help from the Feds. and Cobell settlement? The movie is bigger and bigger. If the Bad Actors don't want to support Ancestral rights, why would the Feds. help also?
This is the same guy who keeps Butch in the tribe because he has
"accepted the Indian way". How Sad
Mark and John Macarro seem to be more like Fidel and Raul Castro...tyrant and brother of tyrant.
Macarro has done some good things for the tribe.
So did Nixon for the US
But how he's harmed Native Americans should be his legacy.
Didn't Mark Macarro leave his COUSIN out in the cold with other moratorium people? But let in Bobbi LeMere's sisters?
Good Job Bad Actors club, hopefully Macarro stays in because the replacement actor has even more pages to lie about, but hey maybe that's what the band wants, more lying?
yes mark screwed over, arlene macarro in the moratorium.
Everyone is saying it's time to move on, the truth would help "ALL" go there. No one is more Pechanga than anyone else. The picture would get better if the truth would be shared and everyone could live in peace. As long as lies and misinformation continue, the story will stay the same.
The reason there is no truth and the story remains the same is that Pechanga refuses to let the truth be said in an open forum that is unbiased. That open forum being a court of law where the merits of both sides could be heard. This has never happened despite what Pechanga says. If you are of the belief that our appeal was unbiased and fair, consider this. The people who ruled/voted against us during our disenrollment were also on the tribal counsel. Our appeal was heard by the tribal counsel. This at the very least is a conflict of interest and would not be allowed an ANY court of law or other mitigating panel. Also when we Apis asked that those who ruled against us from the enrollment committee recuse themselves from participating in our appeal was met with laughter and a general refusal to step aside. Seriously do you think we got a fair hearing. Its like telling the thief to sit on the jury of his own case. This is just one example of unfairness that the enrollment and tribal counsel engaged in. There are several by-laws that were not considered and broken outright. Pechanga is afraid of the truth.
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