[I have written to the DOJ, only to have my information shuffled from one agency to another, including the Department of the Interior, and finally coming full circle to the Hawaii Department of Labor. I do not think this was coincidence. At the HCRC, there is a commission member with the same name as the owners of my former employer's business, one Coral Wong Pietsch.
My information was passed by one Elaine Chao - Department Of Labor, in D.C. to Tin Shing Chao Department of Labor here in Hawaii, who used an erroneous date to nullify my complaint. This was after a layover at the Department of the Interior - of all places - and in California with Ms. Alison Pauly at the regional offices, whose CASPA investigation stated that I should have made this a written complaint, when Hawaii law states it does not matter, whether written or verbal. Could she be related to the Paulys who have donated to the University of Hawaii, and have owned land here?]
Akaka tribe jurisdictional conflicts shown by mainland examples BY KENNETH R. CONKLIN, PH.D.
In December 2011 I pulled together 13 news reports from the final 13 weeks of that year from various places on the mainland. For each situation I described the facts and cited a link to the full news report. The topics as made relevant to Hawaii were:
• Promises or contracts made by the Hawaiian tribe cannot be enforced because the tribe cannot be sued on account of tribal sovereignty;
• Counties cannot assess taxes on tribal property nor use foreclosure to collect taxes;
• Counties cannot assess or collect taxes on gasoline purchased or used on Hawaiian tribe lands which is used or purchased on non-tribal lands;
• A Hawaiian tribe could purchase land and have the Bureau of Indian Affairs put it into federal land trust, thereby removing all tribal businesses on that land from local taxation, and neither the state nor counties can stop the BIA from doing so [news reports concerning two different locations and tribes];
• If a member of the Hawaiian tribe is raped or beaten up by a spouse or friend in a house on tribal land, should a tribal court have jurisdiction to put the spouse or friend on trial and send him to jail even though that spouse or friend has no Hawaiian native blood or is not a tribal member?
• A Hawaiian tribe, either through neglect or intentional policy, could allow its lands to become a sanctuary for criminal activity which state and county governments would be powerless to stop;
• Should the Hawaiian tribe be given a large tract of undeveloped land because the tribe claims to be the rightful owner and/or because it promises to be a good steward of the land?
• A state-recognized tribe might spend many years unsuccessfully seeking federal recognition, and is likely to break promises and engage in corrupt practices while seeking federal recognition or a casino.;
• State recognition of a Hawaiian tribe could lead to federal recognition with unexpected consequences including casinos.;
• A Hawaiian tribe might have priority over non-tribal businesses when a casino is to be created; and such a priority if enacted by a state legislature might be unconstitutional.;
• Once the Hawaiian tribe has published its roll of members and has been recognized, the tribal council can enroll or disenroll people for no good reason, and sovereignty ensures no state or federal court can interfere.;
• Members of the Hawaiian tribe have no right to freedom of speech.; The tribal council might kick out of the tribe dissident members who support a different slate of candidates for the next tribal election, thus "fixing" the election, and the dissidents have no way to appeal their disenrollment except in a tribal court controlled by the existing council.
……………………
Here are a few mainland jurisdictional controversies with tribes, reported during the last week of July, 2013 as interpreted for relevance to Hawaii if the Akaka bill or an Executive Order creates a federally recognized Akaka tribe.
• It is an unsettled question currently being litigated, whether a Native Hawaiian tribal court has jurisdiction over a lawsuit for civil damages brought by the family of a tribal member who was killed or injured by a non-Native Hawaiian driver in a traffic accident on a state highway running through tribal lands. [Arizona]
• Native Hawaiian police can arrest and imprison someone who says misleading or slanderous things against a member of the tribal council. [Great Falls, MT]
• If a member of the Native Hawaiian tribe commits negligent homicide on non-tribal lands and then returns to his home on tribal lands, can a state sheriff go onto the tribal lands to arrest him, or are tribal lands a pu'uhonua or refuge where Native Hawaiian criminals cannot be arrested by the state? [Sious Falls, SD]
• When a 2-year-old toddler is raped and killed on Native Hawaiian lands, state and county police must stay out of it because of tribal sovereignty; and tribal police lack jurisdiction according to federal law because of the crime's seriousness; so the FBI must handle the case. [Oklahoma City, OK]
• State and county governments cannot assess taxes on Native Hawaiian tribal property located on tribal land, and cannot assess taxes on personal property nor property owned by a private non-Hawaiian limited liability corporation when leased by the Native Hawaiian tribe for use on tribal land [Mescalero, NM]
• A Native Hawaiian tribe could have its own laws regarding sales and taxation of liquor, tobacco, marijuana, gasoline -- laws in conflict with federal, state, and county laws governing neighboring lands across the street. [Sioux Falls, SD]
• Federal recognition of an Indian tribe is a complex, expensive, controversial, process; and the rules are being changed. How can local communities and wannabe tribes, seeking recognition, cope? [Solvang, CA]
This essay is a short summary of a much more detailed webpage which includes documentation for all the main points and links to the news reports. See
http://tinyurl.com/kjoedjr
