SaukSuiattlehome

Former Tribal Councilman John Bill at a 2005 Indian Civil Rights rally in Sacramento, CA.

Former Sauk-Suiattle Police

Chief Ernie DeCoteau has had a lot more time to work on his dugout canoe and play with his granddaughter since March, when he was fired by recently elected Tribal Chairwoman Gloria Green.

Below- Washington’s former Sauk-Suiattle

Tribal Councilwoman Gloria George, pictured in the red.

DARRINGTON — A decades-old interfamily rivalry in the tiny Sauk-Suiattle tribe has erupted into what one faction calls a housecleaning and the other a political purge.

Shortly after her recent election as tribal chairwoman, Gloria Green fired members of a rival family group from their jobs in tribal government. Her supporters allege that Green's detractors were the beneficiaries of years of corruption and nepotism.

The council lead by Green went even further and moved to disenroll from the tribe some seven members of a rival family, including two tribal council members. The move raises questions about the conflict between the civil rights of individual tribal members as U.S. citizens and the sovereign rights of tribal nations.

…"She's using her authority and power to get rid of everybody," Former Police Chief Ernie DeCoteau said previously. "She's got all the titles now. She's wearing every hat that you can think of."

DARRINGTON — Members of the Bill family defended their right to belong to the Sauk-Suiattle tribe in a hearing Monday before the tribal council. In an impassioned statement, John Bill accused the council of political motives in its move to disenroll his family.

"What happened to you people? What happened to each one of you?" Bill asked rhetorically. "I'm hurt that my people would treat me like this."

The move to disenroll the Bills came after a power shift on the tribal council following a recent election. Sauk-Suiattle elder Lawrence Joseph, who is not a member of the Bill family but has opposed Green in the past, said the council had failed to live up to the requirements of the Indian Civil Rights Act.

The law, Joseph argued, requires that all tribal members receive the same protection under the law. He said the council has failed to provide that protection. “Due process is part of that civil rights," he said. "You're out of compliance with the Sauk-Suiattle constitution."