WampaGate

That is a lot of money - It could give tithing a bad name

A fool and my money are soon parted
Money talks while most Wamps walk

By Peter Kenney

It is well known that money talks, especially in political circles. It certainly spoke to Richard Pombo, the conservative California Republican who served seven terms in Congress before losing his bid for reelection in 2006.

Peter Kenney on NECN Monday night at 7 
   NECN's NewNight with Jim Braude on Channel 8 on Monday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. will feature Peter Kenney about his reports here on the Mashpee Wampanoag casino story.
   Kenney promises to drop a few new items in that broadcast.   NewsNight offers a nightly dose of exclusive interviews and pointed commentary dealing with the major news of the day, and the Wampanoag drive to build the Bay State's first casino is certainly one of the New England's hot stories. In case you don't recognize the two (no, it's not "Braude and the Beast"), that's Jim on the left and our Peter on the right.

   On Thursday Kenney was the lead feature in this week's Boston Phoenix and on WRKO-AM radio Saturday morning.Pombo had chaired the powerful House Committee on Resources, a critical committee in the matter of federal recognition for Indian tribes. This reporter has been skewered lately over claims that his facts are wrong. So a visit to indianz.com was in order. This site is owned jointly by the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska and Noble Savage Media, a company owned entirely by Native Americans.

$20,000 to the bad guy given legally

Indianz.com reports that in the year 2003, the following individuals made contributions to Richpac, Pombo's political action committee. Each person gave $2,000 and all but one of the contributions were  made on the same day, Sept. 29,2003.

• Glenn Marshall,
  
• Paula Marshall (his wife),
  
• Alycia Marshall (his daughter),
  
• Evamarie Kidwell (his stepdaughter),
  
• Desire L. (Hendricks) Moreno,
  
• Herbert J. Strather (on Sept. 28) and
  
• Shawn Hendricks Sr.

These contributions total $14,000 and they appear proper. Giving money to officeholders in a position to help with a favorite cause is both legal and a time-honored aspect of American politics, if not a vital part of human nature. Every one of the listed contributors was vitally interested in advancing the cause of federal recognition for the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe.

In 2005 Glenn Marshall contributed $3,000 to Richpac, Shawn Hendricks gave $2,500 and Desire L. (Hendricks) Moreno gave $2,500. The total for both years is $22,000. Excluding Strather's $2,000 in 2003, this means that members of the tribe gave $20,000 to a congressman for political purposes. All was properly recorded and disclosed.

Where did the money come from?

But who actually provided the funds? Was Alycia Marshall a student at the time she wrote a check for $2,000 after-tax dollars? On their salaries of just more than $41,000, did both Marshall and Shawn Hendricks have so much extra cash? What about Marshall's stepdaughter and Desire Moreno?

Does it actually surprise anyone that the feds want to see the books ... both the tribe's and the personal financial records for some of the tribal council members?

Could it be that someone from, say Detroit, made it possible for a father of small children who had just built a large addition to his house to have an extra $4,500 lying around? Or should we look to the soon-to-be-famous "Fisherman's Fund" for the answers?

Making publicly disclosed contributions to a congressman who can be helpful in a matter of personal concern is not the problem.

The problem is this: whose money was it, really? And if the true source of this money was hidden, what else has been hidden from the tribe?
________________________
Previous report: FBI demands records from Mashpee tribal council [BCR]
Police stationed at residences of three tribal officials
Shawn Hendricks, Desire Hendricks Moreno, Nelli Ramos served
F

BI agents served documents on members of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribal council yesterday at council headquarters demanding that they submit tribal and personal financial records to federal investigators for scrutiny, according to sources in the tribe ...  Read the report here.