The Great Gadfly

The Red Man is getting ripped off by the White Man again

Freedom of Speech is not a Glen Marshall obligation
Get ready for "King Marshall's War" against Joe Wamp

By Peter Kenney

Amelia Bingham is 84 years old, but her voice is as strong as her convictions. She is a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, an elder. She, along with three other members of the tribe have been shunned by the tribal council. Her reward for opposing the rule of tribal council chairman Glenn Marshall, for publicly demanding an accounting of tribal funds, was expulsion from the tribe's lands, benefits and activities. She was officially shunned for seven years. Both of her daughters and one of her sons have been removed from the tribal roles. Glenn Marshall does not tolerate opposition.

"He (Glen Marshall" wasn't an Indian then. He used to tease my kids and bully them because they were Wampanoags. He was a mean kid and he is a mean adult" - Amelia BinghamWhat happened to Bingham and how is another story. But, what she was attempting to discover, what she may have proven anyway is very much a current story. On Saturday the town of Middleboro will vote at a special town meeting whether to allow their board of selectmen to negotiate and consummate an agreement with the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe for the construction of a gambling casino in the small, quiet country town. Backers of the tribe's efforts, identified as investors, have already purchased a sizable parcel on land and acquired options on more  where they have declared their intentions to build a major casino complex. Feelings and tempers are running high around this issue.

Enter the Black-hearted Brave

The grant of federal recognition for the Mashpee Wampanoags achieved earlier this year has opened the floodgates of speculation about the tribe's future. 

Glenn Marshall, who was once known as a Cape Verdean activist, became a visible and powerful presence among the Wampanoags approximately ten years ago. He was elected chairman of the tribal council and was viewed as the primary moving force behind tribal bylaws which have allowed him to prevent any tribe member who disagrees with him from even securing a spot on the ballot for election to the tribal council.  It was exactly this sort of political maneuvering that prevented Paula Peters from running for the council three years ago even though she has for many years been a well known and respected voice for the tribe.

As Middleboro voters prepare to tackle the casino issue many are wondering who does speak for the Mashpee Wampanoags. Vernon Lopes, the seventy-five year old chief of the tribe now appears with Marshall at various events. Lopes is a man of quiet dignity. His native name is Silent Drum and he lives up to the name; he is soft spoken but has a quiet authority and a formidable presence. But he chief is the less vocal of the two tribal leaders. It is Glenn Marshall who faces the world as leader of the Wampanoags, and Glenn Marshall has perhaps made a deal with the devil in the yes of some tribe members, Amelia Bingham for one. Bingham say she remembers Marshall when he was in school with her children, "He wasn't an Indian then. He used to tease my kids and bully them because they were Wampanoags. He was a mean kid and he is a mean adult."

The odds get worse for the Wampanoags

Within the past decade a shadowy figure from Detroit named Herb Strather became closely associated with Glenn  Marshall. Strather is a multi millionaire gambling and real estate developer who refers to himself as philanthropist. He poured money, many millions of dollars, into the tribe's campaign for federal recognition. Using Strather's money and contacts Marshall energized the recognition effort and achieved the success that for decades had been so elusive. Only in the past two or three  years did the Strather presence become well known. It became clear that Herb Strather had become a partner in the tribe's future and that meant only one thing, a Wampanoag gambling casino. When federal recognition was announced to the assembled tribe at the council headquarters Strather was present and was a jubilant figure among the tribal council members.

Now he is identified as a minority stockholder. Three new names have come to the fore in Wampanoag culture; Len Wolman (with brother Mark on right), Sol Kerzener and Scott Ferson. Wolman and Kerzener are partners in casino/resort enterprises in Dubai, the Bahamas, Atlantic City and Connecticut. Together with starwood Capital, a real estate venture firm and presumably the Wampanoag tribe they have formed an entity called Trading Cove Associates. Wolman and Kerzener are both South African, although Wolman now lives in Connecticut. Scott Ferson is identified as the official spokesman for the Wampanoag tribe. He is employed by the lobbying firm Liberty Square Group, with offices in Boston and Washington, D.C.

Ferson said that Liberty Square group has a contract with the tribe. When asked if the tribal council, or the tribal membership or only Glenn Marshall were parties to that contract he failed to answer.A recent telephone conversation with Ferson shed light into some of the dark corners of the Wampanoag story. Ferson said that Liberty Square group has a contract with the tribe. When asked if the tribal council, or the tribal membership or only Glenn Marshall were parties to that contract he failed to answer. When asked if there is a resolution executed by the entire tribal council to retain his firm's services he failed to answer. He said that his firm had become involved some time ago because of Herb Strather and other "investors" whom he did not identify.  Ferson confirmed that Strather is still an investor/stockholder, but with a minority position. He did not spell out who owns how much of what stock or what the exact percentage of ownership or future profits are held by the Wampanoag tribe. In fact, no one seems to know, according to Amelia Bingham. Ferson also admitted that Liberty Square Group, while being contracted by the tribe, is actually paid by the "investors". He would not specify which investors or how much Liberty Square Group is being paid.

Amelia sues her tribe

"They didn't all suddenly get good jobs but they sure have a lot of money now" -Amelia BinghamAmelia Bingham brought suit in Barnstable Superior Court seeking to gain information about the tribe's finances. She claims that Glenn Marshall refused to make full disclosure to her or the tribe generally. Her efforts failed when the judge dismissed her action and then Glenn Marshall banished her. Asked about this Ferson said, "She got to see everything, she saw the tax returns." But, according to Ferson's own admissions, fees paid to his firm would not have shown up in those documents because his employer is not paid by the tribe but by so-called investors. He could not say whether there are other funds that would have benefited some within the tribe but which are not to be found in tribal records.

Bingham is not shy in her beliefs. She says that Marshall and his cronies within the tribe have lived well since Strather arrived on the scene, driving new vehicles, living in new or spruced up houses, vacationing frequently to far away places. "They didn't all suddenly get good jobs but they sure have a lot of money now." she said. She also says that Marshall pays himself with tribal funds but because he has designated himself as sole receiver and disperser of funds for the tribe  oversight is difficult.

Indian fate again in the White Man's hands

"He (Scott Ferson) doesn't speak for me or the tribe. He's not even one of us. He's a white man from Boston"
   - Amelia BinghamFederal recognition of the Wampanoags as a tribe should open vast opportunities for the tribe to gain quality medical care, education assistance, property, housing for tribe members and economic opportunity. There are numerous federal programs available to help the tribe lift itself out of its precarious position. But, to date, the only initiative Glenn Marshall and the tribal council have organized seems to be the one that Middleboro voters will decide  on Saturday, a casino. The fate of this sovereign Indian nation is again in the hands of white men. Amelia Bingham says, "Glenn has kept the tribe in the dark, no one knows what he has been up to." She also speaks of Scott Ferson, "He doesn't speak for me or the tribe. He's not even one of us. He's a white man from Boston."

The official Wampanoag spokesman is a white man from Boston who is not paid by the tribe but by non-tribal interests who are looking to make potentially billions of dollars by renting from Glenn Marshall the Wampanoag's gaming franchise in MassachusettsThe situation is at the very least interesting. The official Wampanoag spokesman is a white man from Boston who is not paid by the tribe but by non-tribal interests who are looking to make potentially billions of dollars by renting from Glenn Marshall the Wampanoag's gaming franchise in Massachusetts. Rank and file members of the tribe are excluded from the planning of this enterprise, are not permitted access to the complete financial dossier of their own sovereign nation and those who oppose the rule of Glenn Marshall are to be expelled from tribal activities, and perhaps even stricken from its membership rolls.  No one knows how much outside money has come into tribal coffers or what Wampanoag members have received how much over what period of time for what services they have performed because the tribal council is headed by man who will not disclose what he does no want known.

The only official source of information about these matters is paid by South African gaming speculators, among other investors. Amelia Bingham's words ring loud and clear in her strong, measured tones, "I was proud to call myself a Wampanoag from the time I could talk. I was  a Wampanoag before Glenn Marshall was born and he cannot make me anything but a Wampanoag." She points out that when Marshall was identifying himself as Cape Verdean she was a proud Wampanoag. 

Links;

• What happened in Connecticut
  
• Joan Vennochi onLen Wolman, Sol Kerzener
• More on the South African twins
• Starwood's big bet
• Abramoff and the Indians