Big Lagoon Rancheria has received $1.9 million in federal grants since 2000

According to resources available at FedSpending.org, the Big Lagoon Rancheria with 18 members (as acknowledged by DOI ) received more than $1.9 million in federal grants from FY 2000 - FY 2005.

This does not include any entities that the Big Lagoon Rancheria might benefit from or be affiliated with that do not include “Big Lagoon” in the organization’s name.

FedSpending.Org

a project of OMB Watch

Big Lagoon Rancheria Federal Grants FY 2000-2006
Fiscal Year	# Grants Recipients	Total $
2000	01	$54,000
2001	01	$397,661
2002	01	$147,576
2003	01	$159,160
2004	01	$427,422
2005	01	$715,230
2006*	01	$54,560
Total	07	$1,955,609
* First Quarter only

http://www.fedspending.org/faads/faads.php?recipient_name=Big+Lagoon+Rancheria&sortby=r&detail=0&datype=T&reptype=r&database=faads&fiscal_year=&submit=GO

you may want to review these posts or click on the labels below for related posts:

• 'Disadvantaged' Tribe has amassed additional property valued at $2.65 million
• Even without Casino, Humboldt Tribe’s Standard of Living is four times greater than most California families
• Barwest's partners signed Compacts under false pretense; knew they would never make the May 31, 2007 deadline
• BIA's last official public accounting of Pending Gaming Applications
• KQED's Myers understands circumstances of Big Lagoon's failed deadlines and recognizes Tribe's in triple overtime
• Mayor doing damage control for gaming syndicators says casino deal not yet a bust
• Barstow gaming compacts aren't fair, equitable or justifed when other tribes are held back
• Compacts for non-gaming tribes being considered in California present inequities
• Despite gaming agreements, Tribe could pursue commercial development at Big Lagoon

Tribe plays along with yet another Sacramento PR stunt hatched by its Detroit Developer

posted 6.27.07 by KQED's John Myers at Capitol Notes:

Tribe Hitches Up, Heads North

The long-running debate over plans for side-by-side Indian casinos in Barstow gets a new dose of PR later today at the state Capitol.

Last month, we reported on the status of the tribal casinos proposed by San Diego's Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians and Humboldt's Big Lagoon Rancheria. The two tribes signed gaming agreements with Governor Schwarzenegger in 2005, but those agreements have sat in limbo in the Legislature ever since. Some say it's because the agreements, which would allow each tribe to open its own casino in Barstow, sets a bad precedent for off reservation tribal gaming. Others claim that powerful gaming tribes have had a hand in blocking the efforts of what could be two new competitors.

In a story that aired on The California Report in May, we introduced you to Francine Kupsch, a Los Coyotes tribe member whose meager life inside a tiny camping trailer was portrayed in one of the original political ads in support of 1998's Proposition 5 tribal gaming initiative.

This morning, Kupsch and her dilapidated old trailer are scheduled to pull up to the grounds of the state Capitol.

Kupsch no longer lives in the trailer; it's been sitting next door to her current home for a few years. But as we found when visiting Los Coyotes' rural San Diego County reservation, her current home is badly in need of repair. And the tribe hopes to make a simple point with today's event: there's still a lot of economic hardship on many California reservations.

This is actually Los Coyotes' second round of PR campaigns on the grounds of the statehouse; last year, several tribe members staged a short hunger strike in hopes of getting the casino compact ratified.

You might also remember that Los Coytoes' partner tribe, Big Lagoon, agreed last month to allow the negotiations to keep going in Sacramento-- rather than return to court in their quest for a tribal casino.


http://www.kqed.org/weblog/capitalnotes/2007/06/tribe-hitches-up-heads-north.jsp

Stabbing, shooting on Shinnecock reservation

04.26.07

BY ANDREW STRICKLER

andrew.strickler@newsday.com

One resident of the Shinnecock Indian Reservation was shot and another stabbed in an altercation over money Monday night, police said.

A 37-year-old male received a graze wound to the pelvis when he was shot by a 27-year-old man during a verbal and physical fight, according to New York State Police. During the same altercation a 30-year-old female Shinnecock woman also used an unknown object to stab a 28-year-old Riverhead man in the right arm.

Officials said the incident occurred at 8:15 p.m. in the Little Beach area. The circumstances of the altercation were revealed in an investigation after all the people involved in the fight fled the scene before police arrived.

The shooting victim refused medical treatment. The stabbing victim was treated at Southampton Hospital but left before police arrived. No charges have been filed and the investigation is ongoing.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lishin0627,0,3250747,print.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines

Bay Mills Indians have received $35 million in federal grants since 2000

According to resources available at FedSpending.org, the Bay Mills Indian Community and its various affiliated entities have received more than $35 million in federal grants since FY 2000.

This does not include grants to Bay Mills affiliates that don’t carry the “Bay Mills” name such as the “Great Lakes Composites Institute” which received a $906,000 federal grant to construct an industrial facility for R&D and manufacturing in Chippewa County.

FedSpending.Org

a project of OMB Watch

Bay Mills Federal Grants FY 2000-2006
Fiscal Year	# Grant Recipients	Total $
2000	05	$3,336,215
2001	06	$5,154,818
2002	08	$6,758,603
2003	09	$5,006,805
2004	07	$5,940,064
2005	08	$9,069,913
2006*	04	$49,141
Total	47	$35,315,559
* First Quarter only ** Does not include Composites Institute funds; or other enterprise endeavors

These Bay Mills affiliates received grants:

• Bay Mills Community College
• Bay Mills Conservation Enforcement
• Bay Mills Executive Council
• Bay Mills Housing Authority
• Bay Mills Indian Community
• Bay Mills Indian Community Council
• Bay Mills Indian Community HA
• Bay Mills Indian Location: 02
• Bay Mills Indian Location: 03
• Bay Mills Law Enforcement
• Bay Mills Ojibwe Charter School
• Bay Mills Township Vol. Fire Department
• Michigan Bay Mills Indian Community
• Michigan Bay Mills Indians

http://www.fedspending.org/faads/faads.php?recipient_name=bay+mills&sortby=r&detail=0&datype=T&reptype=r&database=faads&fiscal_year=&submit=GO

International Composite Institute of Michigan pitched to EUP Workforce Development Board

8.19.04 Minutes of the EUP Workforce Development Board:

...Guest speaker, Tony Andary, provided a presentation of a new business venture. The International Composite Institute of Michigan focuses on training interested parties in obtaining licenses in creating thermoplastic composites. He described the many uses of FiberForm (a mixture of plastic and fiberglass). It is being researched to open this training facility to provide instruction at the high school level. This will bring manufacturing experience to this area with a long range goal of manufacturers opening businesses in the Eastern Upper Peninsula...

From Michigan Works! Web site:

Eastern Upper Peninsula (EUP) Employment and Training Consortium is known
now as Michigan Works! The agency covers Chippewa, Luce and Mackinac Counties working together to provide employment and training, education and community corrections programs and services to their residents.

EUP Michigan Works! offer a resource room with an array of self-help information, and special programs for adults, dislocated workers, economically disadvantaged youth, individuals with disabilities, veterans, and people who are trying to move from welfare to work.

Most of the funding for Michigan Works! comes through federal or state grants administered by the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth.

Integrated Composites Company

Polycom Inc.

Great Lakes Composite Institute

New Web site launched for the expanded "MotorCity Casino Hotel"

Detroit Entertainment LLC has launched a new website for the Detroit's expanding MotorCity Casino Hotel. The site attempts to relay the vibe created by the $275 million renovation and expansion and the design elements of contributed by legendary Hot Rod designer Chip Foose.

At best it gives a peak at what to expect from the Hotel addition when it opens later this year. Here are three thumbnails examples of what you'll find at the revamped MotorCityCasino.com. The site is intended to broadcast live from the Casino's Radio Bar but we couldn't get anything today.

INTRO

Home Page

Hotel

Former Interior official got twice the sentence following guilty plea

as posted 6.26.07 at TPMmuckraker.com:

Judge Sentences Admin Official to 10 Months
By Paul Kiel

Prosecutors had asked for only five months imprisonment, coupled with five months house arrest for Steven Griles, the former #2 at the Interior Department who's pled guilty to lying to Senate investigators about his relationship with Jack Abramoff.

A federal judge, apparently unconvinced that Griles had learned anything from the whole affair, today sentenced him to twice that. From the AP:

The Interior Department's former No. 2 official was sentenced to 10 months in prison Tuesday for lying to senators in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, the highest administration official sentenced in the probe....

'Even now you continue to minimize and try to excuse your conduct,' [Judge Ellen] Huvelle told Griles.

Griles had asked for three months home confinement and community service in the form of pro bono lobbying.

Bay Mills plastics venture awarded $906k U.S. Commerce Dept. grant

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION
US. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

December 18-21, 2006

EDA announced 19 investments greater than $100,000 during the period December 18-22, 2006, totaling $13,414,396. These investments were part of projects totaling $44,135,859, creating over 2,048 jobs, saving 43 jobs, and generating more than $289.9 million in private investments...

$906,000 for a joint investment with the Bay Mills Indian Community and the Bay Mills Community College, Brimley, Michigan, to construct an industrial facility to house the Great Lakes Composites Institute providing space for research, testing, training and manufacturing in the plastics technology in Chippewa County. This investment is part of a $1,510,000 project that will help create 55 jobs and generate more than $2.8 million in private investments.

http://www.eda.gov/xp/EDAPublic/NewsEvents/NewInvestments.xml

you may also want to review these additional posts or click on the "labels" below for other related posts:

• Bay Mills GTC ignored tribe members request for investigation into structure of plastics venture
• Tribe's chair reported two members were hired for its plastics business
• Tribe to borrow $4 million to fund federal grant requirement, other investments in Plastics venture
  

Bay Mills GTC ignored tribe members request for investigation into structure of plastics venture

from a report on the 3.14.05 Bay Mills Community General Tribal Council (GTC) meeting:

...PLASTICS BUSINESS

[Chairman Jeff] Parker said that Mike Malik is involved in the plastics business because the tribe did not want to expend any tribal funds on the project. He said the initial concept is to have the business in Kinross until the planned creation of an industrial park on tribal properties at I-75 and M-28.

A member of the community had questions about the business — who is the International Composite Institute of Michigan (ICIM) and what is the tribe's relationship with this company? Parker said that ICIM is a non-profit entity comprised of Lake Superior State University and Bay Mills Community College and that BMCC is a charter member.

The concerned member said that ICIM is a non-profit corporation chartered within the state of Michigan and it's chief principal is Tony Andary.

BMCC President Mickey Parish said that ICIM is a non profit testing company and that the college is involved to give students an opportunity to do internships there. He said that LSSU would also like to use the facility for their students to do internships. He added that BMCC has applied for a grant to purchase testing equipment and that LSSU has also applied for a $500,000 two-year grant to fund the staff of the testing institute.

The concerned member said that ICIM'S mailing address, P.O. Box 915, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., currently shares the same address with Integrated Composites Company, a company owned by both Tony Andary and Parker. He said that BMCC shares a partnership with this group to provide free labor that will help advance Parker and Andary's company. He added that Parker had signed a lease to the building to ICIM and the group that licenses this technology is known as Polycom Inc.

Parker said that he and Andary did form a L.L.C. called Integrated Composites, but he sold out his interest in the company. He said they had only one piece of equipment and that has been sold. He admitted that they did lease the building, but said that has since been assigned to someone else. Parker said that he is only listed as a partner of Polycom because he did legal work with Andary and, because of potential problems, he did sell his interest in the business.

A concerned community member said that at the last GTC meeting Chairman Parker had said that he had no interest, whatsoever, in the business. She suggested the GTC put together a committee to investigate the allegations,.

Another member said that it was his understanding that Malik would invest $1.3 million into the company and would own 49 percent of it, while Bay Mills would own 51 percent. He also recommended a committee be put together to investigate some of these allegations and report back to the GTC with their findings. Parker said he would like to have the tribe do the venture on their own, but said that they did it this way so they would not be out any money.

A motion to have the council report back with paperwork at the next GTC meeting on all of the legal issues presented failed to pass.

A motion to have the Executive Council enter into a joint venture for the Plastics Business carried.

http://www.baymills.org/newspaper/2005/03-24/032405-news-gtcmeeting.shtml

you may also want to review these additional posts or click on the "labels" below for other related posts:

• Tribe's chair reported two members were hired for its plastics business
• Bay Mills plastics venture awarded $906k U.S. Commerce Dept. grant
• Tribe to borrow $4 million to fund federal grant requirement, other investments in Plastics venture

Gaming Tribe seeks to diversify while developer still pushing off-reservation casino

Michigan’s Emerging Tribal Economies:
A Presentation to the Michigan House of Representatives

Prepared By
Michigan State University College of Law
INDIGENOUS LAW & POLICY CENTER
April 13, 2007

A report prepared by the Michigan State University College of Law, Indigenous Law & Policy Center and presented to the Michigan House of Representatives in April suggests the Bay Mills Indian Community, which was the first tribe to operate a gaming facility in Michigan; and now has two moderately-sized gaming facilities, a first-class golf course, and an assortment of small businesses on its reservation; is in the process of diversifying its economy beyond gaming and hospitality.

The reports suggests that among other ventures, the tribal leaders have focused on the development of significant plastics manufacturing venture that also includes research & development, and education & job training components in partnership with the Bay Mills Community College and something called the Great Lakes Composite Institute [not registered with the Michigan Dept. Labor & Economic Growth].

The tribe and its partners have already applied for and received federal grants for the effort and plan to use their Native American owned-status as an advantage to pursue lucrative federal and other public contracts.

The report includes a specific case study on Bay Mills Indian Community which concludes:

"The Bay Mills Indian Community projects that this business venture will net tens of millions of dollars in revenue for the tribe, mitigating reliance on casino gaming. Additionally, as a licensor of the technology, the Bay Mills Indian Community will be able to assist other tribes throughout the United States in using this technology to diversify their own local economies. "

Full Report: Michigan's Emerging Tribal Economies

you may want to review these posts or click on the links below for additional information:

• Concerns raised about Malik & Bay Mills Tribe's Plastics Business long before $900k federal grant awarded
• Bay Mills plastics venture awarded $906k U.S. Commerce Dept. grant
• Bay Mills Indians have received more than $35 million in federal grants since 2000
• Bay Mills GTC ignored tribe members request for investigation into structure of plastics venture
• Bay Mills & Malik get into Plastics; Senator Stabenow announces they'll get $900,000 federal jumpstart

Times Herald's account of Native Americans in the Port Huron area

2.04.07

published in the Times Herald to mark Port Huron's Sesquicentennial, the 150th anniversary of the city's incorporation on Feb. 4, 1857:

THE STORY OF PORT HURON: 13,000 BEFORE PRESENT TO 1813
Part 1: Location key to city's history
When glaciers retreat, they create setting for transportation nexus

By MIKE CONNELL
Times Herald

• ...This was the land found by the original inhabitants, who flourished at what is now Port Huron. Of the roughly 1,100 Indian mounds known in Michigan, some of the largest and most impressive were located within today's city limits.
  
  Actually, they were more terraces than mounds. One located on the banks of McNeil's Creek, for example, was more than 500 feet long, 100 to 150 feet wide and 12 feet high.
  
  In 1872, an amateur archaeologist named Henry Gilman provided the Peabody Museum at Harvard University with a report on the Indian burial grounds in Port Huron.
  
  At the time, Gilman was the superintendent of Lighthouse Services on the Great Lakes (the agency later joined with others to form the Coast Guard). A careful observer, Gilman described the evacuation of the terraces in detail.
  
  The dead had been buried in sitting positions. They were interred with pottery, flint tools, rock hammers and sinkers that indicated they were fishermen. Almost without exception, Gilman reported, they were "platycnemic men" - their tibia or shin bones flattened and showing "peculiar compression ... so marked a characteristic and in such extreme degree."
  
  Most of the terraces were near the lakeshore or the banks of McNeil's Creek, which emptied into the St. Clair River near the current site of the bridge. Today, the upper course of the creek empties into the Black River Canal. Traces of its lower course can be seen at Palmer Park, where its banks form a sled-riding slope.



• According to [William Lee] Jenks, an Iroquoian-speaking people known to the French as the Neutrals were the original inhabitants of the Port Huron area.
  
  The tribe received its name from its praiseworthy if ultimately unsuccessful attempts to avoid the genocidal war between the Iroquois confederacy, allies of the British, and the Hurons, allies of the French.
  
  In 1648-49, the Hurons were all but annihilated. Two years later, the Neutrals were conquered and absorbed by the fierce Iroquois.
  
  In the Port Huron area, the void left by the disappearance of the Neutrals and Hurons would be filled by the Chippewa and Algonquian-speaking tribes such as the Fox, Miami and Potawatomi. By the end of the 18th century, Jenks reported, the Chippewas were the only Indians left in the region...

Pombo Lands a second lobbying job as chair of Partnership for America

The Partnership Welcomes Richard Pombo As Its New National Chair!

Former Congressman Richard Pombo is the Partnership's new National Chair.

After serving seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, including be elected as Chair of the powerful House Resources Committee, Pombo will serve as the Partnership's national "ambassador" on the key issues such as maintaining public access to public lands, restoring common sense back into government regulation, promoting economic freedom and private property rights, and promoting more American energy for America.

• Go here to read the press release announcing this new development
• Go here to see information on Pombo
• Go here to watch the announcement press conference

Official Website: Partnership for America

You may also want to review these related posts:

• Ex-lawmakers find work with lobbyists
• Pombo ads another K Street gig
• Casino Developer who fronted travel & entertainment costs for Rep. Don Young (R-AK) did the same for former Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA)
• CREW - Official 13 count Ethics Complaint Includes Motor City Casino Syndicators
• Detroit casino syndicators made large investment in Pombo
• Team Ilitch directed $40,000 to RICH Political Action Committee
• Motown's Team Ilitch tops Abramoff on Congressman's "Top 10 List"
• A Case of Abramoff-Lite: Pombo was doing favors for his Motor City Casino friends
  

Pombo ads another K Street gig

posted by Bill Berkowitz at TomPaine.com:

"And Still They Rise

"...Richard Pombo was closely linked to GOP uber-lobbyist and now imprisoned Jack Abramoff, and in September 2005, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Pombo one of the '13 Most Corrupt Members in Congress.'

"Pombo’s defeat has moved him from the electoral arena to a lobbying position, having recently been appointed chairman of an organization called Partnership for America. Earlier this year he signed on with Pac/West as a senior partner.

"Partnership for America bills itself as a 'grass-roots alliance' promoting freedom, jobs and a clean environment.

"Pac/West Communications is a lobbying/consulting firm that has managed to secure a $3 million contract with the state of Alaska to 'educate' Americans about the value and importance of drilling for oil in the state, a project dear to the heart of Pombo... "

"Since joining the company in late winter, Pombo told reporters that his first job involved a trip to Alaska.

"In May, Pombo signed on as the new national chairman of Partnership for America, which, like Americans for American Energy, gives as its headquarters the Golden, Colo. office of Policy Communications Inc., and Pac/West subcontractor Jim Sims."

You may also want to review these related posts:

• Ex-lawmakers find work with lobbyists
• Casino Developer who fronted travel & entertainment costs for Rep. Don Young (R-AK) did the same for former Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA)
• CREW - Official 13 count Ethics Complaint Includes Motor City Casino Syndicators
• Detroit casino syndicators made large investment in Pombo
• Team Ilitch directed $40,000 to RICH Political Action Committee
• Motown's Team Ilitch tops Abramoff on Congressman's "Top 10 List"
• A Case of Abramoff-Lite: Pombo was doing favors for his Motor City Casino friends
  

MotorCity Casino: The Ilitch Family's bastard step-child?

From a 6.26.07 press release issued by Ilitch-owned Little Caesars Pizza...

"About Little Caesars

"Little Caesars Pizza founders Michael and Marian Ilitch opened their first restaurant in Garden City, Michigan in 1959. Today, Little Caesars is the largest carry-out chain in the world with restaurants on five continents. Little Caesars is growing in prime markets across the country, and is offering strong franchisee candidates an opportunity for independence with a proven system. In addition, Little Caesars offers strong brand awareness with one of the most recognized characters in the country, Little Caesar, that appeals to both adults and children.

"Little Caesars is an Ilitch-owned company along with, the Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers, Olympia Entertainment, Olympia Development, Blue Line Foodservice Distribution, Champion Foods, Uptown Entertainment, Little Caesars Pizza Kit Fundraising Program, and a variety of venues within these entities.

"For more information about prime franchising opportunities with Little Caesars or the Little Caesars Veterans Program, visit www.LittleCaesars.com"

What about MotorCity Casino? Isn't it Ilitch owned? Who controls MotorCity Casino (Detroit Entertainment, IH Gaming, Inc.)? Is Marian Ilitch trying to tell us something? Why isn't MotorCity Casinno included in the list of Ilitch owned entities? Every other core component of the Ilitch Empire is included -- even brands far less familiar in the marketplace. Why hide or distance MotorCity Casino?

Why isn't MotorCity Casino on the Ilitch organization's web site any longer.

MotorCity Casino has been valued at more than $1 billion and Forbes indicates the Ilitch Empire has a net value of $1.5 billion. Clearly MotorCity Casino is a significant part of the family's net worth.

MotorCity Casino is said to generate revenues of $400-$500,000,000 per year and the Ilitch's report their combined companies bring in revenues of more than $1.6 billion per year. MotorCity Casino would be contributing at least one-quarter and close to one-third of the family's annual revenue. And it may even be helping to sustain other brands like the sports ventures which historically don't yield great returns and are highly leveraged.

So why is it that the Ilitch organization seems to be treating MotorCity Casino as if it's a bastard step-child when its contribution to the Ilitch Empire may have eclipsed even its core brand, Little Caesars Pizza?

Former Doolittle chief of staff cooperating in Abramoff probe

6.25.07

By ERICA WERNER
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Rep. John Doolittle's former chief of staff and campaign adviser is cooperating with federal prosecutors investigating Doolittle and his wife in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, the aide's attorney told The Associated Press on Monday.

The aide, David Lopez, who was Doolittle's longtime chief of staff until 2005 and continued to work on his campaigns after that, has turned over campaign finance records to the Justice Department under subpoena, said his attorney Bill Portanova.

A different former Doolittle staffer, Kevin Ring, who went on to work as a lobbyist with Abramoff, was already known to be under investigation in the wide-ranging probe. Portanova's comments marked the first public confirmation that prosecutors have been interviewing other former Doolittle aides.

"Our client has been contacted like many other former staffers," said Portanova. "We have provided documents pursuant to government request in the form of a subpoena which we gladly complied with."

Doolittle, a Northern California conservative, relinquished his post on the powerful House Appropriations Committee in April after the FBI raided his home in the wide-ranging probe.

http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California/CA_Doolittle_Abramoff_294318C.shtml

You may also want to click on a "label" below or read these related posts:

• Family Affair: Members of Congress pay family members with political funds
• Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) steals one from Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) playbook
• Doolittle, Young, Pombo and others tied to yet another Detroit casino syndicator
• Doolittle committee disclosure falsely reported young rookie lobbyist (son of a Doolittle political operative) as "retired”
• Rep. John Doolittle's longtime political operative maneuvering behind the scenes of Barstow casino project
• Washington Post: Eight Members of Congress officially under investigation
• You can tell a lot about a Capitol Hill lobbyist by the company they keep
• Former congressional aide linked to Reps. John Doolittle and Don Young pleads guilty
• More news on former Doolittle aides
• Yet another former Doolittle aide intends to talk with Justice Department officials
• Former Doolittle chief of staff cooperating in Abramoff probe
• Doolittle Earmarked $300,000 For Client Of Former Aide