Recall efforts focus on 2 tribes' leaders

Members of the Comanche Nation and Kiowa Tribe have launched recall petitions against tribal leaders amid growing controversies over distribution of federal coronavirus relief funds, tribal gaming compacts and casino revenues.

"Our people are suffering," said Eleanor McDaniel, a Comanche Nation tribal elder who contends federal COVID-19 CARES Act relief funds sent to the Comanche Nation are "not getting to many of the people who need it."

"There are some very dire situations out there because everybody is unemployed," she said. "They've got families they've got to provide for, they can't pay the rent, they can't pay their utilities, but for some reason they can't meet the qualifications as interpreted the tribe."

McDaniel has mounted a petition drive to remove all seven members of the Comanche Nation Business Committee.

Frustration over an inability to get coronavirus relief checks is just one of the things that has tribal members upset, she said.

Many are also angry that the business committee signed a gaming compact with Gov. Kevin Stitt without first seeking approval from the Comanche Tribal Council, McDaniel said. The Comanche Tribal Council is the tribe's supreme governing body and consists of all enrolled tribal members who are 18 or older.

"The supreme governing body, we didn't know anything about this compact until they went on television and we saw them signing it with Gov. Stitt," she said. "The CBC ( Comanche Business Committee) did that on their own and they don't have that authority."

"It's brought disrepute upon the tribe ... and insult to us from the other tribes," McDaniel said. "We were supposed to be united for the good of Oklahoma, but they went rogue."

Comanche Nation Chairman William Nelson Sr. defended the actions of Comanche Business Committee members.

“This petition has no merit and is just another in a long line of recalls filed by Eleanor McDaniel to cause disruption among our tribe's membership," Nelson said. "Her fight against any and all Comanche Nation administrations has been ongoing for more than three decades, as evidenced by 23 recalls filed over the last 30 years.”

Kiowa recall effort

Difficulty getting COVID19 relief checks from the tribe is also one of the issues that have prompted Kiowa tribal members to seek a recall of Kiowa Chairman Matthew Komalty, but the issues go far beyond that, said petition backers Susan Brockman Campbell and Joe Poe Jr.

"I would say the main thing that caused all this grief is back in September he removed $6 million from the casino's bank account without proper authority," Poe said, stating that the action was taken without authorization from the Kiowa Casino Operations Authority or tribal legislature.

Petition organizers have filed a list of 22 improper acts they allege Komalty has committed, which includes such things as:

• Raising his own salary from $67,000 to $89,000 in violation of a resolution of the Kiowa Indian Council.

• Failing to see that required audits were completed.

• Hiring his wife as executive director of the Gaming commission and other relatives to oversee tribal enrollment and the housing office in violation of anti nepotism provisions.

• Rendering the Kiowa Casino Operations Authority unable to function by removing authority members from office.

• Spending or committing CARES Act relief funds without proper approval.

Komalty called the allegations against him "gossip" and arranged a conference call with several tribal officials to discuss them.

Adam Valdez, the tribe's former chief financial officer, said the chairman did not appropriate the $6 million that came from casino operations.

"All that occurred was a transfer from a casino bank account to a tribal account," Valdez said, adding that the full amount stayed there drawing interest until the Kiowa Indian Council voted March 28 by mail to approve budget modifications that authorized appropriation of the funds. The tribe has drawn down about $1.5 million from the account since the budget was approved, he said.

Komalty said he did not request the $22,000 raise that he received.

Valdez said the tribe was behind on its audits when Komalty took office, but has since caught up.

Komalty said he did not hire his wife to work as executive director of the Kiowa Gaming Commission. Komalty said she was hired as an employee of the gaming commission years before he took office, and is currently serving as interim executive director because there is a vacancy.

The relative who oversees tribal enrollment was "hired by a member of the legislative branch," Komalty said, adding, "I didn't even know she was kin to me."

Komalty said the person who oversees housing is related to him through his grandpa, but is not a close relative and there is no nepotism violation.

The Kiowa Tribe has received about $21.8 million in federal COVID-19 relief aid under the CARES Act, officials said.

Freida Satepeahtaw, the Kiowa Tribe's COVID-19 response program director, said the tribe has set up an application process consistent with federal guidelines that tribal members must follow to receive assistance.

Satepeahtaw said the chairman's family hasn't received any of the relief assistance to date, but said the qualifications are the same for everyone and "if chairman's family does apply and if they qualify accordingly, then they will probably get assistance."

Chairman Komalty said he removed only one member of the Kiowa Casino Operations Authority, and contends he had a legitimate reason to do that. Two other members were removed by the Kiowa Gaming Commission, he said.

Tribal officials said federal guidelines called for CARES Act funds be distributed quickly and established the rules for how the money is to be distributed. They contend that distribution of that money is an executive function rather than a legislative function.

"I'm tired of defending myself," Komalty said. "I've got staff that is competent, reliable and knows the history of everything that we've done here."

"Everything we've done has been according to guidelines, by the rules, by the charter, by the constitution," he said.

In a proceeding that is separate from the recall petition but includes some of the same issues, the tribal Legislature is seeking to impeach Chairman Komalty, said Angela Chaddlesone McCarthy, speaker of the Kiowa Tribe legislature.

Comanche Nation tribal members who want to sign recall petitions for the seven business committee members and Kiowa tribal members who want to sign the recall petition for Chairman Komalty will be able to do so between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday in the Sunset Room at the Comanche County Fairgrounds Coliseum, McDaniel said.

McDaniel said she already has 258 of the 1,266 signatures needed for the Comanche Nation recall petitions and has until Sept. 16 to gather the rest.

The Kiowa Tribe requires 1,511 signatures to mandate a recall election, Poe said. Poe said he has no idea how many signatures have been gathered to date, but petition organizers have until Sept. 23 to reach the goal.