Allegations against Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Chairwoman Karen Diver were dismissed today at a hearing on the reservation.
The Reservation Business Committee voted 4-0 -- with Diver abstaining -- to dismiss allegations that included malfeasance in handling tribal affairs, dereliction or neglect of duty and refusal to comply with any provisions of the constitution and bylaws of the tribe. The allegations came from band members who gathered signatures of slightly more than 20 percent of eligible voters who live on the reservation, as allowed by the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe Constitution.
Diver said she was allowed to make a statement in front of band members and a hearing officer, and to respond to the petition and its allegations.
"Some of the people who were proponents of the petition wanted to be able to say more ... but that's not the way it works," Diver said. "Under due process you need to provide those things to me with the petition so I can respond adequately."
Mary Diver, one of the petitioners, was upset she wasn't able to speak at the hearing and said the constitution doesn't say specific allegations need to be listed alongside the filed petition.
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"It was her duty to have the evidence to prove otherwise," Mary Diver said of Karen Diver. "They never gave us the opportunity to say anything. Our rights were violated."
Karen Diver said she could have voted on her removal but didn't because it would be unethical. She also said decisions made by the RBC that upset petitioners were made by a quorum of RBC members and not by her alone.
The process by which band members can petition for removal of RBC members is clumsy, Karen Diver said, and needs clarification for both petitioners and the RBC.
"There's a lot of work to be done and this takes a lot of time and energy away from actual management of tribal affairs," she said. "But everybody had their say."
Lynn Olson-Diver, who filed the petition, has said many band members believe Karen Diver has violated the constitution by making decisions without the other RBC members. One of those members, Sandra Shabiash, characterized the act of bringing forth the petition as "tribal politics" because of the upcoming RBC elections.
Karen Diver is related through marriage to both Olson-Diver and Mary Diver, who are sisters.
