Thursday, May 12, 2011
by Bob Shiles, Staff Writer
The Robesonian
PEMBROKE — Rep. Mike McIntyre says that the recent HUD audit alleging financial mismanagement by the Lumbee tribal government is an obstacle that will have to be overcome if the tribe is to receive federal recognition. His comments comes as the speaker of the tribe is saying publicly that Chairman Purnell Swett should resign, and that a recall effort is likely.
McIntyre, who successfully shepherded the Lumbee Recognition Bill through the House during the last congressional session and introduced the bill again in the current session that began in January, said in a statement Wednesday that he is committed to doing all he can to get the federal recognition bill passed. The bill, sponsored in the Senate by Sens. Kay Hagan, a Democrat, and Richard Burr, a Republican, did not reach the floor of the Senate for a vote before the end of the last congressional session.
“However, the opponents of Lumbee federal recognition are always looking for opportunities to use against us. The recent audit by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will only add to their list,” McIntyre said. “I encourage the tribe to address the issues raised in the audit, operate in a transparent way, and show that indeed the tribe will be good stewards of the taxpayer dollars. This report is certainly another challenge that we must overcome.”
In the wake of the audit’s findings that the tribal government has not used HUD money in compliance with federal guidelines, Tribal Council members and others have told The Robesonian that Chairman Purnell Swett needs to resign. The Robesonian’s website has been flooded with negative comments about Swett and former Tribal Administrator Rose Marie Lowry-Townsend. Many have called for Swett to resign or suggested that tribal members begin a process to have him removed.
Swett on Tuesday told The Robesonian that he has “no plans at this time to resign.”
“The people elected me to do a job and I intend to do it,” he said.
In a posting Tuesday on the The Robesonian’s website, Steve Sampson, speaker of the Lumbee Tribal Council, wrote that the council and other tribal members unsuccessfully tried for a year to obtain access to tribal financial records relating to contracts, consultants and legal fees.
“It has taken two court cases to show Purnell Swett and his administration that this government is elected by the Lumbee people, for the Lumbee people, and that they will be held accountable to everybody,” he wrote. “… It is going to take a lot of work to move forward, and once another action takes place, then and only then, can we start the process of rebuilding the integrity of the Lumbee people. I just hope one man’s pride doesn’t blindside him to sacrifice the tribe as a whole.”
Sampson told The Robesonian on Wednesday that he asked Swett to resign about a month ago.
“He didn’t give me an answer,” the speaker said.
Sampson said he plans to ask Swett one more time to do what is best for the Lumbee tribe as a whole and resign as chairman.
“The proper thing for Chairman Swett to do at this time is to resign on his own recognizance,” Sampson said. “It should not take a member of the Tribal Council or another tribal member to ask for his resignation. He should be willing to step aside for the best interest of the tribe.”
Sampson said that he is requesting the chairman’s resignation as a tribal member, not as a member of the Tribal Council.
“I’m speaking for myself. Not for other council members,” he said.
Sampson said that the chairman’s refusal to resign will spark a recall effort among tribal members.
“My request for his resignation is a last-ditch effort for him to resign on his own before recall efforts begin,” Sampson said. “If he does not step down, I will be a participant in the recall effort.”
Tribal member Eric Locklear, who currently has a petition pending in the tribe’s administrative court concerning the refusal of former Tribal Administrator Lowry-Townsend and Swett to honor his request for a copy of Lowry-Townsend’s contract with the tribe, agrees with Sampson that Swett must resign.
“It would be a step forward for the tribe if the chairman would resign,” he said. “It would be a start of us moving uphill and improving government.
“A true leader should accept responsibility for his actions,” Locklear said. “This (resigning) is a final opportunity for the chairman to do something positive. Right now, he is holding us in the status of harm.”
If the chairman should resign, the tribe’s vice chairman, Sharon Hunt, would become the interim chairman. She would serve until a new chairman is elected.
— Staff writer Bob Shiles can be reached at (910) 272-6117 or bshiles@heartlandpublications.com.
