Knowing

I guess there was a movie released earlier this year called “Knowing”, which had Nicolas Cage.  This film involved a time capsule  with predictions and beyond that, I am not really sure what it is about.  But I liked the title as a blog post because after spending some time today sorting through the years of paperwork that has piled up around my office, it was eerily appropriate.  I’ve put aside a plastic portfolio in one of my drawers, one that can be locked.  In it is five years of work from our Audit Director that I’ve managed to save.

Today I found an old report that was probably talked about but for whatever reason I never really got around to reading.  Before I get accused of “teaser journalism” anybody reading this right now can be forewarned that the contents of the report will never be known to readers unless they somehow get elected to Tribal Council.  It was that kind of report.  Though years old, there were names mentioned of people I knew, some not in a way anybody would consider flattering.  Of course, that is the case with many audit reports.

Earlier in summer, July 8 to be exact, at a Council meeting a number of the attendees demanded we let them know the contents of the report on the so-called “Leno Letter” from last year.  What I find interesting, and probably sad, is that some of those demanding the report seem to have little if any interest in any other, which is a sure reason to question their motives.  One person pointed out that by then just about everybody in the audience had gotten some idea of whose name was mentioned, so that people were adamant about knowing didn’t make perfect sense.  The point was a valid one, but lost on the ones who needed to get it.  Public shaming, and maybe worse, is what they really cared about.

Anyway, the point I made at that Council meeting, and being made now is simple:  while I’ve always stood for openness and transparency, there has got to be some standard, one that takes into account the potential embarrassment and humiliation which could come with releasing some of our reports indiscriminately.  I say that mindful of the fact in many of the reports we get there are records of people being bad, breaking rules, and doing stuff they shouldn’t.  In other words, they shouldn’t be completely let off the hook.  But we should leave that to the appropriate staff.  Leaving the “punishment”, if you will, up to Council is something we shouldn’t do, because then dispensing justice becomes political.  And that’s not really justice.

There is more than just the reports we get from our Audit Director.  We have access to just about any record in the tribe.  While I don’t seek some of this information, inevitably a lot of it comes to us anyway, usually instigated by a Tribal member with some sort of beef.  We end up learning about a “situation” that we would not normally be apprised of in the course of our everyday work.  Much of this knowledge is eye-opening to say the least, and on many occasions will give you cause to look at some of our fellow Tribal members differently.  Funny thing is, do those members know we know?

I’ve learned over time who owes the Tribe money, who isn’t paying their utilities, who didn’t follow through on a Tribal scholarship.  I know why somebody didn’t get a job they thought was theirs, and worst of all, I know why somebody’s prescription wasn’t refilled because they came to Council seeking help.  I know sometimes too much about what goes on around me, and many times too little.

It might qualify as a paradox.  I know this most of all.  When somebody stands up in a Council meeting and says something untrue, misleading, and inaccurate, the hardest thing of all is to say nothing because to say anything will only make it worse.