LAWSUIT - CORRUPTION - ETHICS AND CONFLICTS Let us begin by stating this is all factual and will take a few minutes to read, but it will be worth your time to get all the way thru and fully understand how corrupt this whole place has become. Here goes… A lawsuit has been filed on the following matters in the Cherokee Court. This case involves the issues we have discussed in a few of our posts over the past few months involving “Scape Goats” and coverups with the Cherokee County Casino project. We will try to make this more easily understandable. SRA stands for Sneed, Robertson and Associates, Inc. This is a Company specifically formed to oversee and perform the project management of the Murphy Casino. The idea for this new company sprang up because Ray Rose and Paula Brown Wojtkowski wanted to break the project management away from Harrah’s Design and Construction and into a “locally controlled arrangement”. For all the past projects, involving large scale developments by the Casino, the project management has been handled by Harrah’s D&C and most specifically Eric Sneed and Scott Robertson. Both, Eric and Scott, were employees of the Casino and had performed the project management over the recent $650 million dollar expansion at the Cherokee Casino. And I think all would agree did a great job on it. But along comes a Rose… The new Chairman of the TCGE, Ray Rose, set out to line himself up. He and Paula Brown W. cajoled the TCGE Board into naming them as the “Negotiation Committee” in order to pull the project management away from Harrah’s D&C and instead into a “local arrangement”. They met with Eric and Scott and floated the concept to them in July 2012. It was proposed that Eric and Scott leave employment at the Casino and establish their own company to contract with the TCGE as project managers for the new Murphy Casino. In September 2012 Eric and Scott formerly filed Corporation Documents with the Secretary of State and formed their new Company called SRA, Inc. SRA met with the TCGE Board on September 20, 2012 at the Brio restaurant where the TCGE formally requested SRA to proceed with plans and to keep all this strictly confidential. Why? Because this would turn out to be a $2.2 Million dollar deal! (The contract for project management when signed was for 2% of the total project value of $110 million). Now here is the real KICKER! Ray Rose (Chairman of the TCGE) joined the new SRA company as a board member in October 2012, then proceeded to continue negotiations with SRA as a Board Member and as Chairman of the TCGE! If this isn’t criminal or at least a flagrant violation of the Tribal Ordinances I don’t know what is! But here again… Hicks is in charge so we all know how this story is played… No legal or ethical accountability, responsibility or morality. This administration = Anything Goes!! Ray stayed on the SRA board and even served as its chairman, while simultaneously being Chairman of the TCGE. Haha, bunch of fools. (Oh yeah, ask what stunt he tried to pull by grabbing the Coffee Shop while being a member of the Sequoyah Fund also. But that is another Rant for another day!) Back to the current issue at hand… A few months later (December 2012) Ray Rose decided to form his own project management company to take potential contracts away from his new SRA partners. In December 2012 Ray set up a new company and named it “Rose Project and Technology Services, LLC” and signed the official Articles of Corporation on December 13th and filed them with the Secretary of State in NC on 12/28/2012 (and just recently filed his most recent annual report dated 4/15/2014). He immediately pursued Casey Cooper and got the project manager contract in February 2013. It wasn’t but a few months later that Casey Cooper and the CIHA was regretting getting involved with Ray Rose. They set forth to re-bid the contract and approached Eric Sneed with SRA to bid on the new hospital contract. In December 2013 the CIHA recommended acceptance of the new project managers of SRA for the new hospital. (I imagine this didn’t set well with Ray Rose!) In the meantime, Paula Brown W. had convinced the Tribal Council on the concept that they could build the Murphy Casino with $90 million and up to $20 million contingency ($110 million). However, since as early as September 2012 SRA told Paula and the TCGE that the project as set forth would cost a minimum of $135 to $145 million. But Paula Brown W. continued to tell the Council that it was only gonna take $90-$110 million. Paula and Ray completely ignored the real advice and numbers from the promises they were making! As far back as Sept 2012 they had required SRA to sign confidentiality agreements to not disclose the true price. Well this all BLEW UP in early March 2014! Do any of you remember that? Recall that Hicks got up to the podium and said, “When I was told the real numbers and the true cost IT WAS THE WORST DAY SINCE I’VE BEEN CHIEF” Really!! Sooo realizing that the TCGE Board you appointed is incompetent is worse than all the deaths we have suffered as a Tribe from drug overdoses, or the heinous crimes that have been committed against some of our children or elders.?? Do you remember the outcry from the Council and public? There was nearly a vote taken to stop the project then. But it was delayed until the following week and then it has been covered up since! Not a peep. Why? Less than three weeks later, on March 27, 2014, Ray Rose and Paula Brown W. pressured the TCGE Board to fire SRA and revoke their contract for the Murphy project. Scapegoats and now we also know retaliation! This was only about three months after Ray Rose had lost the new Hospital project to SRA and Paula was still trying to find a way to keep from showing how incompetent she is as a Board member! So here you have one TCGE Board member self-dealing for his own interests (Rose Project and Technology Company) and taking actions to retaliate against a rival company (SRA); and another TCGE Board member trying to draw attention away from herself for her own incompetence and utter negligence! They conspired to breach the contract with SRA in direct violation of law and equity! Wonder where the great legal advice from the TCGE Boards attorney was during that discussion? SRA has sued the TCGE, Ray Rose and Paula Brown W. individually for over 7 different claims- - Breach of Contract - Breach of Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing - Tortious Interference with Contract - Slander - Class 2 Libel - Lost Business Opportunities - Punitive & Compensatory Damages WHEW! We have been trying to let everyone know that something is rotten in Denmark! Ray Rose set out from the beginning to tear down the project management that we have always used, very successfully, and set up a project management that he could control and abuse as he deems fit. He is running private deals in direct violation of our laws and ethics by setting himself up on a private company board as chairman and then pushing contracts from the TCGE to that private company and using his position to retaliate and punish rival companies. He then took over project management of the Murphy Casino and has struck private deals and land swap agreements with non-Indian developers. This lawsuit is proving our point that Ray Rose is self-dealing and this project is in serious jeopardy. There are some very serious conflicts and we believe they border on Criminal! Hey Hicks and Blythe… Where are you boys?? Hiding? Or sitting back letting Ray bring home the bacon? And Council… Why did you allow Paula Brown W. to cuss you out and then walk into another casino job with a salary over $160k per year? Her incompetence as a Board member is unequaled! She has left you not only with a good cussing and a lawsuit that the TCGE may very well lose, but also a vacant seat on the TCGE. NOW WHAT? Please dont tell us its too late and you are gonna confirm Hicks pick. Please!! His own community kicked him out of Council and now Hicks thinks he should be making decisions that affect all communities? Even Birdtown don’t want him. Why in the world would you now put him into a position to make decisions that affect everyone. His own ethics and veracity has been questioned and also, he doesn’t even have a higher degree of any type. Don’t we have some Tribal Members who are well educated and have proven their ethical behavior to be above reproach? Or maybe that is the problem… Hicks wants the questionable type so he can have more control that way. Don’t fall for it!! Please find a member who deserves a shot, not someone who is rejected by their community or morally and ethically challenged! Sure he might be a nice person but its all just the cover of a book filled with lies, deceit and underhanded dealings! So sorry for this extra long rant, but as you can tell it has taken a lot of space to fully tell the story. If you want a copy of the lawsuit drop by the Court House and ask for a copy, Sneed vs. TCGE, case # CV 14-323. We can’t do this alone and need your voice! Speak up and call your council member. This incompetence and criminal and ethical violations has gone on long enough. What do you think? Express yourself to your Council Member and leave a post of your thoughts here! Sgi Good Luck
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 23:37:37 +0000
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