JFC again denies release of funding to tribes

The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee has once again denied the release of allocated funds to the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and to the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.

Last October the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) released $1 million each to nine of the state’s 11 Indian tribes — the money was allocated in the 2023-25 biennial budget as tribal assistance grants — but withheld the funds to the Lac du Flambeau and Bad River tribes.

The committee withheld the funding because of what lawmakers called “adverse actions” taken against Wisconsinites, principally because the Lac du Flambeau tribe barricaded four tribal roads in an easement dispute with title companies and the town of Lac du Flambeau, denying egress and ingress to residents who live on the roads, and because of local taxing controversies involving the Bad River tribe.

However, in a November 13 letter to JFC co-chairmen Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) and Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam), Lac du Flambeau tribal president John Johnson and Bad River chairman Robert Blanchard accused the JFC of discrimination in retaliation for the two tribes taking steps to protect their reservations’ natural resources and jurisdictional integrity.

“As sovereign governments and stewards of our lands and waters, our respective tribal governments have taken these steps as any reasonable landowner would,” Johnson and Blanchard wrote. “Instead of being respected as reasonable governments taking steps to safeguard their territorial jurisdiction, we are being discriminated against by the state with monies extracted from Indian country.”

At last week’s JFC meeting, Marklein (R-Spring Green) announced that several committee members had sent letters to the tribes trying to initiate a dialogue, and the committee wanted to let that play out before releasing the funds.

Among those sending letters was Northwoods Sen. Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk), who sent a letter to LdF tribal president John Johnson. In the letter, sent December 5, Felzkowski said she was responding to the letter Johnson sent on November 13 to Marklein and Born, though she stressed she was only writing on her own behalf.

In her letter, Felzkowski said she did not have an issue with the tribe protecting its territorial jurisdiction. What she had a problem with, she wrote, was the way Johnson had approached the matter.

“What I do take issue with is the way you chose to handle the situation, and that you failed to exhaust every possible avenue before taking the drastic and profound measures you took,” Felzkowski wrote. “Perhaps I’m overly confident in myself, but I’m certain that if you had picked up the phone and called me, I could have helped you to resolve this devastating disagreement with the town in a less destructive manner. But you didn’t pick up the phone. The blame for that lies with me, and it lies with you.”

Felzkowski said other tribes could attest that she and her office have helped those tribes facilitate economic development and private investment opportunities on reservation land, assisted with Legislative Council resources. 

“They could have shared with you that they taught me about the incomparable bond tribal nations feel with the land, and that their generational trauma is ever present in every interaction with a governmental entity,” she wrote. “They could have told you I earnestly listened. Unfortunately, it seems you didn’t pick up the phone.”

During the barricade crisis, Felzkowski said her office had commiserated with Gov. Tony Evers’s office over their shared inability to reach Johnson. 

“When we finally spoke, you told me that everyone else involved ‘was a bad actor,’” she wrote. “I can’t speak to that, and that will all be settled in the court of law. But what I do know is this: Good actors don’t give their neighbors 24 hours’ notice that they are barricading them in their homes. Good actors reevaluate their strategies when an elderly veteran is forced to wait 40 minutes for the barricades to be lifted so he can get to the hospital. Good leaders don’t cower to extremists who urge them to set aside reason and harm innocent parties.”

Felzkowski wrote that she could not and would not proclaim who was right or wrong in the conflict.

“Nor is it that simple, but I can say that in Wisconsin, we sit down and try to hash out our differences, because we know that is the way Forward,” she wrote. “In this spirit, I look to a promise from you that we can reset this relationship — for the sake of our shared constituents. Accusatory letters are all fine and good when we’re looking to get a headline, but when we’re looking to lead our people into opportunity and prosperity together, sitting at a table with respect is the way to go.”

Felzkowski said she was ready to meet with Johnson at his convenience.

Evers: Release the money

For his part, Evers has urged the JFC to release the funds, saying the money is derived from tribal gaming revenue that tribes generate and pay to the state. 

“Wisconsin would not be the state we are today without the significant contributions of Indigenous people to our history, culture, economy, and to our future, and our success as a state is inextricably tied to the success of the Native Nations who call this land home,” Evers said in a statement after the initial JFC motion. 

“The actions by Republicans on Joint Finance to withhold already-approved funds, which are paid for by tribal gaming revenue, from two tribes in Wisconsin without any justification or rationale flies in the face of our work to build strong, meaningful government-to-government partnerships with the Native Nations,” Evers continued.

Evers said the JFC action was just another in a long list of examples of Republican efforts to obstruct the basic functions of government.

“My request to Republicans is simple: stop playing politics with the Native Nations in this state and release these funds that are essential for Tribes to provide governmental services to their citizens and communities,” Evers said.

But, in a statement, Marklein and Born responded by saying the JFC had not acted without rationale or reason.

“While we respect their autonomy as a tribe, we must also respect the taxpayers who are suffering as a result of the tribes’ decisions,” they said. “They have prevented access to private properties, levied unreasonable fees on local municipalities, and are causing skyrocketing property taxes all due to their actions,” the lawmakers said.