Spirit Lake Tribal Elders Vote Out Tribal Government Saying They're "Ashamed"

This is a bit of retribution for Rep. Kevin Cramer, I think, as the tribal government that was swift to condemn him for comments about problems with crime and due process on the reservation just got voted out of power.

The Spirit Lake tribal elders, saying they’re “ashamed” to even be associated with the tribe, cast an overwhelming vote to dismiss the tribal council:

An overwhelming majority of Spirit Lake Tribal Elders have voted to oust the entire spirit lake tribal council. The Elders met for more than two hours this afternoon discussing corruption among the council and a lack of positive change among child services, even saying that they’re ashamed to be associated with the tribe.

Maybe, when Rep. Cramer expressed his outrage with this very same tribal council he wasn’t so wrong. Democrats, and the left-leaning state media, were quick to pick up the narrative about Native Americans outraged by Rep. Cramer’s comments, but they’ve largely ignored that what the Spirit Lake tribal council is guilty if is worthy of the sort of outrage Cramer expressed.

For the tribal elders to say they’re ashamed of being associated with their own tribe is nothing short of astonishing. Maybe the Democrats, and the state media, shouldn’t have been so quick to try and score political points against Cramer.

Cramer was expressing outrage over child abuse, and perpetrators of violence not being brought to justice. But Democrats, and their allies in the media, were more concerned with painting Cramer as some sort of an angry racist.

Outspoken support for the Violence Against Women Act may blow up in Senator Heidi Heitkamp’s face. She’s been quick to dismiss any criticism of that law’s expansion of tribal jurisdiction over non-tribal members, yet right here in North Dakota we have a shining example of how tribal abuse and corruption makes expanding the jurisdiction of those authorities a terrible idea.