Recession, Depression - What Me Worry?

The tribe is on the cusp of an economic disaster as cash flow, spending and consumerism, the things that drive the tribe's economy, like the rest of the country, are just about coming to a grinding halt. The tribe itself has already admitted to budget problems through it's own state-owned publication that it tries to pass off as a newspaper. Programs have been asked to cut budgets. Employees are told to make do on their existing salaries while the cost of living continues to increase. They watch as their counterparts at the casino are being laid off. They watch surrounding governments cut services and jobs as well. Unquestionably they're worried, and for good reason.
So what is our leadership doing during these times of crisis? Principal Chief Michell Hicks increases his pension, and Tribal Council, with a couple of exceptions, went along with it. Teresa McCoy, a former Representative of Big Cove and two-time vice chief candidate submitted a protest, which was predictably denied. This pension, given the chief's and his wife's youth, will be ridiculously expensive. Plus thanks to a lawsuit decision in Ed Taylor's favor, should Michell Hicks be impeached, the tribe can't take his pension. He's set for life unless the court should rule that what he did violates the law, and that's not too promising.
While Wolfetown Rep. Susan Toineeta deserves credit for not going along with this through an abstention on this vote, she should be reminded that it's o.k. to vote to against a proposal if you have unanswered questions.
While it may be debatable whether Michell Hicks violated any law, as the attorney general's office would likely do since they'd rather represent Chief Hicks than the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, it's undebatable that the action was completely unethical. It was also completely and unquestionably selfish on the part of Michell Hicks, and I'm embarassed to have him represent this tribe.
Once again, and I'll be a broken record on this, we need ethics legislation, enforceable ethics legislation, because this is certainly an action for which an election official should be removed from office.