Government
As of 2008, the Mashantucket Pequot Elders council includes:
- Chair—Priscilla Colebut Brown
- Vice-Chair—Joyce Walker
- Secretary/Treasurer-Anthony Sebastian
The seven members of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council are:
- Chairman—Rodney A. Butler
- Vice-Chairman—Richard E. Sebastian (Chair of Economic Development/Public Safety Committees)
- Secretary—Marjorie Colebut-Jackson (Chairwoman of Judicial/Health & Human Services Committees and Co-Chairwoman of the Family Protection & Reunification Team)
- Treasurer—James T. Jackson (Chair of Finance/Natural Resources Protection Committees)
- Councilor—Fatima Dames (Chairwoman of Utilities Authority, Chairwoman of Education/Parks and Recreation Committees)
- Councilor—Crystal M. Whipple (Chairwoman of Administrative Support/Historical & Cultural Preservation Committees)
- Councilor—Steven J. Thomas (Chair of Community Planning/Housing Committees)
The current administration's seven-member council has publicly stated that the tribal nation's priorities are protecting tribal sovereignty; focusing on the educational, emotional and physical well being of tribal members; and working to leverage the tribe's financial and economic strengths through partnership initiatives, both locally and abroad. Mashantucket Pequot's most recent efforts include investment in North Stonington. Tribal development there, such as the recently opened $80 million Lake of Isles golf resort, has proven to be a welcome addition to the town's tax base.
Council terms are three years. There are roughly 450 eligible voting members of the tribal nation. Tribal Members must be at least 18 years old and in good standing with the Tribe to be eligible to vote.
Read more about this topic: Mashantucket Pequot Tribe
Famous quotes containing the word government:
“Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of the government. The history of government is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is the history of the limitation of government, not the increase of it.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“In an ideal society, mothers and fathers would produce potty- trained, civilized, responsible new citizens while government and corporate leaders would provide a safe, healthy, economically just community.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“But the wise know that foolish legislation is a rope of sand, which perishes in the twisting; that the State must follow, and not lead the character and progress of the citizen; the strongest usurper is quickly got rid of; and they only who build on Ideas, build for eternity; and that the form of government which prevails, is the expression of what cultivation exists in the population which permits it.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)