Sipayik tribal chief recalled from office

Fred Moore III, the Passamaquoddy chief at Sipayik, has been recalled from office in an overwhelming vote held on November 7. A total of 337 tribal members cast ballots at the Beatrice Rafferty School, with 280, or 83% of the voters, favoring recall of the chief and 54 opposed.
Dwayne Tomah, who was among the tribal members who collected signatures on the recall petition, states, "This particular referendum and process were a clear indication about where the tribe is headed. If people lead us in the wrong direction, these are the results. The people have spoken."
He adds, "The people are standing up. The people are getting more involved and being heard. The people's voices are much stronger."
The recall petition alleged that Moore had violated the Sipayik Constitution, tribal laws and personnel policies, specifically by using his authority for personal gain and benefit. It also alleged unauthorized expenditures and misuse of tribally controlled funds; self-enrichment; abuse of power; and manipulation of policies. Moore has previously denied similar allegations. Tribal members also have expressed frustration over the dysfunction in tribal government, with a lack of tribal council meetings for the past year, since often the chief and vice chief have not been present to chair a meeting.
The process for naming a new chief may not be entirely clear, though. In a release, Vice Chief Vera Francis states that she is now the acting chief. Francis says she looks forward to overseeing the reservation's affairs and getting the reservation moving in a positive and productive way. "Now that the people have taken this serious action, I humbly and graciously accept the challenges before me and will serve the members of Sipayik as faithfully and responsibly as I can. We have a lot of unifying and restorative work ahead of us, and it will not be easy, but we are survivors and we will emerge stronger. I hope the tribal council is willing to now work together to do what is right for our community." Francis says she will serve as chief of the reservation for the nearly two years remaining in Moore's term.
However, tribal councillor Marla Dana says it's "very premature" for Francis to state that she is chief. She says the tribal council must make the appointment, and Dana does not know what action the council may take. A council meeting to consider the matter had not yet been called, as of November 9.
The Sipayik Constitution states that if the chief is recalled from office the tribal council "shall declare the office vacant" and appoint the vice chief to fill out the unexpired term of the chief. The constitution then says that if the vice chief is so appointed, then the chief and council shall declare the vice chief's position vacant and call a special election to fill that vacancy.
For over a year the Sipayik tribal government has been in turmoil, with suspensions of the vice chief, in September 2015, and then the chief, in October 2015, two separate efforts to recall the vice chief and a tribal councillor, and a petition to reduce the terms of office of the chief and vice chief from four years to two. None of those recall efforts had been successful.
In June of this year, four of the tribal councillors had acted to relieve the chief and vice chief of their administrative duties, alleging unauthorized expenditures of tribal funds. Two of those councillors, though, Madonna Soctomah and John Dana, did not seek reelection, and two new councillors, Adam Bailey and Ralph Dana, were elected in the September 6 tribal election.