Tribal chief at Sipayik recalled in close election

By a five-vote margin, Marla Dana, the Passamaquoddy chief at Sipayik, was recalled from office in a December 3 election. A recount on December 7 confirmed that the vote was 136 to 131. Vice Chief Elizabeth "Maggie" Dana is expected to be appointed as the new chief at a tribal council meeting scheduled for Friday, December 11.
According to the constitution of the Sipayik members of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, if a 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 council will then call and hold a special election to fill the position of vice chief.
Dwayne Tomah, who supported the petition to recall Chief Dana from office, says he is thankful to "the Passamaquoddy people at Pleasant Point who came out to vote. It's so important to vote and be heard, because the people's voice matters." He adds, "We want to unite our community. It's not an easy thing to go through these [recall] processes, so it's important to be kind and compassionate. Communication and kindness are important, because we still have a mission to do the best we can for our community."
Maggie Dana also says that an effort needs to be made "to try to bring the community together." She believes the tribal council needs to be more involved with the actions of the tribal government and meet more frequently. Also, she says tribal members will be able to speak during council meetings that are being held via Zoom.
"Our community is going through so much right now," she says. "I hope we can put this behind us. We're in a pandemic -- that should be enough. To have this conflict within our community makes things even worse."
Those supporting the recall of Marla Dana as chief had charged that she had violated the constitution, including when she appointed Viola Francis, who was the next highest vote-getter in the September 8 tribal election who did not win a seat, to the council position that had been held by Pam Francis, who was recalled from the council in a special election on October 13. According to the constitution, if a councillor is recalled from office, the tribal council is to hold a special election to fill the vacancy. The issue of how the seat should be filled is on the agenda for the December 11 council meeting.
Vice Chief Dana is among those who believe that the proper process was not followed after Pam Francis was recalled from the council. "A lot of the community disagrees with that" action by the chief, she notes.
Some supporters of recalling Marla Dana as chief also believe that the October 13 election to recall Pam Francis did not follow the constitution. That vote had been based on a petition seeking Francis' removal from office that had been presented to the tribal council on August 11. Francis resigned that day, thus ending the recall process. Later in the day she was nominated at a caucus meeting for a new council seat and was voted in during the September 8 tribal election. A public hearing was then held on October 5 to consider the recall petition that had been submitted in August. Francis, though, says the recall petition was for her previous term on the council, not the new one she was elected to. There reportedly was not a quorum of councillors for the October 5 hearing, and the constitution states that the chief and council must have a public hearing held on the matters set forth in a recall petition and provide notice to those officials to be considered for recall. When she was chief, Marla Dana has stated that the recall process was followed by the council.
Maggie Dana says a legal opinion has been obtained on whether the process to recall Francis from the council followed the constitution and the council can now decide whether to "leave it or not."
The petition to recall Chief Dana was submitted by Ambrose Bassett, Pam Francis' son, to the tribal clerk on November 13, and on November 17 the clerk certified that 200 of the 213 signatures were valid, with 196 being the minimum required for a recall petition. According to the constitution, a special election required by a recall petition must be held within 30 days from when the petition was submitted.
Other allegations made in the petition are that Chief Dana: withdrew over $500,000 in tribal carbon credit funds without a meeting of the tribal council or joint tribal council; made thousands of dollars worth of purchases from Federal Emergency Management Agency and carbon credit monies without tribal council approval; refused to allow tribal council meetings to be held; failed to invoke a police investigation concerning whether signatures on the petition to recall Pam Francis were fraudulently obtained; violated the tribal council's "spendthrift resolution" that limits the power of tribal officials to spend tribal government funds of more than $2,500 without council approval; and failed to adopt tribal government budgets for 2019 and 2020, with no audit conducted for 2019. The petition also alleges that the resolution giving Chief Dana exclusive power to handle the community COVID-19 emergency, financial expenditures and emergency personnel appointments was not approved by the tribal council at a council meeting. Marla Dana could not be reached for comment on the recall vote.