Donald Tofpi was elected in June 2008 and is in the last two months of his term, but plans to seek re-election.


CARNEGIE, Okla. – Alleged constitutional violations by the Kiowa Business Committee chairman have some tribal members asking for his recall.
Former KBC vice-chairman Charles “Buddy” Toyebo and Lee Rhoades, a former Kiowa Casino Operating Authority chairman, allege that Chairman Donald Tofpi has violated the tribe’s constitution a dozen times and document 21 total charges.
“Donald Tofpi knowingly, willfully and maliciously violated both the law and our Kiowa constitution by presenting himself and the business committee members to the National Indian Gaming Commission as the governing authority of the Kiowa Indian Tribe,” Toyebo said.
Many of the charges concern gaming and who has decision-making authority for the tribe.
Toyebo said the tribe’s Red River Casino in Devol opened without being in compliance with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. 
“When Congress enacted IGRA in 1988, the law authorized gaming only if the governing body of an Indian tribe adopts an ordinance that is approved by the chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission,” Toyebo and Rhoades wrote in a press release.
According to Article I, Section 2 of the Kiowa Indian Tribe’s constitution, the governing body of the tribe is the Kiowa Indian Council, which is made up of all Kiowa tribal members 18 years of age and older.
Toyebo and Rhoades said they feel Tofpi violated the tribe’s constitution because a 2005 ordinance submitted to the NIGC opening the Red River Casino was not KIC approved.
To support his claim with the 2005 ordinance, Toyebo refers to a tribal resolution (CY-2009-421) where KBC members voted 6-0 to “take control of a new Kiowa Gaming Commission via a new gaming ordinance,” which violates the constitution since KIC approval is required.
“The resolution  unconstitutionally removed incumbent gaming commissioners and appointed new commissioners, mandating them to ‘forward all payments, fees, assessments, penalties, interest,  and fines collected under the authority of this ordinance’ directly to the Kiowa Business Committee,” Toyebo and Rhoades stated in the release. “Furthermore, the resolution gives sole power to Donald Tofpi and the other committee members to make any and all gaming ordinance amendments, and then forward them to the National Indian Gaming Commission for approval, bypassing the Kiowa Indian Council’s approval.”
Rhoades said some new gaming commissioners were not to be appointed until later in the year. Resolution CY-2009-421 states, “the vice-chairman, secretary and commissioner shall be appointed to a term on Sept. 1, 2010 and expire on Aug. 31, 2013.”
Tofpi said the charges against him are “frivolous, political and personal,” and were filed against him by Toyebo and Thomacina Tsoodle Leader, “both of whom were unsuccessful candidates for vice-chairman and chairman, respectively.”
Tofpi said that a majority of Toyebo’s charges involve alleged gaming violations in which he holds the chairman responsible for the actions of the KBC. “He accused me of having influence over national Indian gaming officials who approved our casino charter and gaming ordinances. If we violated the National Indian Gaming Commission’s regulations, why has not the NIGC notified the tribe of these violations? The answer is simple: Because there are no violations.”
Rhoades said the NIGC knows the 2005 ordinance was submitted without KIC approval, but looks at it as an internal matter for the tribe to handle.
He also said Tofpi is trying to create a new tribal constitution that he would centralize too much power.
“I think the business committee and the chairman are acting outside their authority,” Rhoades said.
Tofpi said the tribes’ constitution is 40 years old and needs some reform. The constitution was ratified on May 23, 1970.
“Mr. Toyebo also accuses me of preparing a new constitution that will make me ‘absolute ruler over the entire tribe.’ This is a ridiculous assertion. Only the tribe can accept and ratify a new governing document or reject it, not one individual,” he stated.
Another charge includes travel. Toyebo said that Tofpi traveled to Washington, D.C. to speak to Federal Bureau of Investigations and Internal Revenue Service officials to request official investigations of the tribe without input from the KBC.
He also said Tofpi attended a budgetary meeting in Washington and has not published any information pertaining to the trip.
“I was appointed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to serve as a representative for the Southern Plains Region where I was to attend the Tribal Business Advisory Council to provide input on the BIA 2012 Budget. I accepted the appointments and the KBC by resolution approved of my absences. All my expenses were paid by the BIA,” Tofpi said.
In their press release, Toyebo and Rhoades also accuse Tofpi of neglect of duty for not securing a $250,000 dollar grant and for attempting to influence the actions of the Kiowa Hearing Board.
“This is not true. All these charges are not true,” he said. “I’m going to continue to fulfill the constitution … I’m going to stand my ground.”
Tofpi was elected in June 2008 and is in the last two months of his term, but plans is to seek re-election.
“Briefly stated, I have never been convicted of a felony involving dishonesty; I am not indebted to the tribe; and I have never been recalled from the business committee because of misuse of tribal and/or program funds,” Tofpi said.
According to the tribe’s constitution, it only takes one person to initiate a recall. A public hearing is to be held by the business committee and a written statement listing the charges is to be presented to the person charged at least 10 days before the hearing. A vote then decides if the matter will be taken before the tribes’ Hearing Board. The Hearing Board does not adjudicate anything, but decides if the vote will be taken to the people.
Tofpi said he found out about his recall by reading the Lawton Constitution on May 8, and that a step was left out in the recall process because he was supposed to have a public hearing and did not have one.
“They charge me with actions, some of which are beyond my control, such as not causing tribal members to vote in favor of a mandate during one of our tribal elections,” Tofpi said. “Mr. Toyebo also accused me of being responsible for decisions made in 1971 when the Kiowa Indian Council delegated by tribal vote the authority for the Kiowa Business Committee to select and administer tribal employees. There are two dozen similar charges on their petitions for my recall.” 
Rhoades said Toyebo waited two weeks for the business committee to schedule a public hearing before he went to the tribes’ Hearing Board. He said Tofpi did not attend the March 15 hearing with the Hearing Board although an announcement was made three times over the intercom at the tribal complex.
After the hearing, a process server presented a restraining order against the Hearing Board and Election Board. The order by Judge Phil Lujan of the Court of Indian Offenses prohibited the Kiowa Hearing Board and Election Board to move forward with the recall election.
“Don Tofpi asked Judge Lujan to enforce the temporary restraining orders and injunctions after evidence  presented in constitutional recall proceedings and a vote by the Kiowa Hearing Board did not go his way,” Toyebo and Rhoades assert in their release.
Rhoades said Lujan’s decision states that Tofpi was not afforded due process. Yet Rhoades said due process happens when the vote goes to the people.
Rhoades wrote a letter on April 23 to Dan Deerinwater, the director of the BIA’s Southern Plains Regional Office stating that the “recall charges were brought to the Hearing Board by Mr. Toyebo after being told by a member of the Kiowa Business Committee that, on advice of counsel, a public hearing by the Kiowa Business Committee would not be held … All of the actions by the CIO court and the Business Committee on this matter are outside the boundaries of the Kiowa law and Kiowa Constitution. The CIO court clearly had no jurisdiction in this matter, which springs from the sovereignty of the tribe.”
Tofpi said the restraining order was lifted on May 12 because the BIA said it did not have jurisdiction.
Kiowa tribal members will vote in a recall election to remove or keep Tofpi on May 29.
“I’m going to fight it all the way through,” Tofpi said. “I want to continue in that direction that we’re moving right now … we have good things happening.”
Tofpi said his No. 1 goal is to continue the progress of the tribe for the future, economic development, more jobs, health improvement, constitution reform and education. He said the tribe is no longer on high-risk, has reduced overhead costs by 1.2 million, holds Kiowa classes in the Carnegie school system, has their casino doing well and is one of the few tribes paying on the principle of a debt.
Tofpi also said a new casino in Verdon will open in approximately 90 days.
“We need to have a government that has checks and balances,” he said. “I’d like to see our young people more involved in our government.”
Rhoades said it’s entirely possible that everything will be fine under Tofpi’s rule, but he still feels the ultimate voice belongs to the people, as stated in the tribes’ constitution.
Dwayne Davis, Kiowa Election Board chairman, said depending on the outcome of the recall election, Tofpi could be on the ballot for the tribes’ regular election on June 19. During the regular election, Kiowa voters will select a chairman, treasurer, two business committee members and a housing board member.