National Anti-Indian Leader Moves to Ronan, Montana to Fight Tribal Water Compact
A Special Report by
Charles Tanner, Jr.
for
On the heels of state approval of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) and State of Montana water compact, a leading national anti-Indian activist has moved to Ronan, Montana to continue the fight against the agreement. In July 2015 Elaine Willman – a longtime leader of Citizens Equal Rights Alliance (CERA) – explained that she was relocating because the compact was a United Nations influenced effort to institute socialism in the state, amounting to “The Revolutionary War for citizens of Montana.” Leading up to the move, Willman established relationships with like-minded groups in the state and region and positioned CERA as the “Indian law expert” to a broader far right movement.
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes hold reserved water rights under the Hellgate Treaty of 1855. These water rights have a priority date of 1855 for on-reservation uses and “time immemorial” for water uses (such as instream flows) that support treaty-reserved tribal fisheries. The compact would quantify tribal water rights and provide multiple protections for non-tribal water users, including an agreement by the Tribes and United States to forgo exercising a tribal water right “call” on non-irrigation, small groundwater, and most upstream water users.[1] As the Montana Human Rights Network described in April 2015, “That means that all domestic, commercial, municipal, industrial, stock, and other non-irrigation water rights that exist when and if the compact is ratified will be entirely protected, both on and off the reservation.” The Tribes agreed to this compromise despite strong legal arguments that they could access water beyond that secured in the compact[2] (See http://www.mhrn.org/Resources.html.).
The State Legislature and Governor Steve Bullock approved the compact in April and it awaits approval from the U.S. Congress, the Montana Water Court and the CSKT Tribal Council.
Willman’s move to Montana followed multiple excursions to the state to oppose the water compact. In a June 2015 interview with the John Birch Society’s New American magazine, Willman described that she had travelled to Montana “five times since last September working, doing whatever I can to help the citizens fight this.”[3] As MHRN described in April, Willman’s jaunts to Montana came amidst a far right mobilization against the compact by Tea Party fellow-travelers, property rights groups and Flathead Reservation-based anti-Indian activists (See http://www.mhrn.org/Resources.html).
Elaine Willman has also established relationships with far right groups and media outlets in the state. Concerned Citizens of Western Montana, a prominent player in the anti-compact effort, has cited Willman’s book in their own material.[4] Concerned Citizens of NW Montana have actively promoted Willman’s efforts and she has written articles published online by the Western Ag Reporter, Newstalk KGVO radio and the Liberty Brothers radio show.
She has appeared at meetings with Regulatory Lawfare Relief – created by conspiracy theorist and onetime gubernatorial candidate Robert Fanning to oppose the water compact – and at events organized by Freedom Action Rally and anti-environmental activist Clarice Ryan. At such events she shared a stage with then-State Senator Verdell Jackson (R-Kalispell) and Representatives Keith Regier (R-Kalispell), Kerry White (R-Bozeman) and Matthew Monforton (R-Bozeman).[5] Regier has supported extreme anti-choice legislation, compared LGBT equality to bestiality, and likened women to cattle.[6] White is a longtime anti-environmental Wise Use activist.[7]
News of Willman’s move to Montana appeared following the June interview with the John Birth Society’s New American magazine. The New American’s Alex Newman wrote that, “The implications of the [CSKT-State of Montana compact] fight are so serious that Willman is moving to the area in an effort to defend liberty and the rights of besieged Eastern Montanans.”[8] While the Flathead Reservation is actually in western Montana, the Bircher’s claim about Willman proved true. In May 2015 the Concerned Citizens of NW Montana declared, “We, the Concerned Citizens of NW Montana, wish to fund Elaine Willman’s move to Montana. She has agreed to the move.”[9] In a letter published by the Western Ag Reporter, Willman described,
“I became convinced that the CSKT Compact is a template for federalizing all state waters and implementing communalism and socialism consistent with Agenda 21 and that it is intentionally aligned to spread tribalism as a governing system while eliminating State authority and duty to protect its citizenry. It is my belief that Montana is Ground Zero for test-driving this model in a highly-prized state of small population. I so seriously believe this peril is a fight worth fighting that I have walked away from an excellent employer and moved my family, household, and consulting business to Ronan, Montana.”[10]
Newstalk KGVO radio had previously distributed a letter written by Willman declaring that “The Proposed CSKT Water Compact is the Revolutionary War for citizens of Montana. Its consequences are as severe.”[11]
In June 2015 Willman resigned from her position as Director of Community Development and Tribal Affairs for Hobart Village, Wisconsin. She began working for Hobart in 2008, helping lead the Village’s opposition to the sovereignty of the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin. Prior to her Hobart stint, Willman served on the Toppenish (Washington) City Council where she opposed Yakama Nation sovereignty and led the anti-Indian group, Citizens Stand-Up! Committee. Willman chaired the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance from 2002 to 2007 and continued on as a board member and CERA national spokesperson.
The Citizens Equal Rights Alliance is the most prominent overtly anti-Indian group active in the United States. This Gresham, Wisconsin-based 501(c) 4 non-profit emerged in the late 1980s as an umbrella for anti-Indian organizing around the country. CERA later created the Citizens Equal Rights Foundation (CERF), a 501(c) 3 non-profit. While CERA claims that the groups’ mission is to “protect and support the constitutional rights of all people, both Indian and non-Indian,” nothing could be further from the truth.
CERA and CERF promote the outright termination of Indian tribal governments and the abrogation of treaties signed between Indian Nations and the United States. Tribal sovereignty originates in eons of self-governance by tribal nations that preceded the formation of the United States.
The Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 8) recognizes tribes as sovereign nations by using the same language to describe Indian Tribes and foreign nations. As early as 1832 the United States Supreme Court wrote that “The Indian nations had always been considered as distinct, independent political communities retaining their original natural rights as undisputed possessors of the soil, from time immemorial” (Worcester v. Georgia).
The U.S. Constitution empowers the President, with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate, to enter into treaties with other nations, including Indian Nations. In 1979 the Supreme Court once again affirmed tribal sovereignty and treaty rights by stating that, “A treaty, including one between the United States and an Indian tribe, is essentially a contract between two sovereign nations” (Washington v. Wash. State Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel Association, 1979).
Despite the clear recognition of tribal sovereignty and treaty rights under the U.S. Constitution, CERA leaders work to terminate Indian tribal governments and break treaties signed between the U.S. and tribes. In pursuit of these goals, CERA leaders promote misinformation about tribal treaty rights and sovereignty; espouse far right conspiracy theories that promote bigotry against Indian people and others; call for mean-spirited and inflammatory attacks on tribal communities; and have allied their cause with a broader far right movement that threatens civil rights, environmental protection and economic justice. In the end, CERA’s anti-Indianism is an affront to the United States Constitution and the spirit of tolerance and equality between all peoples.
Willman During Montana Tour
CERA and Elaine Willman Distort Basic Facts About Tribal Treaty Rights and the CSKT-State of Montana Water Compact
Despite clear support for treaty rights in the U.S. Constitution, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s repeated affirmation of treaties, CERA leaders routinely distort basic facts about these rights in their campaign for abrogation. Elaine Willman has specifically made spurious claims about the CSKT-State of Montana water compact.
CERA leader Elaine Willman has falsely stated that, “State Enabling Acts are acts of Congress that preserve the sovereignty of state resources, and supersede Indian treaties; but Northwestern States utterly ignore this fact, as well as the fact that all American Indians have been citizens since 1924, and the federal government should no longer be honoring treaties with its own citizens.”[12]
Willman repeated similar misinformation in September 2014 testimony to the Montana Water Policy Interim Committee, established by the legislature to study water policies. Willman offensively claimed that “misguided phrases such as…’treaty rights’ when incessantly repeated can become seemingly true or real. But no such references or ideologies that pre-date the United States Constitution find compatibility within the four corners of the Federal or State Constitution.” Again, Willman made this grossly inaccurate declaration despite unequivocal federal treaty making powers and supremacy established in the Constitution’s Article VI.
Willman’s testimony continued with a litany of misinformation:
“Nothing within the Hellgate Treaty of 1855 authorizes any delegation of even a drop of water to the tribal government. Absolutely nothing. All of the articles of the Treaty of 1855 were long ago accomplished, and ever since all Native Americans were made full citizens in 1924, even the Article reserving fishing rights is moot since tribal members can fish wherever any other citizens fish.”
Here Willman is arguing that the 1924 Indian Citizens Act – which made all Indian people U.S. Citizens – effectively abrogated treaties with tribes. In the real world, by contrast, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the treaty-reserved fishing and water rights of Indian Nations. The 1924 Indian Citizenship Act had no impact on treaty rights. In fact, the Act plainly stated that “citizenship shall not in any manner impair or otherwise affect the right of any Indian to tribal or other property.” This includes land and resources (such as water and fisheries) reserved in treaties.
Additionally, while water allocation is generally carried out by states, the federal government has clear Constitutional authority to reserve water rights under the Supremacy Clause (Article VI). This same clause makes treaties signed with Indian Nations the “supreme law of the land.”
Federal actions create a “priority date” for water rights at the time they reserve water for a beneficial use. Applying these principles to tribes, in Winters v. United States (1908) the Supreme Court held that water rights suitable to the purpose of an Indian reservation are reserved at the time of its creation. Because tribal fishing, hunting and gathering rights predate the treaties reserving them, water necessary for these rights (such as instream flows) are dated to “time immemorial.”
Willman continued,
“Furthermore, the CSKT Tribe reorganized as a government under the lndian Reorganization Act (lRA) on October 28, 1935…An lndian Reorganization Act tribe ceases to be a “Treaty” tribe with its Charter under the lndian Reorganization Act. lf the Hellgate Treaty of 1855 had any remaining force and effect when Congress declared all lndians to be citizens in 1924, that effect was ended when the governing authority of the CSKT received its Federal Charter in 1935.”
Again, this is patently false. The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), among other things, created provisions for tribes to form federally recognized governments and business entities and was an affirmation of the value of tribal sovereignty and the authority that flows from it. The Act specifically states that, “Nothing in this Act shall be construed to impair or prejudice any claim or suit of any Indian tribe against the United States.” This would include a “claim or suit” brought under a treaty, clearly demonstrating that treaties with tribes, including the Hellgate Treaty of 1855, remain in force. Willman’s claim is simply invented from whole cloth.
Elsewhere Willman made abjectly false claims about the potential impact of the CSKT water compact. In her June 2015 interview with the far right John Birch Society, she claimed that,
“The federal government, working with the tribal government and the state government have formed what they call the CSKT, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Water Compact. [T]he settlement agreement that the Governor just signed off on grants this small Salish-Kootenai tribe all the waters and tributaries …of 11 counties, including municipal waters, private wells, all the water.”
Once again, this is plainly false. As mention above the water agreement provides multiple protections for existing water users, including an agreement by the Tribes and United States to relinquish exercising a tribal water right “call” on non-irrigation, small groundwater, and most upstream water users.
The list of CERA misinformation about treaty rights is long.
CERA and CERF Distort the Facts About Tribal Sovereignty
Despite the Supreme Court’s more than 200 year recognition of independent tribal political authority, or sovereignty, CERA and CERF leaders routinely distort facts about this inherent tribal right:
- Elaine Willman has written that, “The tiresome myth that inherent tribal sovereignty is pre-Constitutional needs a little sunshine. This misplaced theory has unfortunately succeeded a bit too often. It’s my belief that anything ‘pre-Constitutional’ in this country was in fact, nullified by the U.S. Constitution.”[13]
- At an April 2013 CERA conference in Bellingham, Washington, the group’s legal counsel, Lana Marcussen, erroneously declared that “[T]ribal sovereignty is really a major legal fiction that has been created by the United States government.”[14]
- CERF Board Member Darrel Smith has distorted the clear Constitutional support for tribal sovereignty by writing that, “Federal Indian policy, modern tribal governments and the concept of sovereignty violate the most basic principles of the American Revolution…Indian policy and law defies the democratic principles of liberty and equality by giving Indians as a group political sovereignty…To allow Indians as a group to practice political sovereignty as a general government ruling non-Indians or a geographical territory is wrong.”[15]
CERA and its Allies Espouse Far Right Conspiracy Theories that Promote Bigotry and Hostility Toward Indian People and Others
At the April 2013 CERA/CERF conference in Bellingham, Washington, CERA leader Elaine Willman wildly proclaimed that “twenty-nine tribal governments that serve about 75,000 enrolled tribal members…have hijacked Washington State…These twenty-nine tribes are literally consuming and overpowering and now controlling that fixed land base of Washington State.” Even more offensively, Willman declared that,
“The real Trail of Tears here for Washington State, is Governor [Mike] Lowery, Governor [Gary] Locke, Governor [Christine] Gregoire, and now Governor [Jay] Inslee. That is the real Trail of Tears… They have placed Washington State sovereignty subservient to the sovereignty of twenty-nine tribes here.”[16]
The Trail of Tears refers to the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation from their homelands in Georgia and North Carolina to Oklahoma in 1838 and 1839. Some 4,000 tribal members died as they were forcibly marched during winter conditions. This simply is not occurring in Washington State. Making such spurious and mean-spirited claims can only prejudice people against tribes.
Elaine Willman has also promoted the far right Agenda 21 conspiracy theory. Agenda 21 refers to a wholly voluntary United Nations program supporting sustainable development, particularly in developing countries. For many on the far right, Agenda 21 is a global conspiracy against property rights and ultimately, America itself. In effect, the conspiracy theory helps construct a far right nationalism that casts the Constitutionally-protect political advocacy of American citizens as an evil, international plot. The Agenda 21 conspiracy “theory” is espoused by Tea Party chapters, property rights groups, armed militias and others on the far right. In June 2015 Elaine Willman told the John Birch Society’s New American magazine,
“There seems to be a movement to just tear down the fabric of this country. It’s hard to envision us in the long term being the United States with [the] combined marriage of the federal executive branch, and the United Nations and Agenda 21 folks, and the environmental groups and the big billionaires, and then when they’ve got 566 tribal governments and little reservations to use as little launch pads, you can tear up a country pretty quick. So, this Indian policy is but one tool, this is one part of it.”
Recall also that Willman’s reasons for moving to Ronan, Montana included the conspiratorial view that the “CSKT Compact is a template for federalizing all state waters and implementing communalism and socialism consistent with Agenda 21 and that it is intentionally aligned to spread tribalism as a governing system.”
In Willman’s view, tribes are involved in an international conspiracy to destroy the United States. Such bigotry can only foster hostility toward indigenous peoples and people who support environmental protection.
CERA Promotes Mean-Spirited and Inflammatory Attacks on Constitutionally-protected Tribal Rights
Befitting these groups’ distortion of basic facts about tribes, speakers at CERA/CERF events have voiced mean-spirited and inflammatory attacks on Constitutionally-protected tribal rights. Referring to anti-tribal ideas that exist in U.S. law, Philip Brendale, an enrolled Cowlitz tribal member and longtime CERA ally, stated at the April 2013 CERA/CERF conference in Washington State that,
“We have at our disposal what we need – the weapon, the means, the opportunity and the financial support to take these tribes down. What do we get for our trouble: the opportunity to strike a most devastating psychological blow to Northwest tribes’ pride and their sense of well-being.”[17]
In a letter posted by KGVO News Talk radio, Elaine Willman cast the CSKT-State water compact in the language of war:
“The Proposed CSKT Water Compact is the Revolutionary War for citizens of Montana. Its consequences are as severe. Where American colonists had lost the ear and trust in their British leaders, so too have Montanans lost the ear and trust in their State elected officials. And the Compact is only the beginning. There will be more: Kerr Dam, the Columbia River Treaty, threats of the CSKT initializing “repatriation” of their entire reservation, forcing non-tribal members off of their properties and off of the reservation… Much like the Revolutionary War started on a bridge in one of the 13 colonies, this 2014 Revolutionary War starting on the CSKT Reservation in Montana will spread quickly to other states” (Italics added).[18]
This language of war, and calls to “strike a devastating psychological blow” and “take these tribes down,” can only foster hostility and bigotry toward tribal members.
CERA is Part of a Broader Far Right Movement that Threatens Civil Rights, Environmental Protection and Economic Justice
Were CERA’s anti-Indianism not enough to cause concern, the group plays a role in a broader far right movement that threatens to undermine civil rights, environmental protection and economic justice. In the course of moving to Montana, Elaine Willman allied CERA’s cause with a number of far right groups. CERA’s ties to the far right, however, extend beyond Montana, tying the anti-Indian group to national organizations that would defend and bolster economic and racial inequality in the United States.
CERA has earned a place in this broader movement by being its Indian policy “expert” and combining anti-Indianism with other Tea Party and far right foils – immigrants and Muslims. In Montana Elaine Willman has worked with Attorney Lawrence Kogan of the New York-based Kogan Law Group to support a lawsuit filed by State Sen. Bob Keenan (R-Bigfork) and former state Sen. Verdell Jackson (R-Kalispell) intended to block the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes from acquiring the Kerr Dam[19]. This late effort to block the dam transfer – rejected by a federal judge on September 4 – alleges that “tribal self-governance, sovereignty and self-determination,” and the purchase of the Dam by the CSKT, would provide “Turkey and such organizations [e.g., Islamic terrorist groups] with the opportunity to more freely promote their brand of Islam on reservations and/or to pursue other potentially more dangerous activities.”
Elaine Willman made similar allegations in her 2005 book Going to Pieces, raising the specter of terrorism and tribal dam breaching when Middle-Eastern journalists apparently attended a conference in the area. “Had the journalists been from the Orient, the Americas or Europe, I would not have felt such as chill as I did then,” Willman wrote. As a leader of the Toppenish, Washington-based Citizens Standup! Committee, Wilman completed the tribal-immigrant-terrorism triple-threat, writing that, “Congressional and judicial shelter of criminal conduct on Indian reservations …is creating a growing resentment for ‘special preferences’ and worse, contributing to an increase of illegal immigration and domestic terrorism.”[20]
Such views have unsurprisingly brought CERA into league with Tea Party activists. The Tea Party movement is a far right political movement. This means, in part, that it is dedicated to bolstering racial, class and gender inequality in the United States. Tea Party groups are notorious for seeking to curtail voting rights, block social spending to address inequality; thwart immigrant rights and the rights of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people; and assail environmental regulations, among other policies.
A 2013 CERA conference in Bellingham, Washington was promoted by KGMI radio talk show host Kris Halterman, who also attended the meeting. Halterman had a page on the Tea Party Nation website and was listed in a directory on the FreedomConnector of the Tea Party faction FreedomWorks. Elaine Willman hailed Halterman as “one of the most courageous media outlets I’ve come across.”[21]
Founded by former House Majority leader Dick Armey, the FreedomWorks today boasts some 249,000 online members as the largest of the national Tea Party Factions. Early on FreedomWorks steered clear of the anti-immigrant sentiment animating much Tea Party activism, focusing instead on taxation and government spending issues. It is important to realize, however, that as with other Tea Party factions, this “small government” vision amounts to a sweeping attack on social spending aimed at addressing economic inequality. In 2013 this translated into supporting a budget that would have eliminated the Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development, among others, and undermined a national commitment to address economic inequality by devolving to the states programs such as Medicaid, food stamps, and children’s health insurance. Such moves would exacerbate economic and racial inequality in the United States. In 2011 the group shifted toward greater alliances with anti-immigrant groups and promoted Representative Steve King’s (R-IA) call for an end to birthright citizenship. [22]
Tea Party Nation member Lois Herbst attended a June 2014 CERA/CERF event hosted in Riverton, Wyoming. As MHRN describes, some of Willman’s speaking events were sponsored by the Freedom Action Rally.[23] Tea Party Nation was founded in 2009 by Nashville attorney Judson Phillips. Today it is the fourth largest of the national Tea Party factions with some 53,000 online members. Since its formation, Tea Party Nation leaders have supported the racist Birther phenomenon alleging that President Barrack Obama is not a U.S. citizen and promoted bigotry against Muslims. TPN leader Judson Phillips has promoted the idea that only property owners should be allowed to vote; supported repealing parts of the 14th Amendment to end birthright; endorsed a return to the racist 1924 National Origins Act, even arguing that immigration to the U.S. is causing “White Anglo-Saxon protestant extinction;” and supported the “right” of merchants to deny service to LGBT people, outrageously dubbing bans on such discrimination tantamount to slavery.[24] (See http://tremololabs.com/ for background on Tea Party Nation and other Tea Party factions).
Like FreedomWorks, and other Tea Party groups, the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance has allied its cause with the far right John Birch Society.
CERA Leader Elaine Willman Speaking with the John Birch Society’s New American magazine.
In mid-June 2015, Elaine Willman sat down for an interview with the Birch Society’s New American magazine at the group’s Appleton, Wisconsin headquarters. The New American’s Alex Newman lauded Willman as an “expert on Indian policy, maybe one of the foremost authorities in the county.” Willman stated, “It’s a pleasure to meet you [Newman], and it’s a pleasure to meet the New American staff and be here, I’m just delighted.” This relationship could expand CERA’s ability to spread anti-Indianism in the Tea Party movement in which the Birch Society is entrenched.
The John Birch Society is best known for its caricature-rich conspiracy theories, including the infamous claim that President Dwight Eisenhower was a communist. The group should be equally known for policy proposals that would assail civil rights and exacerbate economic inequality. For instance, President John McManus has referred to same sex marriage as “an attack on civilization itself” and the group supports an “Austrian brand of economics” that would gut New Deal and Great Society social programs. The New American writers have called for ending 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship; blamed civil rights groups for the “bulk of today’s problems for many blacks;” and defended racial profiling, among many other troubling ideas and policies.[25]
Elaine Willman has also developed ties to far right advocates of seceding northern California Counties to create a “State of Jefferson” (SOJ). In addition to promoting the State of Jefferson cause, the Tule Lake, California-based Klamath Basin Crisis (KBC) has an “Ask Elaine” page on its website dedicated to Willman’s writings. KBC leader Jacqui Krizo’s relationship with Willman extends back to at least 2007 when the two spoke at a Joseph, Oregon event hosted by the Oregon Freedom Alliance.[26] State of Jefferson leader Liz Bowen has distributed KBC material describing Willman as a “tribal law expert.”[27]
The State of Jefferson (SOJ) movement aims to secede a number of Northern California counties to create a new state. The SOJ movement is deeply rooted in far right politics in the Klamath River basin, organized by a coalition of Tea Party activists, property rights groups, and libertarians. State of Jefferson leader Mark Baird, who also promotes the Agenda 21 conspiracy theory, has offensively declared that, “The tribe uses our own money to destroy the economy with the help of Federal and State agencies.”[28] SOJ leader Liz Bowen has promoted the work of militia advocates Richard Mack and Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America.[29] In addition to seceding, a key goal of the SOJ movement is to overturn the 1964 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Reynolds v. Sims. This decision upheld the one-person-one-vote principle by requiring that state legislative districts be roughly equal in size. Overturning this decision would lead to over-representing rural whites in state government relative to people of color more densely located in cities.
CERA and Elaine Willman’s involvement in the broader far right threatens to expand the place of anti-Indianism in this movement. This demonstrates the need for people who support civil rights, racial and gender equality, workers rights, economic justice, environmental justice and the inherent sovereignty and treaty rights of indigenous nations to stand strong together in defense of our communities and common humanity.
NOTES
[1] See Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Summary of the Propose Compact and Ordinance for the Flathead Water Rights Settlement. January 8, 2015. http://www.cskt.org/water/2015-1-8_summary_proposed_compact_and_ordinance.pdf. See Getches, David H., Wilkinson, Charles F. and Robert A. Williams Jr. 2005. Cases and Material on Federal Indian Law, Fifth Edition. St Paul, MN: Thomson West. Chapter 11.
[2] See Montana Human Rights Network. Right-Wing Conspiracies and Racism Mar Opposition to Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and State of Montana Water Compact. April 15, 2015.http://goo.gl/4HbFgd. ; also see Montana Legislative Services, House Judiciary Committee Hearing on HB 629, March 27, 2013; Montana Legislative Services, House Appropriations Committee Hearing on HB 636, Feb. 12, 2013.
[3] Alex Newman. “U.S. Indian Policy Used to Assault Freedom, Expert Says.” The New American. June 26, 2015. http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/21132-u-s-indian-policy-used-to-assault-freedom-expert-says.
[4] Montana Human Rights Network. Right-Wing Conspiracies and Racism Mar Opposition to Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and State of Montana Water Compact. April 15, 2015. http://goo.gl/4HbFgd; Concerned Citizens of Western Montana. “Who Controls the Flathead Irrigation Project.” November 10, 2013. https://westernmtwaterrights.wordpress.com//?s=willman&search=Go.
[5] See below and Montana Human Rights Network. Right-Wing Conspiracies and Racism Mar Opposition to Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and State of Montana Water Compact. http://goo.gl/4HbFgd; See also Valley Journal. “Lawyer to Speak on Montana Water Rights.” July 29, 2015. http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/13532/Lawyer-to-speak-on-Montana-water-rights; Berry, Dr. Ed. “Can Fanning’s Right-Wing Radicals Stop the CSKT Water Compact?” August 21, 2015. http://edberry.com/blog/authors/ed-berry/can-fannings-rightwing-radicals-stop-the-cskt-water-compact/. [6] http://mtcowgirl.com/tag/keith-regier/ [7] Montana Human Rights Network. http://www.mhrn.org/publications/humanrightsnetworknews/May2012.pdf and http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/land-grab/Content?oid=2129205 [8] Alex Newman. U.S. Indian Policy Used to Assault Freedom, Expert Says.The New American. June 26, 2015. http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/21132-u-s-indian-policy-used-to-assault-freedom-expert-says.
[9] Concerned Citizens of NW Montana.https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=459417927569939&id=425342500977482. [10] Willman, Elaine. Valley Forge and the Flathead Valley. July 23, 2015. Western Ag Reporter. http://www.westernagreporter.com/. [11] Willman, Elaine. http://newstalkkgvo.com/files/2015/02/Elaine-Willman-letter.pdf. [12] Willman, Elaine. 2006 Northwest Federal Indian Policy Issues! Findings of Regional Gathering of Community Education Group Leaders Held in Marysville, WA on 03/25/06.[13] Willman Elaine, Executive Director, Citizens Standup! Committee. Reply to Tom Wanamaker. http://www.parr1.com/ElaineWillman/Coming%20Out%20of%20the%20political%20fog
[14] Tanner, Charles Jr. “’Take these Tribes Down’: The Anti-Indian Movement Comes to Washington State.” Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights. http://tremololabs.com/2013/04/26/take-these-tribes-down/.
[15] Smith, Darrel. “Starter Kit on Sovereignty.” Citizens Equal Rights Alliance.
[16] Tanner, Charles Jr. “’Take these Tribes Down’: The Anti-Indian Movement Comes to Washington State.” Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights. http://tremololabs.com/2013/04/26/take-these-tribes-down/.
[17]Ibid.
[18] Willman, Elaine. By Elaine Willman, Author of Going to Pieces. News Talk KGVO. http://newstalkkgvo.com/files/2015/02/Elaine-Willman-letter.pdf. [19] http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/judge-rejects-effort-to-stop-kerr-dam-transfer/35108760 [20] See Keenan et al v. Norman C. Bay et al. COMPLAINT FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER, PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AND DECLARATORY RELIEF CIVIL CASE NO.: 15-cv-1440. September 2, 1015. Kogan Law Group; Willman, Elaine Devary and Kamie Christensen Biehl. 2005. Going to Pieces: The Dismantling of the United States of America. Toppenish, WA: Equilocus, LLC; Willman, Elaine. Tribal Sovereignty Immunity – Safe Haven for Criminal and Indecent Behavior. Citizens Equal Rights Alliance. http://citizensalliance.org/tribal-sovereign-immunity-safe-haven-criminal-indecent-behavior/[21] Tanner, Charles Jr. “Take these Tribes Down.”.
[22] Kibbe, Matt. Key Vote Yes on the Rand Paul Budget. March 22, 2013. http://www.freedomworks.org/content/key-vote-yes-rand-paul-budget; Burghart, Devin and Leonard Zeskind. Beyond FAIR: The Decline Of the Established Anti-Immigrant Organizations and the Rise of Tea Party Nativism. Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights; King, Stephen. FreedomWorks FreedomConnector. February 1, 2013. http://connect.freedomworks.org/news/view/343031?destination=gac%2Fhome.
[23] See Montana Human Rights Network. Right-Wing Conspiracies and Racism Mar Opposition to Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and State of Montana Water Compact. April 15, 2015. http://goo.gl/4HbFgd.
[24] Burghart, Devin and Leonard Zeskind. 2010. Tea Party Nationalism. Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights.; Burghart, Devin and Leonard Zeskind. 2015. The Tea Party Movement in 2015. Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights. Kansas City, Missouri ; Burghart, Devin. “Tea Party Leaders Attack the Constitution”. November 29, 2010. http://tremololabs.com/2010/11/29/2015-01-03-09-02-52-351/; Phillips, Judson. Tyranny, the loss of liberty and Arizona’s SB1062. Tea Party Nation Forum. February 27, 2014. http://www.teapartynation.com/forum/topics/tyranny-the-loss-of-liberty-and-arizona-s-sb1062; Burghart, Devin and Leonard Zeskind. Beyond FAIR: The Decline Of the Established Anti-Immigrant Organizations and the Rise of Tea Party Nativism. Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights.
[25] See the John Birch Society. http://www.jbs.org; and The New American. http://www.thenewamerican.com.
[26] Osterloh, Joyce. Conference Sheds Light on Policy. The LaGrande Observer. May 12, 2007. www.lwgrandeobserver. http://www.lagrandeobserver.com/News/Local-News/CONFERENCE-SHEDS-LIGHT-ON-POLICY; Klamath Basin Crisis. Ask Elaine. http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/AskElaine.htm.
[27] Pie N Politics. News from Klamath Basin Crisis.org. May 9, 2015. http://pienpolitics.com/?cat=1.
[28] Baird, Mark. Statement submitted to Congressman McClintock’s Public Forum. August 6, 2013. http://www.defendruralamerica.com/files/FNT-Hearing20130806MarkBaird.pdf.
[29] Pratt, Larry. “Sheriffs Standing with the People Against the Feds.” January 7, 2012. lizbowen.com/?p=788; Bowen, Liz. Liz Writes Life. January 22, 2013. lizbowen.com/?p=1149.
