Tribe undergoes upheaval

Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005 | 9:19 a.m.

SHAWNEE, Okla. -- A petition drive has started in an attempt to remove Larry Nuckolls as governor of the 2,900-member Absentee Shawnee Tribe, less than two months after tribal members voted out his predecessor.

Tribal economic development association director Kevin Ellis says Nuckolls has put the tribe into financial trouble.

Nuckolls defeated incumbent Gov. Kenneth Blanchard by a 2-1 margin on June 18.

Nuckolls didn't return phone calls seeking comment, but he has said the recall effort is politically motivated.

Two weeks after he took office, the salary and fringe benefits for the governor's office doubled -- and the budget for the tribe's new attorney general went from about $157,000 to nearly $382,000.

Nuckolls also removed the three top employees at the tribe's Thunderbird Casino, then fired 16 other workers and eliminated a three-member commission that is to make sure the casino complies with federal law. There were other firings as well.

"The people that are still employed are petrified," said Donna Roberts, who headed the tribe's education and family services programs until her Aug. 2 firing.