Colvilles Official Ousted Tribe Gives No Reason, But Stone Blames ‘Conflicts Of Interest’

Fri., Feb. 6, 1998

By John Craig johnc@spokesman.com

Lou Stone was fired Thursday before he could complete his third month as executive director of the Colville Confederated Tribes.

A spokesman said the tribal council exercised its right to terminate Stone without cause within the 90-day probationary period of his two-year contract. The council gave no reason for its action.

Gene Nicholson, Bureau of Indian Affairs superintendent for the Colville Indian Reservation, will take over as executive director until a permanent replacement can be found.

Stone, 48, was embroiled in controversy soon after his appointment in November, when he attempted to fire a half-dozen department heads and several “holistic resource educators.”

The council overturned his action but decided at the time to retain Stone.

Stone blamed his dismissal on “conflicts of interest” by council members whose relatives or friends would have lost jobs or were passed over for the $67,000-a-year director’s position.

He said he was trying to satisfy a contractual requirement that he reorganize the tribal government, replacing executive “deadwood” with lower-level service providers.

Stone said the contracts of the department heads he tried to fire had expired in September 1996.

“It was evident that, if the business council really had wanted those people, it would have renewed their contracts itself,” he said.

Stone claimed Thursday’s action violated the tribal constitution because neither the chairman nor the vice chairman presided over the council meeting.

Stone said he is considering legal action but declined to elaborate.

This is the second time a council has ousted Stone from a leadership position. He was expelled from the tribal council 10 years ago in a dispute over personal use of frequent-flier bonuses. He contended other council members were retaliating for his efforts to reduce the size of the 14-member council.

Voters put Stone back in office a year later but turned him out in the next election.

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