Sitka | Sitka Tribe of Alaska Council Chairman Woody Widmark has confirmed to KCAW that a tribal citizen filed an ethics complaint against council member Stephanie Edenshaw.
Widmark did not elaborate on the exact nature of the complaint or who filed it. He also declined to provide a copy of the complaint letter. An ad-hoc committee of the council has been established in order to evaluate the complaint, and Widmark says he wants to let it do its fact finding before he discusses details publicly.
Widmark says the committee reviewing the complaint is comprised of Tribal Council members Mike Miller, Archie Nielsen and Rachel Moreno.
The complaint was filed last week. Widmark says Edenshaw has 10 days to respond. When contacted by KCAW, Edenshaw said she’s not at liberty to discuss the issue, and declined to comment.
The ethics complaint comes almost exactly a year after complaints were lodged against tribal council member George Paul. Those charges were weighed during a long and acrimonious council meeting, largely held behind closed doors. Eventually Paul was removed.
Paul was replaced by the appointment of Mike Baines, who at the time had just lost his seat during the 2010 election.
