a new year

• i live by the adage "Cui bono?" - who benefits? it helps me remember to look for the underlying purpose of things.

• i'd like to say 'yes' to everybody's proposals. and will try to say 'yes' to each person's proposal as long as it applies to him- or herself exclusively, ie, that the proposer will take responsibility for implementing her/his proposal, and that the rest of us are not burdened by it. so please, keep More Improved New Rules To Live By off of and away from this Old Republican.

• any oath required of one commissioner in the appointment process should be required of all commissioners. currently only one oath - from the governor's office - is required. adding another oath on top of that is paperwork and show. imo, nothing substantial. - why should we want to add more paperwork for us, for the state?

• i'm concerned that reviewing new internal texts for the commission, like oaths, ethics, standing rules, procedures, etc., is all so much internal furniture re-arranging that has little or nothing to do with the commission actually doing something for the state and indian people.

• i need to be reminded that some of my proposals fall into this category. not that i like to be reminded of it, but that i too - especially in the spring - like to engage in a little house-cleaning and just plain re-arranging for change simply because it is different. and that can be good sometimes too.

• i don't know how i'll vote on any specific proposal, but we will be judged in one year on what we do, not what we write or re-write or say we believe in. there may be some rules that could help us operate better, like oil in an engine, but if we focus on this internal stuff for more than hour, i will be concerned and impatient that we are losing sight of our purpose: DOING.

• the time for commissioners sitting on the commission like bumps on a log is over. imo, each of us needs to come to the table at this next meeting with a specific project that will benefit the state and the indian community in general. or find someone else's project that we can help move and/or transcend. with monthly benchmarks that we can use to measure each project's progress.

• if you think this opinion exceeds the state Sunshine law (formation of public policy & decisions is public business and shall not be conducted in secret. TCA 8-44-101), i'll be happy to discuss it publicly. just wanted you to know my feelings up front & personal like before we get together so folks wouldn't feel bushwhacked by my lack of sympathy with more paper-pushing and window-dressing. i hope i have not offended anybody by these comments.

;>