The gaming licenses of two directors at Black Bear Casino in Fond du Lac, Minnesota recently were suspended in the ongoing investigation of misuse of Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa tribal funds. Both Director of Operations Misty St. Germaine and Director of Marketing Todd DaFoe deny the allegations of the tribe’s Reservation Business Committee and said they did nothing wrong.
St. Germaine, who served as operations director for four years and has held a Class A gaming license for 22 years, was escorted off the casino premises after being told her license was suspended. She claimed she is the victim of tribal politics, relating to charges by the Reservation Business Committee that Tribal Chairman Wally Dupuis, who is running for the District 1 seat, allegedly used a contract Black Bear Casino has with a printing company to print and mail campaign literature. DaFoe said Dupuis did use the same mailing company the casino uses to send out campaign literature, but he said Dupuis paid all of the costs himself and has receipts to prove it.
St. Germaine said, “It’s a smear campaign. I think that’s what’s happening here is that these people are running for the District 1 seat and the chairman seat. It has gotten pretty ugly and people are looking for anything and everything that they can.”
Dupuis has called the situation a “lynch mobbing.” In a statement, he said, “I have never used band funds to support my campaign. I used a printing company to mail my letter and paid for this service out of my pocket with all of the appropriate receipts to prove this. These allegations are completely false. The company that was used is a vendor of the Black Bear Casino, as is Walmart, Community Printing and 8,000 other vendors that the band uses. I will not apologize for knowing people who can get things done.”
The primary election will be held in April.
