Tribal members criticize appointment
The Spokane Tribe’s current manager of a $9 million-a-year federal job-creation program pleaded guilty in 1995 to embezzling federal funds while he was director of the Spokane Indian Housing Authority, according to court records.
Gregory A. Wynecoop’s past conviction in U.S. District Court in Spokane was raised by tribal members who recently complained to tribal leaders that Wynecoop had authorized Wal-Mart gift cards as Christmas bonuses for his employees.
Money earmarked for job creation, they said, should not be used to benefit a select group of tribal employees.
A spokesman for the Department of Interior’s Office of Indian Affairs said such “incentives” to employees are legal under rules for administration of the federal program. Tribal officials, including Wynecoop, could not be reached for comment.
In February, the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development gave the Spokane Tribe approval to participate in a plan that combines several training, education and welfare programs under one budget and one reporting system.
The program, commonly called “477” after the federal legislation that authorized it, is designed to reduce the paperwork and expense of administering funds to federally recognized tribes and Alaska Natives.
Since 1994, the 477 initiative has helped 240 tribes train and educate about 44,000 Native youths and young adults.
The Spokane Tribe, with about 2,300 people, suffers from 50 percent unemployment on its reservation about 40 miles northwest of Spokane.
The Spokane Tribal Business Council appointed tribal member Luanne Ferguson as director of its 477 program, while Wynecoop was named program manager. The appointments were made when Wynecoop’s brother, David Wynecoop Jr., was a member of the Tribal Business Council.
David Wynecoop did not run for re-election this summer.
At the tribe’s request, the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development wrote tribal leaders on Jan. 19 that gifts such as cash or time off were appropriate to “reward performance or to build morale,” said Gary Garrison, public information specialist for the Office of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C.
In January 1995, Gregory Wynecoop was ordered by a U.S. District judge in Spokane to pay restitution and was placed on five years’ probation for fraudulently obtaining nearly $13,000 from the housing authority in 1993, according to court documents.
Gregory Wynecoop was ordered to abstain from gambling and to undergo counseling for his gambling problem as a condition of probation.
The housing authority buys and rents housing on the Spokane Indian Reservation with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds. The charge against Gregory Wynecoop was filed after an investigation by the HUD inspector general and the FBI.