If you hire them, you should be just as responsible as the great pretenders that they are and fined accordingly.
Bill Buell is the owner of Premier Demolition Inc. in Missouri. The company received government contract funds that were set aside for minorities, even though Buell has no verifiable claim to being a member of a minority group. (Adam Elmahrek / Los Angeles Times)
JUNE 26, 2019 4 AM Reporting from St. Louis —
Two years ago, when the mayor’s office in St. Louis announced a $311,000 contract to tear down an old shoe factory, it made a point of identifying the demolition company as minority owned.
That was welcome news. The Missouri city was still grappling with racial tensions from the 2014 fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, a black 18-year-old, in nearby Ferguson. After angry protests, elected officials had pledged to set aside more government work for minority-owned firms.
There was only one problem.
Bill Buell, the owner of Premier Demolition Inc., has no verifiable claim to being a member of a minority group. His ancestors are identified as white in census and other government records. And his claim to being a Native American rests on his membership in a self-described Cherokee group that is not recognized as a legitimate tribe.
William Wages, whose brother-in-law is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield), says he is one-eighth Cherokee. Wages’ company, Vortex Construction, has won more than $7 million in federal contracts set aside for minorities.(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
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This is Kansas City, MO’s. legacy to the minority community. Kansas City certified three other contractors who claimed membership in the NCN or the Western Cherokee Nation of Arkansas and Missouri.
In response to an inquiry by The Times, a Kansas City spokesman said the municipality had reviewed the certifications and found no reason to revoke them.
Global Environmental Inc., based in Berkeley, Mo., got $4.1 million in minority construction contracts from the federal government, and nearly $80,000 from St. Louis, federal and city records show.
In her application, owner Vicki Dunn, a member of the NCN, described the discrimination she had faced. Such narratives are part of the certification process.
Dunn said the vice president of a company that once employed her told her she did not understand the true meaning of the CEO acronym.
“Then he stated, ‘Me Chief, you Indian,’” Dunn wrote.
Dunn’s ancestors are identified as white in census and death records reviewed by The Times. The Cherokee Heritage Center genealogist said his research found no Cherokee ancestry for Dunn, who did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Vicki Dunn and Brad Dunn, owner of Octane Concrete Pumping LLC, did not respond to emails asking if they were related.
Want to know more about the corruption Kansas City, MO. is mired in?
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-na-cherokee-minority-contracts-20190626-story.html
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