ST. LOUIS 鈥 City officials have moved to take away minority contractor status from five area companies whose owners claimed Native American ancestry but aren鈥檛 affiliated with a tribe recognized by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Matt Ghio, an attorney for four of the firms聽鈥 , , and 聽鈥 has disputed the city鈥檚 decision and said they plan to challenge it in a lawsuit in federal court.
Officials with the fifth firm, , could not be reached for comment Monday.
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The area firms were among companies cited in a recently published聽 that found more than $300 million in government contracts around the country went to businesses that made questionable claims of Native American ownership.
In at least a dozen cases, business owners claimed membership in one of three Cherokee groups that have no federal recognition and are considered illegitimate by recognized tribes and Native American experts, the Los Angeles Times said.聽
The firms received minority certifications and contracts from the federal government and authorities in 18 states, the newspaper reported.
Jeff Lea, a spokesman for 50度灰视频 city government, said the five area firms all have owners affiliated with the Clinton, Missouri-based Northern Cherokee Nation but that the federal bureau didn鈥檛 recognize that organization.
Lea said a city panel, the Program Review Committee, on June 6 voted to decertify the firms. Lea said the city looked into the issue after getting an inquiry from the Los Angeles Times last fall.
The city in 2011 had changed its rules to require Bureau of Indian Affairs recognition for Native American tribes cited by minority contractors but didn鈥檛 re-examine minority status of firms previously certified, Lea said.
Ghio said his clients鈥 owners indeed have Native American ancestry. He said their lawsuit would argue that the city鈥檚 2011 rules are unconstitutional because they treat Native Americans differently than members of other minority groups.
Americans of African, Hispanic and Asian descent need only 鈥渃laim an origin from one of those groups of people,鈥 a draft of the suit says, but the city 鈥渄oes not allow Native Americans鈥 to qualify in the same way.聽
City Counselor Julian Bush said the city has agreed to hold off enforcing the decertification while the court challenge is pending.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times investigation has prompted federal and state lawmakers and regulators to call for inquiries and tighter minority-certification rules.
鈥淭hese reports are deeply troubling,鈥 said Rep. Nydia Vel谩zquez, a New York Democrat and chairwoman of the House committee that oversees the U.S. Small Business Administration, which certifies companies as eligible for federal contracts set aside for minority-owned companies. 鈥淎ny form of fraud or abuse in SBA鈥檚 programs is completely unacceptable.鈥
The SBA said it has referred the newspaper鈥檚 findings to the agency鈥檚 Office of Inspector General for investigation.
A spokeswoman for the federal Indian affairs bureau said it is also reviewing the matter. One of the companies examined in the Los Angeles Times report received a BIA contract for work on a Native American college. The owner of the company insisted he is one-sixteenth Cherokee.
In California, Assemblyman James Ramos, who leads the Select Committee on Native American Affairs, said he鈥檚 asked the state鈥檚 research bureau to compile a list of all minority contracts as part of an inquiry into how many might have been granted to firms based on unverified Native American claims.
At least two California companies, one of which is owned by relatives of U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., have obtained minority certifications because their owners were members of one of the self-described Cherokee groups that have no government recognition.
Officials in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas said they have removed or are reviewing the minority certification of one of the contractors, Missouri-based Columbia Curb & Gutter Co. The company has received $67 million in contracts reserved for minority-owned firms.聽
In addition to the Clinton-based Northern Cherokee Nation, groups labeled illegitimate by recognized tribes and Native American genealogists are the Western Cherokee Nation of Arkansas and Missouri, based in Mansfield, Missouri, and the Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory, based in Columbia, Missouri.
The Missouri attorney general鈥檚 office said it has closed its review of a complaint filed by state Rep. Rocky Miller, R-Lake Ozark, a citizen of the federally recognized Cherokee Nation, regarding the Northern Cherokee Nation鈥檚 claims that it is state-recognized.
The office said Miller鈥檚 request that it take action against the group 鈥渓acked specific information or facts that could supplement the complaint.鈥
Kenn 鈥淕rey Elk鈥 Descombes, the chief of the Northern Cherokee Nation, said the recognized Cherokee tribes have unfairly denounced his organization because they don鈥檛 want competition for federal funds.
Under federal regulations, minority contracts are reserved for companies whose owners can demonstrate social and economic disadvantages because of their race or ethnicity. Among the eligible groups are Native Americans.
State and local agencies award contracts under separate affirmative action programs.聽
In one example, Premier Demolition in 2017 was awarded a $311,000 contract by 50度灰视频 to tear down an old shoe factory building.聽
The Los Angeles Times cited government records in showing that the vetting process for Native American applicants appears weak in many cases, with officials accepting flimsy documentation or unverified claims of discrimination based on ethnicity. The process is often opaque, with little independent oversight.
In applying for the minority programs, 12 of the 14 business owners whose certifications were reviewed by the newspaper claimed membership in one of the unrecognized Cherokee groups, according to government records and interviews.
The applications for the other two owners were not available. Their businesses were identified as Native American-owned in a Small Business Administration database and in federal contracting records.
For each of the 14 companies, one or more census, birth, marriage or other government records identified the owners鈥 ancestors as white. The ancestors also do not appear on rolls that government-recognized tribes use to confirm Cherokee citizenship, according to census records and an expert on Cherokee genealogy.聽
Last year, a Los Angeles Times investigation found that a company owned by in-laws of McCarthy, then the House majority leader, won more than $7 million in federal contracts because of his brother-in-law鈥檚 membership in the Northern Cherokee Nation.
Most of the work awarded to the company, Vortex Construction, was for military projects in and around McCarthy鈥檚 district, including projects he supported in Congress.
McCarthy and the brother-in-law, William Wages, said they did nothing wrong. Wages, whose sister is married to McCarthy, said he is one-eighth Cherokee. Census and birth records available to The Times dating to 1850 show no Cherokees among his ancestors.聽