Indian Council Power Struggle Sparks Lawsuit

A fight for control of the Candelaria American Indian Council’s Ventura office has sparked a bitter legal battle, and divided local American Indians on whether a non-Indian should lead the nonprofit social service group.

Jessie Roybal, the former director of Candelaria, has sued Candelaria and its current director, Bruce Stenslie, in a dispute that claims Stenslie forced her out so he could take control of the organization.

As the case continues to be heard by a court-appointed arbitrator, Roybal and her supporters have picketed the Candelaria office, hurled a myriad of accusations at Stenslie and even resorted to calling him names, such as “Custer.”

Stenslie has declined all comment upon the advice of his lawyer.

For 18 years, Roybal ran Candelaria, a publicly funded social service agency dedicated to helping American Indians by providing job training, job placement, food and other family services.

But in 1991, Stenslie, a non-Indian, accused Roybal of embezzling money from the council, and persuaded the group’s board that if she continued to lead the group, it would lose its federal funding, the lawsuit said.

In an interview, Roybal said the embezzlement accusations were false and that Stenslie, who was then assistant director, forced her out of the $20-an-hour job so he could take over as director and satisfy his “need to control Indians.”

In court documents, Stenslie denies Roybal’s allegations and instead said that Roybal “voluntarily resigned based on her assessment that the work conditions were unacceptable to her.”

Although the dispute entered arbitration this month, it is still scheduled to go to trial before a Superior Court judge on July 6.

The two began working together in 1988, when Roybal hired Stenslie as a planner because he was a skilled writer. She said she promoted him to assistant director the following year. “I thought he really had empathy for the Indian people,” she said.

But the relationship soured in late 1989, Roybal said. She said her assistant “started talking badly about Indians. He downgraded Indians and called them stupid.”

Roybal said she was shoved aside while she took time off because of a back injury. Soon after, she said, six other Indian employees of Candelaria were fired. Among them was Tilly Ahearn, who said she was fired for refusing to speak ill of Roybal.

Ahearn said that Stenslie, as a non-Indian, did not have the same desire to help American Indians. “What he wanted was to control the money,” she said. “It’s not right for non-Indians to be in charge of this group.”

Ahearn said she and others who lost their jobs are contemplating legal action, and that they would continue to picket in front of the Candelaria office for the rest of the week.