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In The Hoop
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2002

Welcome to In The Hoop, Indianz.Com's occasional column about assorted Indian issues.

Where's My Check?!
If you're a tribal leader, lobbyist or lover, you probably heard those words uttered by a politico near you. Faced with a ban on soft money and worried about the control of Congress, operatives of both parties were out to raise as much money as possible this year.

Based on today's Gannett wire story, tribes were indeed writing checks. Although the data so far shows that giving was down from the 2000 election cycle, there was plenty of money to go around to Republicans and Democrats.

In The Hoop took a look at figures compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group. We found gaming-rich tribes were responsible for most of the $1.3 million in soft money contributions in the center's Top 20 List for 2002.

The Mississippi Band of Choctaws was tops, according to the data, with $160,250 donated so far in about equal amounts to both parties. The tribe, which counts high-powered GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff as its paid ally, was ranked number 5 in 2000, when it gave almost exclusively to Republicans.

The diversification has paid off, according to chairman Phil Martin. He told The New York Times that his tribe has always gotten its "money's worth" when it comes to politicking.

(Except when Slade Gorton joins the law firm that used to represent you and then takes on clients who oppose you. But that's another story.)

Coming in a close second was the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut. The Center reported that nearly 75 percent of its $$158,250 has gone to GOP interests so far. But in 2000, the tribe contributed a whopping $513,648 to the campaigns, mostly to Democrats.

Third on the list, and a newcomer to it, was the Tigua Tribe of Texas. Even though its successful casino was shut down per court order and reopened with a scaled back set of games, it found time to donate $90,000 to Republicans.

We checked the Federal Election Commission to find out which GOP interests exactly and found an additional $2,000 to report. The tribe's soft money went to the Republican National State Elections Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

We also found $5,000 that went to the Superior California Federal Leadership Fund, the political action committee (PAC) of Rep. John Doolittle, a California Republican. Also, $500 went to the PAC of Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.).

Who are these people, you ask? Camp happens to be the vice-chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus and of course is up for re-election.

And Doolittle? Well, he happened to really hate the United Indian Auburn land-into-trust application that Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb approved earlier this year.

Doolittle's PAC was also the recipient of a total or $4,000 from the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan, which was No. 12 on this year's list. He also received $1,000 from Gila River Indian Community of Arizona, another newcomer to his year's list at No. 13.

There's more to report on the list. Check In The Hoop for another installment of Indian Givers.

In Your Hoop
Were you an Indian giver? Did you contribute money to any campaigns? Email In the Hoop and let us know.

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