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OCTOBER 26, 2000

First Lady Hillary Clinton and Representative Rick Lazio (R-NY), candidates for US Senate, say they support out-of-court settlements for Indian land claims in New York, but both have been critical of attempts to do just that.

As required by law and its trust obligation, the Department has taken the side of tribes in their fight to settle their claims against New York state. The move has been blasted both by Lazio, in a radio ad, and now by Clinton.

Last week, Lazio began running a 60-second radio ad in upstate New York, where anti-Indian and anti-treaty rights sentiments run high. The ad not only criticizes the Department's involvement in land claims, but attacks Clinton for her alleged lack of response to the issue.

"Native Americans have rights, but so do property-owning New Yorkers. This Clinton lawsuit against our homeowners is extreme and wrong," states the ad. "But Hillary Clinton has stood silent. Clinton refuses to stand up for the rights of upstate New Yorkers."

Clinton this week finally took a stand, saying she also opposed the Justice Department's attempt to add 20,000 landowners to the 26-year-old Oneida Nation land claim. But while Clinton's statement on the issue comes late in the race, Lazio's ad also appears ill-timed.

By the time the ad aired, Judge Neal McCurn had ruled against the addition of the landowners to the suit. Both the Oneida Nation and the Justice Department had also said they would not appeal the ruling.

The two candidates support of out-of-court settlements also appears shaky. Of land claims filed by the Oneida, Seneca, Cayuga, Mohawk, and Onondaga Nations, only one claim -- the Seneca leases in Salamanca -- has been resolved.

Still, like the others, the tribe has additional land claims. One, the claim to Grand Island, will be decided in the coming months by a federal judge.

Resolution of the Oneida Nation claim to 250,000 acres been held up by lack of settlement between the tribe and two counties and will proceed to court. The Cayuga Nation claim for 64,000 acres is near resolution, only after going to trial.

The Onondaga Nation plans to file suit against the state this year for about 70,000 acres of land.

Related Stories:
Land claims might last forever (Tribal Law 10/24)
Judge to rule on land claim (Tribal Law 10/23)
Congressman's ad attacks land claims (The Talking Circle 10/20)

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