The chief of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma was paid $31,500 to promote the controversial casino proposed by the Kialegee
Tribal Town, The Tulsa World reports.
George Tiger signed the deal in November 2009, two months after winning election to the tribal council in September of that year, the paper said. But he said he stopped acting as a consultant for the project once he was sworn into office in early 2010.
“It’s not criminal," Tiger told the paper. "I mean, it was during the time when I wasn’t a council member or an elected official.”
Tiger, however, continued to receive checks after joining the council. The last payment came in September 2011 -- he won election as chief of the tribe two months later and eventually came out against the Kialegee casino.
“You hire a consultant who knows the way and can open the door," developer Shane Rolls told the paper. "The way I know to get into Indian country is hire an Indian.”
The Kialegee Tribal Town wanted to build the Red Clay Casino on an Indian allotment near Tulsa, about 11 miles from the Muscogee Nation's River Spirit Casino.
The project never got off the ground because a federal judge put a hold on it at the request of the state.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals later ruled that the tribe and its leaders are protected by sovereign immunity. Rolls told the paper that the project will resume at a different location in the area.
Get the Story:
Creek Nation chief signed secret contract with developer for BA Kialegee casino
(The Tulsa World 3/8)
Broken Arrow casino developer says project will resume at undisclosed Tulsa County location
(The Tulsa World 3/7)
$P 10th Circuit Decision:
Oklahoma
v. Hobia (November 10, 2014)
NIGC Indian Land Opinions
May
25, 2012 | June
8, 2012
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