Opinion: Oppose a fix to Supreme Court's land-into-trust decision

Thursday, January 20, 2011  

"It should, therefore, come as no surprise that casino tribes would turn to their favorite politicians when the truth came to light and the Supreme Court ruled that only Indian tribes under federal jurisdiction in 1934 were eligible for the benefits of the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA).

This means the BIA is not supposed to be creating Indian tribes and putting land into trust for them.

This is a major blow to the BIA and big gambling interests who have been having a heyday making up tribes for the purpose of a casino and its hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue that is not subject to tax. Some of these shams have only one or two members, and some may have little or no Indian blood at all, as our research found here in Santa Ynez, yet they demand sovereignty and the entitlement to expand their tribal land by “reacquiring” their “aboriginal territory.” Jeff Benedict, in his book Without Reservation, carefully documented the fabrication of the tribe behind Foxwoods, the largest casino in the world.

In the litigation that made it to the Supreme Court, the governor of Rhode Island, Gov. Donald Carcieri, was courageous enough to challenge the casino tribes. Historically, in almost every other situation across the country, local government sided with the casino tribes, ignoring the skyrocketing crime and other public harm, and forcing citizen groups to do private research and file lawsuits against the federal government themselves. Preservation of Los Olivos, POLO, and Preservation of Santa Ynez, POSY, initiated just such a lawsuit in 2005 to achieve the right of standing to object to tribal land expansion. Prior to this lawsuit the BIA routinely ignored all community objections and said the community did not have standing to oppose their decisions. After six years, and costing almost $2 million, POLO and POSY achieved standing and now await a decision by the BIA.

Because the BIA and casino tribes are now being challenged by facts, they are attempting to use their prostitute or destructionist politician allies to overcome the facts for what they call a “Clean Carcieri Fix,” legislation to circumvent the Supreme Court. I am not making this up. A “Clean Fix” – this is what the Obama Administration calls it and is pressing for."

Get the Story:
Kathy Cleary: COUNTY GOVERNMENTS OPPOSE FEE LAND TO TRUST (The Santa Ynez Valley Journal 1/20)