WASHINGTON – The premier lobbying group for Eastern tribes has joined the
fight against “reservation shopping” and Congressional action to ratify New
York state land claims settlements.
During the annual “Washington Impact Week” meeting in Arlington, Va. on
Feb. 10, the United South and Eastern Tribes (USET) passed a detailed
resolution denouncing tribal quests for out-of-state casino sites.
Listing examples in New York state, Colorado and the Midwest, the
resolution called for Congress to pass a bill outlawing the practice of
“reservation shopping” and to oppose bills permitting it – clearly
referring to congressional action necessary to confirm a series of land
claims settlements between New York and tribes now settled in Wisconsin and
Oklahoma. New York state Gov. George Pataki has offered potentially
lucrative tribal casinos in the once-famous Catskills resort region to win
land settlements and concessions on state and local taxation.
The resolution attacked these concessions: “Certain Indian Nations, in
order to secure gaming rights at distant locations, have offered to make
agreements with state governments that would undermine the sovereignty and
treaty rights of local Indian nations … Allowing Indian nations or tribes
to migrate to distant locations for the purpose of conducting gaming would
create serious political tensions with local Indian nations and municipal
governments.”
Three tribes at the center of the New York land settlements, among others,
were listed: the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma, the Oneida Tribe of
Wisconsin and the Stockbridge Munsee Community of Wisconsin.
The USET Board urged the BIA to enforce provisions of the Indian Gaming
Regulatory Act that it said outlawed “reservation shopping” and called for
Congress to prohibit individual Indian nations from “establishing a
reservation, acquiring trust land or exercising governmental jurisdiction
in a state other than the state where they are currently located or a
remote location to which they have no aboriginal connection.”