What do the sovereign tribal nations do with their “lucrative” casino money? If you drive through their land I can tell you what they don’t do- improve the horrible roads, rebuild dilapidated schools, provide services for their people. It is time the people look behind the “blame someone else” game and take a very hard look at where that money is spent.
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It seems as if Governor Stitt wants to kill the golden goose. Raising the amount levied against the casinos from 6% to 25% is ludicrous. Why didn't they have a discussion? This is what is wrong with politics in America, the complete loss of compromise.
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" the tribes agreed to pay between 4 percent and 6 percent of their revenues for the exclusive right to operate in the state."
Later in the article the figures are stated as "between 6 and 13 percent."
Big difference. Is either accurate?
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This may account for the discrepancy.
One set of figures was written in an op-ed by Mr Stitt: “Mr. Stitt wrote in an op-ed for The Tulsa World newspaper . . . the tribes agreed to pay between 4 percent and 6 percent of their revenues for the exclusive right to operate in the state.” He could have made a mistake in those numbers, no?
The other set of figures presumably comes from the agreements themselves: “The gaming compact agreed to in 2004 required tribes to give to the state between 6 and 13 percent of their casino revenue, depending on the type of game.”
And one could be based on gross revenues, the other on net.
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I'm an outsider, with no context on Oklahoma politics. At first glance, it seems reasonable to ask gaming operators to pay similar taxes to operators in other states. Yet if those same casino operators are already spending that money in the public interest, on food, health and education for the needy, it seems that new taxes may transfer who is spending money on the public good rather than increasing the overall resources.
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“Regardless of tribal affiliation, many said they don’t understand why a Cherokee governor would try to squeeze money from tribal nations instead of pressuring other pillars of Oklahoma’s economy.“
Why? All the members of the various tribes, as well as every other resident of the state irrespective of whether they are Indian or not, had to do is look north, across the state line, to see what single-minded fealty to a bankrupt ideology will undertake, and the results it will yield.
Stitt is doing nothing that Republican Governor Sam Brownback didn’t do that drove his state of Kansas to the brink of insolvency, its public services to the point of implosion, its credit rating to the edge of default and its Republican Legislature to the brink of rebellion — all in the name of cutting taxes on the wealthy and businesses and the discredited economic promises that such tax cuts pay for themselves and simulate economic growth.
The only difference between Kansas and Oklahoma is that Stitt is now trying to transfer the burden of such cuts from the white Oklahomans who form the bulk of the electorate onto the backs of Native Americans whose votes he either takes for granted, or discounts as unnecessary for reelection. It is a thoroughly cynical ploy that obviously may succeed in deeply-red Oklahoma.
The Indian tribes that Stitt has stabbed in the back are beginning to realize that that redness reflects only a devotion to destructive Republican orthodoxy, not any tribal loyalty.
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He is described as a "Conservative Republican". I thought that all Republicans are conservatives by definition.
Does that mean he is a conservative conservative (ie Far Right)?
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Shouldn't a DNA test confirm if Mr. Stitt is really a Cherokee?
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@Kris
In the hundreds of years before before Andrew Jackson forced the Cherokee (among many other tribes) to relocate in Oklahoma Territory, the Cherokee Nation would confer tribal citizenship on Caucasians and Blacks (usually escaped slaves) who lived in their villages and territory, adopted the ways and culture and intermarried with members of the tribe. Once gained, citizenship was hereditary. It is entirely possible to be a Cherokee citizen without a trace of aboriginal Cherokee DNA.
So the answer to your question is, in short, no.
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@Kris You would need DNA from his relative that claimed to be Cherokee. Or a relative of that relative.
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@Kris he’s pulling the one drop because I don’t see it!
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Granting the tribes in Oklahoma exclusive right to Class III gaming is unconstitutional. It violate the 14th Amendment's equal protectional under the law by excluding everyone else from Class III gaming. Oklahoma Law/Tribal State Compacts violate federal law, that is the Sherman Act, Anti-trust laws, and Anti-Monopoly laws. Class III gaming has occurred outside of the exclusive right agreement when Remington Park(not originally tribally owned) located in Oklahoma City limits and Will Rogers Downs were given slot machines under HB 1836. Therefore, Oklahoma does allow Class III gaming outside of tribal jurisdiction. The state may owe the tribes damages according to HB 1836. The National Indian Regulatory Act applied gaming on Indian land and was intended to provide economic opportunity, promote tribal self-sufficiency, and ensure the tribes were the primary beneficiaries. Has the critical mass been reached with 130 tribal casinos? Is it time to open the whole state up to Class III gaming? The precedents have been set. The Chickasaws acquired and now operate a casino inside the city limits of Oklahoma City. Has it been put into federal trust? Pandora's box has been opened.
Chief Justin Wood can get it
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The USA systematically forced American Indian nations to relocate to the west, to places like the Indian Territory which is now Oklahoma. The Tribes were given lands to live on that were payment for the beautiful lands that were stolen from them. Many of the Tribes entered into treaty agreements with the USA, these agreements were ratified by a vote of the Senate and signed into law by the President.
How convenient it would be for Americans to forget where American land titles began and the legally binding guarantees that were made in securing those titles? The sacred honor of our nation depends upon fulfillment of those agreements.
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I'm curious to know the demographic of the casino clientele. I'm not on a soapbox saying you can't gamble, but it is a shame that we are robbing Peter to pay Paul. What I mean is that there are likely many tribal members who can't afford to responsibly partake, yet it is exactly those individuals who are keeping the place open. Then we say how awesome we (the tribes) are that we are providing healthcare and social services from the revenues we, dare I say unethically, take from the tribal members. Am I way off the mark on this one...?
And yes, of course there are many folks who are not tribal members that enjoy the casinos, but the same argument should stand for them too!
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@Broomtown you are off mark. You ever been to Nevada? Thats where everyone traveled to gamble before.
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If Oklahomans decide the tribal casinos aren’t paying as much as they should, they could legalize casinos off the reservation. Casinos in major Oklahoma cities and strategic sites on the it border with Texas would shutdown the tribe casinos.
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@William Case This is inaccurate sir. Technically commercial casinos in Oklahoma are legalized. There are two horse tracks that operate commercial gaming. The major cities in Oklahoma would receive little to no impact. Tulsa and Oklahoma City are the two largest cities in Oklahoma. Tulsa is saturated with tribes and tribal casinos. There's no market for some huge casino to come in and try to compete with 130 casinos. Oklahoma City citizens don't want a casino in the city. That's why there are casinos on the outskirts of the city. It would be very difficult to get them to vote to allow gaming. If they did vote to allow casinos, then that opens it up for tribes to build there too. The tribes already have the infrastructure in place to operate casinos. The state does not. All the major highways in and out of Texas are covered by tribal casinos. The world's largest casino sits off I-35 at exit 1 in Oklahoma. There isn't a market for commercial gaming to come in and supplant the funds that the state receives from tribes.
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@Booth Correct, plus, the legislature, which is majority Republican, doesn't support commercial casinos entering Oklahoma's market, they will never pass a bill to allow it, because a great many of their constituents are Native American.
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@Booth The race track and gaming in Oklahoma City is owned and run by the tribes. It is not a locally or locally operated non native industry. Sorry but you should make sure of the facts before posting such a positive statement.
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"Mr. Stitt, a Tulsa mortgage banker and conservative Republican"
It should also be noted that Mr. Stitt's mortgage company, Gateway Mortgage Group was listed as one of Business Insider's 15 Shadiest Mortgage Lenders ( https://www.businessinsider.com/the-shady-lenders-abusing-government-mortgage-problems-2009-12#colonial-bank-89-more-defaults-failed-6 ), and the company was accused of fraud in Arkansas, Georgia, and Illinois among others.
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@BW Everyone in Tulsa in the mortgage industry knows Stitt is a dishonest crook.
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@BW
Why am I not surprised?
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@Billyboy Well when Stitt was running for Governor he came out and flatly said he was just like Trump. That should have told the voters something but apparently it didn't.
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Ultimately, the issue boils down to one point. Who is the better steward of the tribes' earnings. I believe all parties involved in the dispute would agree that funds are not being hoarded or inappropriately distributed. Clearly, Governor Stitt has different priorities and uses for the tribes' funds. As a Cherokee citizen, I admire the excellent governance and investments being made by my tribal leaders. Native Americans living in OK are among its poorest and neediest citizens. Many are attaining quality, free health care, better education, and job opportunity. Stitt models his behavior and actions after his personal hero, President Trump. It plays well among Oklahoma's ultra conservative Republicans. However, he's gamed himself into a lousy hand attempting to discredit and overrun Native American tribes. Stitt will be a one term governor. Perhaps his hero will share the same faith.
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@BRB The issue is that the tribes want a monopoly on gaming. That's an incredibly value right, and one that they have to pay for.
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@Shea The tribes already paid for it, long ago, when the US government stole their land.
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The casino agreement expired, and the governor and the tribes must negotiate the best deal for their respective constituencies. Of course the tribes want to keep the sweetheart terms. So the governor plays hardball and the tribes deflect to issues of identity, justice etc, seeking to settle scores from a century ago. Of course declining interview requests doesn’t endear the governor to these journalists. But I believe he’d say it’s about money and the tribes would say it’s about something else and he’d be right and they’d be wrong.
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@Andy Deckman You are misinformed. According to the compact (I have a copy if you haven't read it), the compact term expired Jan. 1, 2020. Not the compact, just the 15-year term. It goes on to say that as long as electronic gaming is legally allowed at horse racing tracks, then the compact term will renew for successive 15-year terms. It goes on to discuss that either party can request renegotiations 180 days from expiration of the term. It doesn't say anything about the compact terminating if no renegotiation is agreed upon. So as it stands now, the tribes just want Stitt to admit that the compact automatically renews. They have said since day one that they expected negotiations to be requested and they are willing to renegotiate. That's how stubborn this man (Stitt) is. All he has to do is say, "Yes it renewed". Then they all sit down and negotiate higher fees for the state. I'll ask you this also, if it did expire how are all of the tribes still actively operating their casinos and paying their fees to the state? That's right, the tribes are still paying the agreed upon fees to the state even though the state thinks the compact expired, which would mean they don't have to pay fees anymore.
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@Booth thank you for the information. However my point stands: those seeking leverage in negotiations are using a non sequitur (the governor’s identity) unrelated to the agreement. The journalists took it hook line and sinker when they say an agreement dispute ‘spilled over’ to the non sequitur.
I’m not Native American and I’ve never visited one of the casinos in Oklahoma. But I have paid state and local taxes for the past 37 years, so I have some stake in the game. The governor likes to compare the gaming compacts of Connecticut and New York, which assess native casinos between 20 and 25%. To my mind, before he does that, he might also emulate those states in their income and sales taxes on their populations. Both have a much more progressive income tax structure, while Oklahoma’s highest marginal tax rate kicks in at $12,500. Yes, that means that everyone over the federal poverty rate pays the highest marginal rate. And Oklahoma sales taxes — one of the highest in the country — are applied to virtually everything, including groceries. Gross production taxes on the oil and gas industry don’t pay enough to rectify the tremendous environmental damage the sector inflicts on the state; on the other side, Republican legislators seek to reduce tax incentives on renewable energy. The state clearly needs more revenue to bring its schools, infrastructure, welfare, safety, and environment up to minimally acceptable condition. Stitt and his Republican supermajority in the House and Senate could rectify that in the current session by adopting real tax reform and making the state’s tax policy more progressive; instead they are squandering time and political capital by taking on a fight with Native Americans that will not solve the state’s problems.
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Mr. Stitt, is a conservative republican, he's obligated to take money from the needy and cut taxes for the rich and the oil & gas industry while depriving public schools and healthcare of needed funds.
That puts it all in context.
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I’m from Oklahoma and most of my family still lives there. The state is a threadbare mess designed to cater to oil and gas at the expense of literally everything else, most of all the welfare of its most vulnerable citizens. This design to extract more from the tribes smacks of historical and financial hypocrisy.
First, Oklahoma has bled the tribes of land and cash for over a century. The the Osage got rich from the oil boom a century ago, the state engaged in all manner of treachery to prevent the tribe from retaining what was rightfully its own. The Land Run of 1889 and Sooners, still widely celebrated, commemorate the parceling up of stolen tribal lands. Further examples abound.
Second, the state imposes virtually no taxes and fees on the oil and gas industry — a standard far out of line with even deep red North Dakota. This failure to tax its most lucrative industry, combined with the economy’s over-reliance on a single sector, has led to nothing short of catastrophe in schools, healthcare, infrastructure, etc.
Finally, with regard to Stitt’s tribal membership, there’s an Oklahoma joke that nearly every “white” person claims some Cherokee blood. (Insert Elizabeth Warren cringe here.) He is an exception in that he’s actually on the tribal rolls through his great grandfather. Claiming some membership doesn’t mean allegiance to tribal interests. Instead, for a lot of the white identifying privileged kids I knew, it was a way to gain access to scholarships.
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@SE I don't disagree with most of your comments till your final paragraph - as someone who works in education there are virtually no scholarships for Native Americans that are not tied to legitimate tribal membership. It's not something anyone, even legitimate Indians who do not have a federally recognized tribe, can claim and get funding. Even accounting for scholarships that are tied to tribal membership, it's not the well-spring people think.
There is an idea in popular culture that minority students have a free ride, and it is entirely false, rather the reverse is true and most will lack family resources to pay for college and spend their lives paying off outlandish student loans and whatever social mobility is gained from the degree is paid back to student loans maintaining cycles of poverty.
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@SE I had to laugh at the part about every white person claims some Cherokee blood. When I started reading your article, my first thought was (I was born and raised in Oklahoma City) that everyone born in Oklahoma claims to have some Cherokee blood. I am ashamed of our heritage in stealing their land when they were promised that this land is theirs as long as rivers flow and grass grows.
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@Megan I think you misunderstood my point. I agree with with your points about affirmative action. My point is that in Oklahoma privileged kids who identify and present as white sometimes use a distant connection (enough to be on the rolls of verification counts) to obtain access to certain programs and resources that were actually intended for needy/marginalized communities. There’s also the well-documented historical matter of white men marrying native women to gain access to tribal assets, esp. in the case of the Osage tribe. I obviously can’t speak to Washington, but Oklahoma has a unique tribal history and relationship to its past.
In terms of Stitt, the Dawes Rolls appear to list his great grandfather as 1/32 Cherokee by blood. That means Stitt’s claim is legitimate but his connection *extremely* tenuous. (The Dawes Rolls are themselves problematic.)
13
I've often wondered where "Indian Casino" money goes? Every NYT piece about Native Americans displays [the same] photos of blighted rural towns, unwashed children and dilapidated homes. I'm sure somebody knows..
On another note:
"The tribes paid $148 million in fees from casino operations to the state last year, 88 percent of which was earmarked for Oklahoma’s public schools, which rank among the most underfunded in the country." .. That's because the Oklahoma State Legislature cut their education budget in order to pat for the $140 million dollars in tax cuts to oil and gas industries.
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@Aaron - Are you under the impression that there is a unitary American Indian organisation of some kind governing 'Indian Casinos'? Are you aware that there are some 560 federally recognised and entirely separate tribes in the United States? Where does 'Indian Casino' money go? It depends on which tribe controls which casino.
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@GWPDA I'm not sure if he was implying there is just one unitary NA organization. Either way, in Oklahoma I believe all tribes have the same or very similar compacts with the state. So 4-6% of class III electronic gaming revenue and 10% of tables games revenue goes to the state in exclusivity fees. By law, 88% of those fees must be used for the state's education budget. The other 12% goes into their revolving fund I believe and is used however needed. As for the rest of gaming revenue that the tribes keep, per IGRA it has to be used for the economic development of the tribes, tribal members, and tribal businesses.
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Having read about some of the crooked and violent shenanigans against the tribes, especially the Osage, in Oklahoma a century ago, I think Mr. Stitt has the obligation to prove his Cherokee membership is not a scam inherited from a crooked ancestor.
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@Thomas Zaslavsky My great-grandparents were 100% Cherokee and every relative on that side of the family has the physical attributes of dark skin, hair and eyes. My grandmother married a man of European descent and my mother was the only child in the family to inherit his coloring - blonde hair, fair skin, blue eyes. When I tell people I have 1/8th Cherokee blood they don't believe me. My ancestors have the proof so I'm wondering why this governor can't find his documentary proof.
7
@Thomas Zaslavsky and how would such a thing be proved? Cherokee membership is determined by having a relative on the Dawson Rolls - that having already been established, there is no other criterion.
I don't care much for what I learned about Mr. Stitt, but questioning, doubting, and stripping Indians of their tribal identity is a standard practice both by tribes themselves and the US government as means of revenge, punishment, and more recently, increasing tribal profits. Many full blooded Indians are denied tribal membership because it decreases the amount paid to existing members of the tribe.
Federally recognized tribal membership has done more to continue on the campaign of genocide than its ever done to protect the integrity of Native American communities.
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@Megan Small correction. It's the Dawes Rolls
3