Oklahoma Governor under fire for opposing tribal gaming compacts

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK—Several converging factors make the recent tribal casino battles in Oklahoma something to which the rest of Indian Country should pay attention. Although an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, Republican Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, has worked tirelessly against tribal interest since becoming governor in 2019.

Stitt has warned of Eastern Oklahoma turning into an Indian Reservation, and his siding with non-Indian business interest over tribal interest has finally turned even the Republican State Attorney General, Genter Drummond, against him, and has resulted in overrides of the governor’s vetoes of bills pertaining to tribal gaming compact extensions. An opposition coalition of tribes, Democrats, and Republicans seems to have formed against the governor, challenged him, and to this point, defeated him.

Drummond sent a letter to Stitt, in which he wrote: “As you should fully understand, this long running and costly litigation is a direct result of your refusal to follow Oklahoma law. The four tribal gaming compacts you signed were invalid from the start because you did not have the approval or authorization from the Oklahoma Legislature to enter the gaming compacts.”

Stitt does not want to extend the present gaming compacts, but wants new compacts, which will reduce tribal profit and increase non-tribal interest. Drummonds asserts this brazen action violates the law, and so Stitt has managed to alienate conservative Republicans who support the strict letter of law.

The state legislature is no longer divided between tribal and Democrat interest on one hand, and GOP and business interest on the other, at least, on these issues. Republicans joined in to override Stitt’s vetoes. On Monday the Senate overrode Stitt’s vetoes on Senate Bill 26 and House Bill 1005, these bills extending state tribal compacts pertaining to a state/tribe revenue split from tobacco sold on tribal trust land and motor vehicle registrations.

Cherokee Nation Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. informed the media: “The bipartisan supermajority of Senators who voted to extend our tribal-state compacts, overriding the Governor’s veto…saw this need, and I thank them for their support. This vote shows once again that the Governor is isolated in his choice of conflict over cooperation with tribes. Cherokee Nation is ready to continue working with any and all good-faith partners in the state who respect our sovereignty.”

Stitt is hardly isolated, given he represents the most powerful and wealthy interests in the state, but he has been put in check, and whether that check leads to a permanent decline of his power and influence remains to be seen.

Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat held a press conference: “I think of this as a probationary period to see if [Gov. Stitt] can act in good faith and get true negotiations going, and then we can reassess next session whether or not we wish to that. The role of the legislature is clear, that we have a role now to approve or disapprove those compacts. If we wish to get more involved…it’s a little less clean, you would hope you have a central point of negotiation, but if we see that is not fruitful, we reserve the right to be able to change that law.”

A GOP controlled legislature defying a GOP governor in a conservative state has to have Stitt wondering how this impacts not only his long term political prospects but his leadership status in his own party.

Tribes are stepping up and letting people know they are willing to do their part to help force Stitt to observe state law.  Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby was among the most notable, and he stated he was looking forward to continuing “collaboration” on a “durable compact agreement” necessitated by the veto overrides.

“We appreciate the work of the Oklahoma Senate in successfully overriding these vetoes,” Anoatubby added. “We embrace legislative participation and remain committed to upholding our cooperative approach, fostering open and honest dialogue.”

It has been Stitt’s assertion that the language used in tribal contracts would undercut non-Native business interest in the 40 percent of Oklahoma recognized as an existing reservation by the United States Supreme Court’s highly controversial McGirt decision. A subsequent Court decision has taken some of the teeth out of McGirt, in that the state has won the right to prosecute tribal members in lieu of federal prosecution. On such issues, Stitt still has the support of his GOP colleagues, and there may be a point when these two factors, the GOP support he enjoys over McGirt, and the GOP opposition he experiences over violating state law pertaining to tribal gaming compacts, creates such a dust storm the GOP may ask for new leadership.

The conflict with Drummond is probably Stitt’s most immediate concern. Drummond has said that Stitt has hired private law firms to battle four federal lawsuits filed by four state tribes, the Comanche Nation, the Oto-Missouri, the Kialegee Tribal Town, and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee. And has racked up $600,000 in legal fees.

Drummond filed court papers on Tuesday to prevent Stitt from representing the state in a lawsuit over gaming compacts

Drummond said in his filing, that he must step in because the governor’s compacts clearly violate state law: “I see no other option, because the governor has inexplicably abrogated his constitutional in this case.”

Treat has stated Stitt’s behavior may prompt Lawmakers to pass legislation that takes away the governor’s control to negotiate tribal contracts.

There are more than 130 casinos in Oklahoma, it is a multi-billion dollar industry. Stitt fears the state is not getting their fair share of any revenue generated by those casinos, but tribal fees paid to the state in 2022 were almost $200 million, the lion’s share earmarked for public school funding.

In defense of Stitt, his spokesperson, Abegail Cave said: “Governor Stitt is actively fighting for eastern Oklahoma as these tribes continue their efforts to turn Tulsa and much of the rest of eastern Oklahoma into a reservation.”

Drummond had characterized Stitt’s behavior as irresponsible. He told Stitt: “The citizens you were elected to serve are the ones who suffer from this irresponsible approach. Instead of working in partnership with tribal leaders to enact compacts that benefit all four million Oklahomans, you insist on costly legal battles that only benefit the elite law firms you hire. Millions of dollars of state resources have been squandered on these futile efforts.”

(Contact James Giago Davies at skindisel@msn.com)

 

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