Let the Games Begin...

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last March, in City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York, to quash tribal attempts at reclaiming Indian sovereignty over former reservation land continues to play havoc with tribal economics. Consider the plight of the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York.

On Oct. 10, the nation closed the second of its two Class II video gaming parlors after local officials, citing Sherrill, threatened to forcibly shut the operation down - invoking memories of the Rhode Island State Police's unnecessarily brutal raid on a Narragansett smoke shop in July 2003.

Citing Sherrill, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals overturned land claim victories to which the Cayugas were a party, while a federal district court recently lifted an injunction barring Union Springs from taking action against the nation.

According to a report in Syracuse's Post-Standard, attorneys representing tribal leaders who favor gaming are considering federal litigation to challenge the county law. The Cayugas have applied to the BIA to take their lands in Seneca and Cayuga counties into federal trust, a course of action recommended to the Oneida Nation by the Supreme Court in Sherrill. There has been no indication of how long the process might take.

Both gaming operations were located within the boundaries of what was once the 64,000-acre Cayuga reservation. The tribal government acquired a vacant NAPA auto parts store in Union Springs in May 2003 and received a license from the National Indian Gaming Commission to conduct Class II gaming there in December 2003. The Seneca Falls operation opened its doors soon after.

Clint Halftown, the Cayuga Nation's federally recognized representative, has called for an internal dialogue among nation leaders, according to the Post-Standard. Conflict over involvement in gaming has split the tribal government into factions with competing leaders. The traditionally minded Cayuga government had for years disapproved of gaming; however, in October 2003, the tribe reversed its stance and opted to pursue one of the three legislatively authorized Class III casinos in the Catskills while opening their two Class II operations.

As part of a flurry of four similar deals with tribes located both within and outside New York, Halftown and Gov. George Pataki signed a state-tribal compact for one of the Catskill casinos in November 2004. Shortly thereafter Halftown pulled out of the deal, protesting compacts signed with non-New York tribes. After Sherrill, Pataki unilaterally voided all five compacts in April, saying that Sherrill forced a re-evaluation of the agreements.

Thanks to Sherrill, the Cayuga Nation has lost an important source of governmental revenue.

The Cayugas opened two small gaming facilities and two convenience store/gas station operations, creating jobs and generating wages spent largely in the local communities. They do not collect state sales taxes because their federally recognized government-to-government relationship with the United States, enumerated in the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution and confirmed by treaty, dictates that they are not agents of the state.

During the Class III compact negotiations, they agreed to share slot machine revenue with the state and local governments. They also agreed to the idea of tax parity, under which they would raise prices on retail gasoline and tobacco, both of which are heavily taxed by Albany, to levels similar to those charged by local non-Indian retailers. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act mandates no such concessions.

Meanwhile, a few miles east on Route 20, just outside of Auburn, local and state officials have granted tax-free status to a hotel/restaurant operation directly across the road from Fingerlakes Mall and its hugely successful Bass Pro Shops outdoor retail store.

This tax-free status comes under New York's Empire Zones, an often-criticized program that doles out sales tax exemptions, 10-year real property tax abatements, up to 15 years of investment tax credits, and research and development tax credits. Also available are low-interest loans and grants, interest rate subsidies and utility discounts of 10 - 25 percent. In return, ''qualified'' businesses often only need to create a single job to retain their EZ status.

Why does a hospitality operation located across the street from a successful tourist draw need tax breaks? Indeed, why can't the developer of this not-yet-built hotel compete on equal terms with other local hoteliers and restaurateurs who might operate in less-desirable locations?

Why don't members of the so-called Upstate Citizens for Equality, who are vehement in their disdain for Indian business operations, complain about the travesty of free EZ handouts that do nothing but erode local tax bases and stifle competition based on a level playing field? Isn't this exactly the type of inequality with which they should be concerned?

Why don't local governments in Seneca and Cayuga counties realize they can combine the tourist draws of Bass Pro Shops, the Finger Lakes wineries and nearby Indian gaming operations (which have a proven track record of enhancing local economic development) for the mutual benefit of their constituents and the Cayugas?

In its Oct. 16 edition, the Post-Standard quoted UCE officer David Vickers on the land-into-trust issue. Vickers claimed that by asking BIA to take their land into trust, the Oneidas are trying to ''sucker punch'' local officials. This appears to be a deliberate distortion of the truth by someone who either hasn't read the Sherrill decision or else has chosen to misrepresent it for his own purposes.

Outside of New York state, the holding of Indian land in trust by the federal government is the rule rather than the exception. The Oneida and Cayuga nations are merely following a directive from the Supreme Court to apply for trust status. BIA has said that it will not take any land into trust over which taxes are outstanding.

Yet according to the Oct. 17 edition of the Finger Lakes Times, ''a task force of community leaders'' will fight ''an unregulated tax-free 'Indian Country''' that federal trust status, if granted, will create. Not only is this a sucker punch, it is also shoddy journalism.

Indian country is neither ''unregulated'' nor ''tax-free'' - the regulatory and taxation authority lies with tribal governments that predate any governmental authorities and with which Washington has treaty-based relationships.

Most importantly, nowhere in the FLT article is the Supreme Court's land trust recommendation mentioned, nor are any Indian leaders quoted. The only people quoted are the same ''community leaders'' who seek to subjugate Indian sovereignty and economic development. This biased article presents only one side of the issue and leads the reader to believe that the Indian nations involved are doing something illegal, which they are not.

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