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DECEMBER 20, 2000

The following is text of a letter, dated December 19, 2000, two Republican members of Congress sent to President Clinton.

The Honorable William J. Clinton
The President
The White House
Washington DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

In light of serious questions about the federal recognition process for native American tribes, we are writing to request that in the final weeks of your Administration, you refrain from issuing any executive orders or taking any other steps that would grant federal recognition to any tribes pending consideration at the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). We appreciate your attention to this important matter.

Along with several other members of Congress, we recently directed the General Accounting Office (GAO) to initiate an investigation of the current federal recognition process for Native American tribes. We have enclosed our letter to the GAO for your review.

Also enclosed is a series of articles recently published in the Boston Globe that uncover a host of problems underlying the current recognition process. These reports illustrate the unforseen inequities of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), which has resulted in a tainted recognition process, massive revenue windfalls for the gambling industry and a few well- connected individuals, and worst of all, continuing poverty for most Native Americans. The Globe series reported:

The story of Indian gaming is now one of congressional intentions gone awry. The gaming act has failed to broadly improve the living conditions of most Indians. A Globe analysis revealed that just 2 percent of the country's Native Americans earn 50 percent of the country's $10 billion in Indian gaming revenues, and two-thirds of Indians get nothing at all...The gaming successes of Indian casinos in Connecticut, California, and New York--where combined revenues are already over $4 billion annually--has prompted a dizzying number of groups to step forward as new 'tribes,' including one group that the Bureau of Indian Affairs says has submitted altered documents creating Indian ancestors and two tribes with only one adult member each.

There are also widespread allegations and documentation of the influence of non-Indian organized crime on Indian gambling operations. Finally, the process is so tainted with gambling industry's influence there appears to be a new unhealthy skepticism about the legitimacy and motivations of Native Americans by many non-native Americans.

Contrary to the predictions of many, Indian gambling has not brought self-reliance for most Native Americans tribes. Today, 12 years after the federal government made gambling a staple of its Indian policy, the overall portrait of America's most impoverished group continues to be dominated by disease, unemployment, infant mortality, and school drop-out rates that are among the highest in the nation. Twenty percent of all Indian gambling revenue goes to a few hundred members of two eastern Connecticut tribes. The overall picture is one of untold riches for a few smaller tribes and continued poverty for the vast majority of Indians spread across rural America.

The gambling industry has poured millions of dollars into efforts to obtain recognition for tribes located in potentially lucrative markets. Potential gambling revenues have caused numerous outsiders with no affiliation with the tribes to have a financially lucrative interest in the result. In essence, tribes have become pawns for the powerful gambling interests. In the high-stakes race to close in on lucrative gambling markets, certain tribes already operating casinos will make efforts to de-legitimize other tribes. What was once the territory of academic researchers has become a billion dollar battleground.

According to the Globe's report, "throughout the early 1990s, casino backers arrived dangling checks, offering to hire dream teams of genealogists and anthropologists to speed the recognition process." Researchers at the BIA office report being actually threatened by outside interests. Legitimate tribes not lucky enough to be located in lucrative gambling markets are relegated to second-tier status as they are not privy to these financial resources. The outside pressure on the BIA's recognition process has grown so intense that recently, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin Gover asked Congress to take away his final decision-making authority on recognitions.

The influence of organized crime on Indian gambling is also alarming. Tribal leaders often find themselves forced into affiliations with members of organized crime rings. This stems directly from the lack of federal oversight for Indian gambling operations. For example, in New Jersey, more than 100 regulators of the 800 overall maintain a continuous presence in the state's 12 casinos. Conversely, a few dozen regulators with the federal Indian Gambling Control Board Commission find themselves spread out to oversee over 300 Indian gambling operations. Widespread allegations of corruption, theft, bribery, loan-sharking and other criminal conduct are casting a cloud over tribal gambling activities.

Finally, the current system has engendered a new hostility toward Indian tribes from their neighboring communities. The decision to federally recognize a tribe and the consequent initiation of large scale gambling facilities has had devastating impacts on surrounding communities. Small businesses collapse, families are ruined and the political process almost always loses credibility when gambling is introduced into a community. Over the last 20 years, the relationship between the Mashantuckets and their neighbors in Connecticut grew so hostile that local lawmakers offered to bring in former U.S. Senator George Mitchell to mediate between the groups. Under the current system, local communities are locked out of the process, their voices silenced by the huge sums of money poured into the recognition efforts by the gambling interests. Also, all Indian claims including legitimate ones are now viewed with extreme skepticism by the public. Recognition is perceived as purely an attempt to open lucrative casinos, rather than an attempt to properly acknowledge the existence and history of our Native Americans.

Our current system is unfair to both Native and non-Native Americans. The plight of Native Americans continues to remain dreary as a few have reaped windfalls. Also, as supporters of campaign finance reform, we are confident that you are also recognize how the money pouring into the recognition process has cast a cloud over the political process. Finally, the emerging hostility between tribal entities and local communities will only serve to further undermine the current state of most Native Americans in this country.

In the interest of fairness to all sides, we request that your administration not grant any recognitions as we look at ways to reform the system. We are also sending a request to President-elect George W. Bush asking that the new administration conduct a full-scale reform of the recognition process and the BIA in general.

We thank you for your attention to this matter and for taking the time to review the enclosed materials. Please do not hesitate to have representatives from your administration contact us if you have questions. Best wishes.

Sincerely,

Frank R. Wolf
Member of Congress

Christopher Shays
Member of Congress

Get the Story:
Recognition rumor almost a reality (Tribal Law 12/20)