Abramoff Scandal Highlights Tribal Vulnerability
The Jack Abramoff scandal in Washington, D.C. is just the tip of a very large iceberg. The lobbyist who stole millions from six Indian tribes by skimming funds from public relations services as kickbacks for himself and former partner Michael Scanlon has essentially been given a slap on the wrist in exchange for ratting on a client list that profited from his influence-peddling schemes. Between 2001 and 2004, he and Scanlon reportedly took more than $82 million of which Abramoff will be required to pay $26 million in restitution and $1.7 million in back taxes.
Already the condemnation is casting a wide circle, making a lot of high profile lawmakers very nervous about being connected in some way with the once popular Abramoff — possibly including already disgraced former House Majority leader Tom De Lay (R-Texas), for whom he once worked as press secretary, and maybe others in the Bush administration. Who knows? In Washington it’s not about who’s connected to whom, but how far you can distance yourself when cornered like a fox in the hen house.
The Indian tribes caught up in this mess are rightfully being cast as unwitting victims in a scam concocted by a racist and unscrupulous crook — who in e-mails called them “monkeys” and “idiots,” according to published reports. But, more than ever they must be more vigilant to such scam artists. There are thieves under every rock who’d love to get their hands on some of that Indian gaming cash.
All that is bad enough, but the scandal also brings up some issues that have been simmering for a long time.
This is an increasingly complicated era in which Indian tribes can no longer expect special treatment from the government or commerce. When Indian gaming became part of the landscape it was hoped that its special status would enable tribes to help create a better life for their members, one free of stereotypical alcoholic, unemployment and poverty stricken obstacles to their advancement and cultural integrity. But Indian gaming itself is not special. It’s still gambling, which is rooted in the ideal of something for nothing. As the old proverb goes: Gambling is the son of avarice and the father of despair.
I’m actually not against gambling and I certainly am in favor of using whatever means are necessary to improve life on the rez. But gaming is an industry that always favors the house, no matter who’s dealing the cards. And, if you’re into the notion of conspiracies, allowing the development of Indian gaming in the first place may have been a quietly deliberate way of further eroding tribal sovereignty, the grand prize jackpot of the government’s plan to finally rid itself of the Indian problem altogether. It already is trying to figure out a way to sweep under the rug millions ripped off in allotment payments, so if sovereignty is eventually traded in for private enterprise on reservations, the whole special trust status might disappear faster than Custer’s hopes for victory.
Sovereignty is the number one issue confronting tribes right now. All else pales in comparison. The environment, crime, health care, poverty, all of it. If tribes cannot do everything in their power to maintain tribal sovereignty, everything, all their land, resources and dignity will be open to exploitation and destruction. Indians, as a people, will cease to exist.
The late New Mexico Indian leaders, Pojoaque Pueblo Gov. Jacob Villareal and Mescalero Apache Tribal Chairman Wendell Chino, worked hard against the state grabbing what it thought was a piece of the gaming pie, thereby exerting their tribe’s sovereign rights to conduct business separate from state or federal interference. It was a laudable precedence, but few tribes in New Mexico were willing to back this notion, even though privately they supported it.
In order to solidify this stance, all tribes, even those in New Mexico, need to develop unassailable democratic governments with elected officials and legislative bodies. They need to educate tribal members in business and sound management policies. They need to fight fire with fire. Abramoff may have gotten away with a lot of gaming cash, but I hope the lesson won’t be lost in the resulting blame game.
Already the condemnation is casting a wide circle, making a lot of high profile lawmakers very nervous about being connected in some way with the once popular Abramoff — possibly including already disgraced former House Majority leader Tom De Lay (R-Texas), for whom he once worked as press secretary, and maybe others in the Bush administration. Who knows? In Washington it’s not about who’s connected to whom, but how far you can distance yourself when cornered like a fox in the hen house.
The Indian tribes caught up in this mess are rightfully being cast as unwitting victims in a scam concocted by a racist and unscrupulous crook — who in e-mails called them “monkeys” and “idiots,” according to published reports. But, more than ever they must be more vigilant to such scam artists. There are thieves under every rock who’d love to get their hands on some of that Indian gaming cash.
All that is bad enough, but the scandal also brings up some issues that have been simmering for a long time.
This is an increasingly complicated era in which Indian tribes can no longer expect special treatment from the government or commerce. When Indian gaming became part of the landscape it was hoped that its special status would enable tribes to help create a better life for their members, one free of stereotypical alcoholic, unemployment and poverty stricken obstacles to their advancement and cultural integrity. But Indian gaming itself is not special. It’s still gambling, which is rooted in the ideal of something for nothing. As the old proverb goes: Gambling is the son of avarice and the father of despair.
I’m actually not against gambling and I certainly am in favor of using whatever means are necessary to improve life on the rez. But gaming is an industry that always favors the house, no matter who’s dealing the cards. And, if you’re into the notion of conspiracies, allowing the development of Indian gaming in the first place may have been a quietly deliberate way of further eroding tribal sovereignty, the grand prize jackpot of the government’s plan to finally rid itself of the Indian problem altogether. It already is trying to figure out a way to sweep under the rug millions ripped off in allotment payments, so if sovereignty is eventually traded in for private enterprise on reservations, the whole special trust status might disappear faster than Custer’s hopes for victory.
Sovereignty is the number one issue confronting tribes right now. All else pales in comparison. The environment, crime, health care, poverty, all of it. If tribes cannot do everything in their power to maintain tribal sovereignty, everything, all their land, resources and dignity will be open to exploitation and destruction. Indians, as a people, will cease to exist.
The late New Mexico Indian leaders, Pojoaque Pueblo Gov. Jacob Villareal and Mescalero Apache Tribal Chairman Wendell Chino, worked hard against the state grabbing what it thought was a piece of the gaming pie, thereby exerting their tribe’s sovereign rights to conduct business separate from state or federal interference. It was a laudable precedence, but few tribes in New Mexico were willing to back this notion, even though privately they supported it.
In order to solidify this stance, all tribes, even those in New Mexico, need to develop unassailable democratic governments with elected officials and legislative bodies. They need to educate tribal members in business and sound management policies. They need to fight fire with fire. Abramoff may have gotten away with a lot of gaming cash, but I hope the lesson won’t be lost in the resulting blame game.
posted by coyoteboy at 11:24 AM
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