So now that the federal courts have pretty much said Indian nations in New York cannot claim land they own as sovereign, here comes a congressman from California who says he will settle the matter once and for all.
Pardon us, U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo, but we don't need your intervention.
Pombo, R-Calif., has made statements recently about New York's land claim cases that can only be described as arrogant and misguided. As the chair of the House Committee on Resources, he oversaw a hearing on land claim issues earlier this year. Apparently after listening to a handful of speakers in a room in Washington, he thinks he has more expertise on the issue than any of us who live here.
”These land claims have gone on too long, clouding property owners' title and leaving Indian tribes without just resolution,“ Pombo said in a press release. ”Some New York officials have failed to address these important issues and, in order to be fair, the committee will intervene and bring a solution to both landowners and tribes.“
It seems Pombo is saying that officials who advocated taking these cases to their conclusion in the courts instead of settling them shirked their responsibilities. He could not be more wrong.
If the land claims involving the Cayuga Nation and Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma had been settled already, Cayuga County could easily have lost 10,000 acres from the tax rolls by now, tribes could have multiple gambling facilities open here and the state would be out hundreds of millions of dollars.
Instead, because of U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Second Circuit Court appeals rulings this year, counties now can demand tribes pay property taxes, an illegal gaming facility in Union Springs is shut down and the state has not handed over a dollar to the tribes.
The majority of people living in this land claim area like the direction this is going, Mr. Pombo.
We'll now make the same points to you that we had made to local leaders who favored settlements. They hurt property owners, and they aren't nearly as ironclad as court rulings.
We urge our local leaders - especially U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, D-New Hartford - to put Pombo in his place and out of our business.
Pombo, R-Calif., has made statements recently about New York's land claim cases that can only be described as arrogant and misguided. As the chair of the House Committee on Resources, he oversaw a hearing on land claim issues earlier this year. Apparently after listening to a handful of speakers in a room in Washington, he thinks he has more expertise on the issue than any of us who live here.
”These land claims have gone on too long, clouding property owners' title and leaving Indian tribes without just resolution,“ Pombo said in a press release. ”Some New York officials have failed to address these important issues and, in order to be fair, the committee will intervene and bring a solution to both landowners and tribes.“
It seems Pombo is saying that officials who advocated taking these cases to their conclusion in the courts instead of settling them shirked their responsibilities. He could not be more wrong.
If the land claims involving the Cayuga Nation and Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma had been settled already, Cayuga County could easily have lost 10,000 acres from the tax rolls by now, tribes could have multiple gambling facilities open here and the state would be out hundreds of millions of dollars.
Instead, because of U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Second Circuit Court appeals rulings this year, counties now can demand tribes pay property taxes, an illegal gaming facility in Union Springs is shut down and the state has not handed over a dollar to the tribes.
The majority of people living in this land claim area like the direction this is going, Mr. Pombo.
We'll now make the same points to you that we had made to local leaders who favored settlements. They hurt property owners, and they aren't nearly as ironclad as court rulings.
We urge our local leaders - especially U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, D-New Hartford - to put Pombo in his place and out of our business.