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Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 14:33:51 -0400
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From: Native Americas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Indian Power and Party Politics
The following is an excerpt from an article that was published in the Fall
1998
issue of Native Americas, published by the Akwe:kon Press at Cornell
University.
An award-winning hemispheric journal, Native Americas� provides indigenous
peoples with a critical examination of issues and events that affect Native
communities. For more information on how to stay informed of emerging trends
that impact Native peoples throughout the hemisphere visit our website at
<http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu>http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu.
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Fielding a New Clout: Indian Power and Party Politics
By Karen Lincoln Michel
Generations before America's Founding Fathers were born, American Indians
lived by democratic principles. The U.S. Constitution itself has roots in
traditional laws of the Iroquois Confederacy, which gave its six member
nations-Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora-equal
representation in the political process. While 18th-century Europe practiced
authoritarian rule, Iroquoian governance was built on values of freedom,
respect, tolerance, consensus and brotherhood.
Through centuries of forced assimilation into mainstream society, American
Indians, for a variety of reasons, shied away from participating in local,
state and national politics. But some American Indian politicos say tribes are
undergoing a "political renaissance," fueled, in part, by gaming profits that
have allowed tribes, many for the first time, to contribute financially to
political campaigns and parties. Tribes are becoming influential in party
politics, not only as financial donors, but as real players in the process.
"If you're measuring success in terms of how much legislation American Indians
have managed to get passed in their favor, then I would say they are quite
successful," said Jennifer Schecter of
the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington, D.C.-based independent
research company that tracks campaign contributions. Tribes in the past year
rallied congressional support to defeat a proposal within the balanced budget
initiative aimed at taxing revenues of Indian governments. Also, political
pressure forced Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., and chairman of the Senate
Interior
Appropriations Subcommittee, to withdraw two riders to the 1998 Interior
appropriations bill targeted at Indian tribes. One of the riders would have
required tribal governments to waive sovereign immunity against law suits in
exchange for federal funds, and would have required legal actions against
tribal governments to be heard in federal courts rather than tribal courts.
"We're seeing a steady increase in lobbying and an increase in overall
involvement," Schecter said. "Tribes are fostering allies on Capitol Hill, and
they are mobilizing because they want to protect their bottom line."
Statistics gathered by the center show Indian tribes with gaming enterprises
contributed more than $1.9 million to political campaigns and parties in the
1995-96 election cycle. Of that total, 85 percent benefited Democrats. The
1995-96 total was more than 2.5 times greater than that during the 1993-94
election cycle, when gaming tribes anted up $585,400 in hard and soft money
contributions and Political Action Committee donations. Nearly 79 percent of
the total combined contributions went to Democrats.
"We're experiencing an American Indian political renaissance," said Gwen Carr,
American Indian political director for the Democratic National Committee in
Washington, D.C. Engaging in the political process is nothing new to Native
Americans, says Carr, herself a Cayuga from New York state. "American Indians
have plugged back in after being out of touch for a while. Indian tribes have
been political creatures and entities for a long time. It's just that there
are
some new tricks, new tools, and new ways of doing things through the American
political system."
Carr stated that American Indians represent significant swing votes in
Arizona, California, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and North
Carolina-states with concentrated Indian populations. She said American
Indians
made all the difference in the 1996 presidential election for the Clinton-Gore
ticket in Arizona when the incumbents narrowly defeated Republican candidates
Bob Dole and Jack Kemp by two percent, or by 31,215 votes of the 1.38 million
ballots cast. Although voting records do not distinguish race or ethnicity, a
tally of precincts within the Navajo Reservation, the largest of Arizona's 20
Indian tribes, showed Clinton won 51 percent of the 24,907 votes cast for
president compared to Dole's 37 percent. Carr added that 56,946 American
Indians in Arizona are registered Democrats.
"It's obvious that we have had a little bit of practice in knowing how to get
the job done," said Carr. "You can try to take away our language, cut our
hair,
and remove us from our land, but don't try to disengage us from the system."
--cont'd--
Native Americas Journal
Akwe:kon Press
Cornell University
300 Caldwell Hall
Ithaca, New York 14853
Tel. (607) 255-4308
Fax. (607) 255-0185
E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment
...http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
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