- Sunday, December 31, 2006

Indian nation plans unknown

By ELIZABETH COOPER

Observer-Dispatch

ecooper@utica.gannett.com

When Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer takes office Monday, it could signal a shift in the way the state of New York handles its relationship with the Oneida Indian Nation.

Although Gov. George Pataki spent 12 years in office, there is still no resolution on numerous issues affecting relations between the Nation, the state and local municipalities.

Spitzer's office did not respond to the Observer-Dispatch's repeated requests for his plans regarding the Nation. He told the Albany Times Union in a Dec. 8 story, "Negotiations have been handled historically with the tribes by the governor's office ... Obviously January 1st it will be squarely in my lap."

As Spitzer prepares to take office, the Nation's land-into-trust application is in the hands of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. After the Supreme Court ruling, the Nation applied to put 17,370 acres of its non-reservation land into federal Indian trust, a move that would effectively circumvent a 2005 Supreme Court decision that held that non-reservation, Nation-owned land was subject to state and local taxes and regulations.

The legality of the Nation's Turning Stone Resort and Casino, however, would remain in limbo, no matter what the Bureau of Indian Affairs decides.

Harris Samuels of the Oneida County Attorney's Office said county officials plan to meet with representatives from Spitzer's office as soon as possible once he takes office to get a better sense of his position.

"We certainly received cooperation from the Attorney General's Office (when Spitzer was state attorney general) in terms of the response to the trust application," he said. "They were working along with us along with the Governor's Office. Overall, regarding his policies, I'm not really able to assess that."

Nation spokesman Mark Emery said the Nation welcomed the advent of a new governor.

"The Oneida people and its 5,000 employees at Turning Stone and the other enterprises look forward to the change of leadership in Albany," he said.