Attorneys for landowners quit
Mar. 22, 2000

By PATRICK GANNON and R. PATRICK CORBETT
Observer-Dispatch

As negotiations resume today in New York City on the Oneida Indian land-claim dispute, two attorneys who represent citizens’ groups have stepped down.

Utica lawyer Leon Koziol is leaving his position as counsel for Upstate Citizens for Equality to take a position with a national group that advocates civil rights for people living on or near Indian reservations, according to a letter from Koziol to Upstate Citizens board members.

Also, Charlie King, a New York City lawyer who provided free legal service to some of the citizens’ groups, accepted a position as the New York and New Jersey representative for U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo, a department spokesman said Tuesday.

After nearly disintegrating nearly two weeks ago, the land-claim talks are back on track to seek an out-of-court settlement to the Oneidas’ claim to more than 250,000 acres of Central New York. The land claim has caused consternation for thousands of landowners who could wind up as defendants in the Oneidas’ lawsuit if it goes back to court.

Upstate Citizens is the largest landowner group opposing the Oneida Indian Nation’s claim. Board member Susan Galbraith confirmed Koziol’s resignation Tuesday, and said the group is searching for a new attorney.

Koziol is on vacation and could not be reached for comment.

In a March 16 letter to the Upstate Citizens board, Koziol said he will be an attorney for an eastern regional chapter of the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance. Organization officials could not be reached Tuesday.

According to the group’s Web site (www.citizensalliance.org), Citizens Equal Rights’ objectives include protecting those who live on or near Indian reservations from discrimination by the United States, state and tribal laws and policies and ensuring the right to own private property on or near reservations.

“My efforts will be focusing upon lobbying efforts in Central New York and Washington, D.C.,” Koziol wrote in the letter. “My continued involvement with land-claim issues will be more limited, however, thereby enabling me to focus more time on my law practice.”

Earlier this month, Koziol threatened to leave the group if he didn’t get paid. Koziol claimed at the time he hadn’t been paid since November.

Galbraith said Upstate Citizens has paid Koziol most of the fees. The remainder would be paid soon, she said.

“We hope he will continue to be active in areas that share the same goals that we have,” she said. “I know we have the same goals.”

Galbraith said she has been in contact with an “upstate” lawyer who has expressed interest in assuming Koziol’s position, but she would not give a name. She said she would set up a meeting soon for other board members to meet the candidate.

Meanwhile, Gary Padula, head of the residents’ group known as the American Citizens Association, said Charlie King’s new position means he cannot remain active on the land claim.

“We’ll miss his help,” Padula said.

He described his organization as a “steering group” that provides resources for other groups involved in land-claim issues.

The city of Sherrill also hired King to represent it in its legal proceedings against the Oneida Indian Nation. The city has served eviction papers on the Nation for failing to pay local taxes on its textile plant in Sherrill.

King’s law firm will continue to represent Sherrill, City Manager David Barker said Tuesday.

King could not be reached for comment.