Officials write letters on land claim
April 7, 2000

Gov. George Pataki, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, and U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-New Hartford, each wrote letters to federal officials in the wake of the April 4 collapse of Oneida Indian Nation land-claim mediation talks. Below, read the entire text of each official's letter:

Pataki letter to President Clinton:

Dear Mr. President:

Since 1970, the Oneida Indian Nation of New York and its successors in interest have filed several land claim actions against the people of the State of New York.

These legal actions seek to eject thousands of private citizens from their homes, take hundreds of millions of dollars from the taxpayers of this State, and gain title to more than 270,000 acres of land in the heart of central New York State.

The basis for these legal actions is a series of land transactions or “treaties” between the Oneida Indian Nation and the State of New York in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. The Oneida Indian Nation entered into each of these treaties with the full knowledge of the United States federal government. Now, some 200 years after the fact, the Oneidas are asking a federal court to overturn these treaties and evict thousands of hard working, law abiding and taxpaying United States citizens from their homes.

Shockingly, and adding greatly to this problem, on December 8, 1998, the federal government intervened in these legal actions as plaintiff, on the side of the Oneida Indians and against the innocent non-Indian citizens of central New York. These Indian land claims are having real and severe impact on the emotional and economic well being of the citizens who live within the areas being claimed. This action by your Department of Justice is, I believe, simply wrong

.As a matter of principle, it is inappropriate that the federal courts are even entertaining claims based upon land transactions which occurred with the full knowledge of the federal government more than 200 years ago. That your Department of Justice is actually a plaintiff in this action is unacceptable.

When I took office in January of 1995, I made the settlement of the Indian land claims a priority for my Administration. Since that time, my office has spent countless hours in negotiations and mediations, working to find a fair and reasonable resolution of these claims. To date, all of these efforts have been foiled by the unfair demands of the Oneida Indian Nation.

Funded by limitless gaming dollars and emboldened by your administration’s unconditional support, the Oneida Indian Nation has thwarted all attempts to reach a reasonable settlement, apparently preferring to maintain the status quo. In this case, the “status quo” consists of the Indian Nation holding the residents of central New York hostage under clouded real estate titles and ts, evades all State and federal environmental and land use regulations, and wages a war of unfair business competition against the law abiding, tax paying business owners in central New York.

After languishing on the federal court’s docket for nearly 30 years, the Federal District Court for the Northern District of New York recognized the need to put an end to the social and economic tolls these claims are exacting upon the citizens of central New York. In 1999, the Court appointed a federal mediator to make a final effort to settle this land claim before it goes to litigation. Despite more than a year of work and frequent and intensive mediation sessions, the federal mediator was forced to declare a final impasse on Tuesday, April 4, 2000.

The mediator was forced to end the mediation because he was unable to get the New York Oneida Indian Nation to: (1) delink unrelated gaming issues from the land claim negotiation; and (2) agree to a reasonable cap on the number of acres that would ultimately constitute the Nation’s reservation in New York.

That the mediator failed to achieve a fair and reasonable resolution of this ancient claim is regrettable. That the New York Oneida Indian Nation failed to negotiate in good faith is wrong. That your administration has undertaken to sue the innocent citizens of upstate New York for the federal government’s misfeasance is simply unconscionable.

The people of central New York have suffered long enough under the threats posed by the Oneida Indian Nation’s land claims. The State of New York has done all that is within its power to achieve a fair and reasonable resolution of this longstanding conflict. Now it is time for your administration to cease and desist from taking further action against the citizens of central New York.

I respectfully call upon you to direct your Department of Justice to withdraw from the Oneida Indian land claims as a plaintiff, and to abandon this unfair attempt to rewrite the long history of the federal government’s mishandling of Indian affairs. If the federal government has failed to live up to its fiduciary duty to protect the interests of the Oneida Indian Nation, then it should acknowledge that failure. It should not, however, seek to settle this historic account at the expense of the innocent non-Indian American citizens who reside in central New York.

The Oneida Indian Nation has been given every opportunity to achieve a fair and reasonable settlement of its land claims. It has turned its back on those opportunities. Now the obligation rests with your Department of Justice to withdraw from this lawsuit. The Oneida Indian Nation should not be rewarded for its unreasonableness, any more than the innocent citizens of central New York should be punished with endless litigation for an alleged wrong in which no one alive today had any role, nor means to avoid.

I respectfully urge you to exercise the leadership and responsibility which your Department of Justice has failed to bring to these proceedings. The federal government must stop its efforts to penalize the people of central New York. The historical sins of the federal government should not now be visited upon its innocent citizens who reside in upstate New York. Mr. President, I urge you to direct your Department of Justice to end this litigation immediately.

Very truly yours,

George E. Pataki

Schumer letter to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno:

Dear Attorney General Reno:

I write to request that the Department of Justice immediately drop all remaining claims against the private landowners in the Oneida Indian Nation land claim lawsuit in New York State

As you know, settlement talks in the Oneida case broke down earlier this week and it now appears that the case will proceed to trial.

While I appreciate the Department’s decision last March to withdraw the ejectment claims that had been originally filed against the landowners, I ask that you now take the final, critical step of removing the landowners from all liability in this suit whatsoever. Innocent landowners should not be held financially or legally responsible in any final judgment.

As I understand it, the parties will be filing status reports with the Court on Monday, April 10, 2000. I urge you to include in the Department’s report, a withdrawal of all claims against the landowners and a clear statement that neither damages nor any other type of relief will be sought against them. There is absolutely no reason to continue to keep these citizens in fear.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. I plan to monitor the proceedings in this case closely and will follow up with you soon.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer

United States Senator

Boehlert letter to Reno:

Dear Attorney General Reno:

I write to request that the Department of Justice immediately drop all remaining claims against the private landowners in the Oneida Indian Nation land claim lawsuit in New York State. As you know, settlement talks in the Oneida case broke down earlier this week and it now appears that the case will proceed to trial.

While I appreciate the Department’s decision last March to withdraw the ejectment claims that had been originally filed against the landowners, I ask that you now take the final, critical step of removing the landowners from all liability in this suit whatsoever. Innocent landowners should not be held financially or legally responsible in any final judgment.

As I understand it, the parties will be filing status reports with the Court on Monday, April 10, 2000. I urge you to include in the Department’s report, a withdrawal of all claims against the landowners and a clear statement that neither damages nor any other type of relief will be sought against them.

There is absolutely no reason to continue to keep the citizens in fear.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. I plan to monitor the proceedings in this case closely and will follow up with you soon.

Sincerely,

Sherwood Boehlert

Member of Congress

Boehlert letter to U.S. District Court Judge Neal McCurn:

Dear Judge McCurn:

As you know, Dean Ron Riccio recently declared an impasse in the negotiations to settle the Oneida Indian Land Claim.

I regret this unfortunate turn of events, and I would urge you to do everything in your power to try once again to put the talks back on track.

I still believe that a settlement is possible and that it is the best way to meet the needs of the citizens and localities in the land claim area. However, if this case does proceed to litigation, it is absolutely imperative that the innocent landowners of the area be protected.

These landowners had no role in the original land transfer and had no reason to believe that anything limited their title to the land.

With that in mind, I urge you to reject, forcefully and immediately, the motion by the Oneidas to bring landowners into the case. This motion has needlessly unsettled the region. Adding the landowners to the suit would be entirely gratuitous.

I appreciate the hard work that you have put into this case, and I hope you will move quickly to reassure the landowners in the area and to push for a settlement that will resolve all matters related to this case once and for all.

Sincerely,

Sherwood Boehlert

Member of Congress