Some California Indian tribes, who are used to support from Governor Jerry Brown on applications by the tribes to put land into trust for casinos, are outraged at letters that the state Attorney General, Kamala Harris has written objecting to several tribes’ applications to put land into trust for non-casino purposes.
Recently some of those tribes complained to the governor, who is technically-speaking the AG’s client, although that official is also elected. Brown and some of his aides said they didn’t know that Harris’s office had sent more than a dozen letters objecting to land into trust applications since Brown took office in 2010.
Two of the tribes that the Attorney General commented on were the Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians and Mechoopda Maidu Indians, although their applications were to put land into trust for a casino. The AG also wrote objecting to efforts by the San Pasqual Band of Diegueño Mission Indians to place land in trust for a fire station.
Will Micklin, executive director of the California Association of Tribal Governments, quoted by Indianz.com, last week said, “Joe Dhillon put it to rest that the governor’s office is now aware of the letters. They monitor them. They have conversations with the AG’s office. And they reserve the right to issue more letters in the future.”
Last June in a letter to Brown the Northern California Tribal Chairman’s Association wrote, “We are shocked and dismayed your administration would take such a hostile position against tribes who seek to become more self-sufficient through the acquisition of an adequate land base.”
Robert Smith, Chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians in San Diego County in a letter to the AG demanded that Harris withdrew the letters and adopt a moratorium on such letters in the future, claiming that they, “attacked the very foundation of the federal statutes authorizing land in trust acquisitions, fostering discord and misunderstanding between tribal nations and the state of California.”
Some critics of the Attorney General accuse that office of misinterpreting the wording of the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934 as limiting the amount of land tribes can put into trust to what the tribe previously lost as a result of the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887.
One such critic, Jacob Coin, executive director of public affairs for the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians, told Indianz.com, “They are saying tribes don’t have the right to govern themselves.”
The AG’s office has declined comments on the controversy.
California accounts for almost one third of the 366 federally recognized tribes in the United States.
