A federal court has agreed that the sheriff of California’s Madera County can enforce an order of the Bureau of Indian Affairs that creates a new tribal council for the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians.
The new tribal council, which the BIA empowered after three factions of the 900-member tribe that each claimed to be the legal council had reduced the tribal government to chaos, has gotten death threats. One of the three factions has refused to accept the February 11 BIA decision and has, in addition to appeal the decision, although issued death threats.
The leadership battle has been ongoing since December of 2011. One of the factions attempted to remove hundreds of members from the tribal rolls in February of 2013. It then forced six members of the council out of office and replaced them with an entirely new council.
According to the new tribal chairman, Reggie Lewis, “The Tribal Council continues to work with local authorities to assist the Tribe and law enforcement regarding the BIA’s decision. The stipulated court order ensures that the Tribal Council will be able to have the support of local law enforcement when the Tribal Council fulfills its constitutional duties to manage the Casino and Tribal business.”
During the course of the leadership dispute, the managers of the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino diverted $316,000 to one of the factions.
The BIA empowered the last uncontested tribal council that was elected in 2010. The regional director of the BIA, Amy Dutschke in her decision cited, “an attempt to take over the Tribal Office by one of the factions [that] led to violence, resulting in a stabbing of one individual, and requiring the Madera County Sheriff’s Department to intervene. In February 2013 it was reported that a faction occupied the Tribal Office threatening violence with respect to anyone who attempted to remove the faction.”
Later, in asking the Department of the Interior to make her decision immediate, Dutschke warned that without support from the local sheriff that the new tribal council might face the real danger of murder.
The new council sued in federal court naming the current casino management team, which it alleges delivered the $316,000 in cash from the casino’s funds to one of the illegal factions.
In another statement posted on the tribe’s website, Lewis wrote, “It is unfortunate that a small group of individuals continue to defy the will of an overwhelming majority of Tribal members and the recognition of the federal government. There is only one Tribal Council recognized by the United States and stealing money from the Tribe will not be tolerated. Threatening violence for following the BIA’s decision shows that the illegal faction is desperate, but the Tribal Council will follow the legal process as we always have done to ensure the smoothest transition possible.”
