U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas received a letter December 20 from the Federal Election Commission regarding allegedly “excessive donations”
he received after he introduced a bill that would allow the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe to open a casino. Stockman received $10,000 from two separate donors in April and July following introducing the legislation in March. Stockman is challenging U.S. Senator John Cornyn in the Republican Senate primary.
A spokesman for the donors said the money was given to Stockman specifically for his efforts on behalf of the 1,170-member tribe, which is based 17 miles east of Livingston, Texas.
Under Stockman’s legislation, H.R. 1144, if allowed to open a Class II casino on its reservation, the Alabama-Coushattas would give up its claim to $270.6 million which a federal court recommended in 2002 that Congress pay the tribe as compensation for oil and gas production, timber harvesting and trespassing by non-native settlers on ancestral lands.
The tribe never received any of the compensation funds, although the claims court recognized its rights to 5.5 million acres of ancestral land. Congress has not included the claims court’s recommendation for compensation under both the Bush and Obama administrations and Justice Department has opposed it.
The measure also would delete a provision barring the tribe from conducting “gaming activities” that are prohibited by Texas law. The other federally recognized tribes in Texas are the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, which owns the class II gaming facility Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino in Eagle Pass, and the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo of Texas, which, like the Alabama-Coushattas, operated a casino before it was shut down in 2002.
Stockman’s bill has yet to receive a hearing. Last year Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unsuccessfully introduced a measure that would have allowed the Alabama-Coushattas to open a casino and still collect compensation.
Andy Taylor, a lawyer for the Alabama-Coushattas, said, “What the tribe is willing to give away is huge. We’re willing to forgive the past and walk away from our rights in order to have some economic independence in the future.”
