In Oklahoma, documents obtained by KOSU indicate Governor Kevin Stitt recently retained outside legal counsel to represent him regarding gaming compacts he negotiated with the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, Comanche Nation, United Keetoowah Band of the Cherokees and Kialegee Tribal Town.
Citing Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, the attorneys requested that U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Timothy J. Kelly dismiss a 2020 lawsuit by Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Cherokee Nation, Choctaw Nation and Chickasaw Nation, tribes that want to stop Stitt’s compacts with the four other tribes.
In April 2020, the day he signed the compacts with two of the four tribes, Stitt said, “Moving forward, the state will continue to negotiate with individual tribes, leaving behind the one-size-fits-all approach to the model gaming compacts.” The Model Gaming Compact, signed in 2004, was set to renew on January 1, 2020. Tribes said it would automatically renew but Stitt disagreed.
In July 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy De Guisti ruled the compact did indeed renew on January 1, 2020. Stitt had wanted to renegotiate the compact, which applies to most of the state’s 35 tribes, to give the state more gaming revenue. These compacts require tribes to pay the state 12 percent of casino gaming revenue, which is then dedicated to education.
Stitt’s actions immediately caused controversy. Then-Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Interior stating Stitt did not have the authority to enter into the compacts with the four tribes. Oklahoma Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat and Speaker of the House Charles McCall sued Stitt in 2020 regarding his signing of the compacts without the legislature’s approval. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ultimately ruled the compacts the Governor signed weren’t valid. Stitt later asked the high court to rehear the case but the justices declined.
The situation simmered until Stitt retained the law firms Sullivan and Cromwell and Troutman, Pepper, Hamilton and Sanders, both in Washington D.C. KOSU asked state legislators about Stitt’s hiring outside counsel to reinstate the compacts; none seemed to know anything about Stitt’s action. House Speaker Charles McCall said, “The governor did not inform this office of the decision or reasoning behind it.” A spokesman for Pro Tempore Greg Treat said, “The governor has not made the Pro Tem’s office aware.”
Stitt Communications Officer Carly Atchison said, “As you know, this lawsuit was filed in August 2020 by the Cherokee Nation, the Chickasaw Nation, the Choctaw Nation and the Citizen Potawatomi Nation against the federal government, the governor in his official capacity and four tribes, the Comanche Nation, the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma and the Kialegee Tribal Town, and the plaintiffs have repeatedly amended their original complaint, further protracting litigation. The governor did not initiate this litigation.”
Tribes that sued the governor also were not aware that he hired outside attorneys to have their lawsuit dismissed. Sara Hill, Cherokee Nation attorney general, said, “This is another example of the governor spending taxpayer dollars unnecessarily. The Oklahoma Supreme Court made it clear that the compacts he’s defending were void a long time ago. I cannot understand why more taxpayer dollars should be used to prop up the actions of the governor when he won’t even accept the judgment of the state’s own courts.”
Observers said Stitt may not have had the authority to hire outside counsel under a law he signed in 2021. The law set up a revolving fund for litigation between the state and the tribes, however, any expenditures must be approved by a joint committee of the governor, House speaker and Senate president pro tempore. Attorneys interviewed by KOSU said the cost for outside counsel could be $800 to $1,200 an hour.
