In Oklahoma, Republican leaders said Governor Kevin Stitt’s hostile stance toward the state’s tribes, including his veto of some compact extensions, are damaging the state’s delicate relationship with tribal leaders.
Stitt’s relationships with many tribal leaders have deteriorated since his first term, when he unsuccessfully attempted to renegotiate tribal compacts to increase the state’s share of casino revenue. Last year, several of the state’s most powerful tribes tried to use their political influence to stop Stitt from winning a second term.
In response, Stitt, a Cherokee Nation citizen, has vetoed every tribal-endorsed legislative measure−even a bill allowing Native American students to wear tribal regalia at graduation ceremonies.
Stitt said he just wants to negotiate the best deal for the state’s 4 million-plus residents. He said if the compacts are not renegotiated, tribes could have an unfair competitive advantage against non-tribal retailers, under the U.S Supreme Court’s McGirt decision on tribal sovereignty. That ruling declared a large area of eastern Oklahoma as a Native American reservation.
Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat said he’ll give Stitt one more year to negotiate with the tribes “in good faith” but the legislature is ready to take over the right to negotiate compacts from the governor if necessary.
Treat told the Associated Press that Stitt’s 2021 decision to not renew tribal compacts over hunting and fishing licenses was a “stupid decision.” At the time, Stitt’s office said the compacts were unfair because tribal citizens could purchase licenses for less from tribes, which don’t have to remit funds to the state. As a result, the number of licensed hunters and anglers in Oklahoma has dropped, costing the state $35 million in wildlife conservation funds.
Besides legislators, Oklahoma’s new Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond has criticized Stitt’s attitude toward the tribes. He told the AP, “Oklahoma’s relationship with our tribal nations has suffered greatly as a result of the governor’s divisive rhetoric and ceaseless legal attacks.”
Drummond said he recently notified Stitt that Treat and House Speaker Charles McCall asked him to represent the state in a legal dispute over tribal gaming compacts the governor signed in 2020.
In a letter to Stitt, Drummond wrote, “As you should fully understand, this long running and costly litigation is a direct result of your refusal to follow Oklahoma law. The four tribal gaming compacts you signed were invalid from the start because you did not have the approval or authorization from the Oklahoma legislature to enter the gaming compacts.”
The Cherokee, Chickasaw, Citizen Potawatomi and Choctaw nations filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Washington over the governor’s gambling compacts with four other tribes: the Comanche Nation, the Otoe-Missouria, the Kialegee Tribal Town and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. Private law firms hired by Stitt to defend the compacts have already cost the state nearly $600,000 in legal fees, Drummond said.
Stitt entered into those agreements after he tried unsuccessfully in 2019 to renegotiate gaming compacts with every Oklahoma tribe to gain a larger share of state revenue. The Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole nations−the state’s most powerful tribes−issued a joint resolution accusing the governor of not negotiating in good faith and threatening “to undo decades of work and damage tribal-state cooperation for generations to come.” Stitt denies the accusation.
Oklahoma and tribal nations have negotiated compacts for decades, allocating revenue from gambling, vehicle tags and f tobacco ad motor fuel sales on tribal land, providing significant revenue streams for the state and tribes. More than 130 casinos operate in the state, ranging from gas station annexes to luxury resort-style hotel casinos. In 2022, tribal casinos alone paid nearly $200 million to the state, mostly directed to public schools, under compacts granting tribes exclusive rights to offer casino gambling.
