One of several feuding factions in the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians locked up all seven seats in an election held over the weekend.
Having a unified tribal council could lead to the reopening of a casino closed for more than a year—although many problems remain.
The candidates representing the Morris Reid won the election. Four of the seven had won their seats in 2011, but declined to take those seats after one of their number was not allowed to take his seat. This incident led to creation of the Reid faction, one of several groups that have vied for control of the tribe, and its casino, the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino in Coarsegold.
The elected members will join the “interim tribal council” that the federal government appointed several to distribute federal funds and to work on reopening the casino.
Stability in the tribal government is vital to reopening the casino, according to the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC), which has sent the tribe several communications that stress that point.
Yet stability is not guaranteed by the results of the weekend’s election: Reggie Lewis, chairman of the interim council, has decided to protest the results of the election. He claims that the election isn’t valid because the council allowed tribal members who were disenrolled between 2010-2012 to participate.
Lewis and two other members of the council opposed that decision, which affected about 150 members. Lewis withdrew his name from the election, and asked fellow members not to vote for him.
Because of that disagreement, a large fraction of candidates withdrew their names from the election. Others said they wouldn’t recognize the results of the election and still others said they planned to hold their own election in December.
That group consists of about 50 members who call themselves the “distributes.” They claim to be the only true descendants of the Chukchansi, and have established their own council, with its own chairman, Luke Davis.
Monica Davis, who is the leader of the faction formerly headed by Tex McDonald (who led the armed incursion in October 2015) told the Fresno Bee: “I want the casino to open, too, but even if we open up the casino, the problems aren’t going to go away.” Davis complained that her group wasn’t notified that the election had been scheduled so they could declare their candidacy. Her group does not recognize the election’s validity.
The issue of disenrollment has been the main issue separating the various factions.
The federal and state governments ordered the casino shut down October 10, 2014, the day after members of the one of the factions led an armed incursion into the casino with the purpose of seizing financial records that they claimed were needed to keep the casino open. They were reacting to a notice from the NIGC that threatened to close the casino if the audit documents were not forthcoming. Sheriff’s deputies were summoned, and within a few days all of the members of the armed group were arrested and charged.
The tribe did address one federal concern last week when it named two new gaming commissioners several weeks after its entire commission resigned, citing interference by the tribe.
This prompted the commission to rebuke the tribe: “The tribal council’s willingness to violate its own tribal gaming laws, particularly while negotiating the settlement of existing gaming commission enforcement actions, is alarming,” said the letter. “These concerns have a direct impact on the Division of Compliance’s recommendation to the chairman on whether a settlement agreement should be entered into with the tribe.”
The tribe chose two highly respected and well-known regulators. The first is Phil Hogen, former chairman of NIGC, who last week was also named as an advisor to the tribe. The second is Joseph Smith, a former director of audits and finance for the NIGC.
