As tension mounts, Oklahoma Senate leader asks AG to intervene in gaming compact lawsuit

The leader of the Oklahoma Senate has formally asked the state’s attorney general to intervene in a federal lawsuit over tribal gaming compacts, castigating Gov. Kevin Stitt’s handling of the case as a personal conflict at the state’s expense.

Attorney General Gentner Drummond had sought approval from legislative leaders in June to take over the state's part in the case so he could end it. Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat gave him a green light in a letter sent Tuesday, saying Stitt is “clearly in no position to represent the state’s interests.”

Treat’s request comes as he squares off with the governor over a separate dispute to determine the future of tobacco compacts with tribal nations. Stitt released a new video Wednesday urging people to back his approach to reworking the deals, instead of Treat’s efforts to extend the agreements as they stand for another year.

The letter and video underscore the mounting tensions between Oklahoma’s top elected officials over the future of tribal government relations. The pressure likely will continue to build ahead of the Senate’s planned vote Monday on the tobacco compact extensions.

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“I can no longer stand by and watch Oklahoma taxpayer dollars be spent on high-dollar east coast law firms in pursuit of Gov. Stitt’s personal agenda at the expense of the state’s interests,” Treat wrote in his letter to Drummond regarding the federal lawsuit.

The long-running case focuses on whether two standalone gaming agreements negotiated by Stitt are valid. The Oklahoma Supreme Court previously has ruled they are not.

But Stitt and the tribes that signed the agreements — the Comanche and Otoe-Missouria nations — have argued they should still take effect, because federal gaming regulators did not expressly throw them out.

The governor is ignoring the state’s highest court and trying to undermine state law, Treat said in his letter.

“All four million Oklahomans should be treated equally under the law,” Treat wrote, repeating a phrase Stitt commonly uses to explain his stance on tribal issues. Treat continued: “Nobody — not even the governor — is above the law.”

In a statement, the governor disputed the assertion that politics have driven his legal defense in the case. “I’m fighting for the four million Oklahomans that I am constitutionally obligated to defend,” Stitt said.

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Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for Drummond, said the attorney general is evaluating his next steps after receiving Treat’s letter. House Speaker Charles McCall previously said he would support Drummond’s intervention in the case.

The divide between the governor and Legislature on issues involving tribal nations has widened in the past year as Stitt continues to speak out against the growing recognition that much of eastern Oklahoma sits within tribal reservations.

He has released two videos this week on the issue. In the latest message released Wednesday, he says he wants to set the record straight regarding his work with tribal nations. He says claims by tribal governments that he has not tried to negotiate with them over tobacco tax compacts are false.

Under the current deals, the state and tribes split the tax money generated from tobacco sales on tribal lands. Stitt wants to update the agreements to make clear they only apply to certain types of tribal land, not entire reservations.

“Not once have I ever walked away from the negotiating table,” he says in the video, “but I will not be bullied into doing a bad deal for Oklahoma taxpayers.”

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As an example of his efforts, he says he wrote to 16 tribal leaders offering to renew the compacts under his desired terms. Only four have responded to the June 29 letters, he says.

Records show three of the letters sent by Stitt were addressed to ex-tribal leaders who no longer held the top elected offices of their tribes. Most of those who remain in office signed on to a joint letter sent July 12 urging lawmakers to act.

In his video, Stitt criticizes the tribal leaders’ letter, as well as a similar resolution passed July 14 by the joint council of the Five Tribes. He specifically mentions the Chickasaw Nation, saying he had been in talks with tribal officials ahead of them signing on to the resolution.Bill Anoatubby, governor of the Chickasaw Nation, did not directly respond to Stitt's comments, but said in a statement that Chickasaw officials work to negotiate in good faith with the state toward the goal of reaching mutually beneficial agreements.

"We applaud the efforts of the Oklahoma Legislature to provide a meaningful opportunity for respectful tribal-state talks to occur," Anoatubby said in a statement. "That legislative work has not been easy."

The Legislature already has approved the extensions, but must pass them again after Stitt vetoed lawmakers’ first try. It is unclear whether that will happen.

The United Indian Nations of Oklahoma, which represents more than half of the 38 federally recognized tribes based in the state, put a call out to its members on Thursday and encouraged them to attend Monday’s Senate vote.

Stitt closes his latest video with his own calls to action, urging people to contact their legislators and visit his new “One Oklahoma” web page. The campaign argues against limiting state law on tribal reservations.

His first video as part of the campaign aired Monday. It has since been edited to remove a 10-second audio clip from a Fox 23 news segment. Managers of the Tulsa news station did not immediately respond to a message left Thursday about the change.

The segment, as well as the overall video, focus on a federal appeals court ruling that blocks the Tulsa municipal court from prosecuting Native Americans. Attorneys for the city had asked to delay the ruling from taking effect until the Supreme Court could consider whether to take up the case. The city’s request was rejected Wednesday.

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Editor's note: This was a developing story and has been updated.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma AG gets approval to try to oust Gov. Stitt from tribal gaming suit