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$5.8 Million In Indian Tribe Casino Money Turbo-Fueling The Harris-Walz Campaign

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This article was contributed by Charlene C. Nijmeh

Mega wealthy Indian Tribes are emerging as some of the largest donors behind Kamala Harris’ campaign for president

The large donor money behind Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, besides the Union’s and Trial Lawyers, are the mega-rich Native American Indian casino Tribes who are currently operating multi-million dollar (even billion-dollar) casino gambling enterprises and pouring big money into the Harris/Walz campaigns, the National Democratic Party, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and giant Super-PAC’s boosting Kamala Harris’ candidacy.

During the 2024 election cycle, committees and SuperPACs supporting Kamala Harris have been given $5.8 million in campaign contributions by a consortium of gaming tribes, but only $21,000 has been given to conservative candidates. Since 2013, the Indian gaming industry has contributed over $58 million to Democratic Party candidates.

If this is shocking, it shouldn’t be, because all of these mega-rich Native Americans are wealthy, prosperous, and healthy due to reforms regarding federal law and the governments historic relationships with indigenous tribes. Although many of these reforms have been passed by Republican presidents, like Nixon, Bush and Reagan, the Democrats are getting almost all the political contributions.

These large gambling enterprises contribute heavily to Democrats and spend millions of dollars on lobbying to ensure that other legitimate Native American Tribes, either seeking federal recognition or who were previously recognized and had that recognition unfairly stripped from them, are denied their rights.  Dozens of wrongly unrecognized Tribes across the United States have been petitioning the federal government to affirm their legal status and their rights to reacquire lands that were taken from them.  The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs has become a highly politicized arm of the federal government, where casino interests dominate.

For example: My tribe, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe in California, is aboriginal to the San Francisco Bay.  My ancestors were subjected to brutal colonization by the Spanish between 1776 and 1836, when our villages were burned and we were enslaved at Missions Delores, Santa Clara, and San Jose, and moved around like cattle in a agrarian forced labor system.  But the greater atrocities happened during the gold rush era, when California’s first governor called for the extermination of the area’s Indigenous peoples and issued taxpayer funded bounties on our heads.  The State paid out so many bounties on Indian scalps that California went deep into debt and needed a federal bailout.

The term ‘Redskin’ comes from that history, when a bloodied Indian scalp, long hair intact, was required to claim a bounty.

The Muwekma Ohlone people, once with a population of more than 30,000, was nearly decimated during the gold rush.  Our aboriginal territory covered much of the San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, Santa Cruz, Solano and San Joaquin counties.  Today, we have only 614 members. The 64 million acres we once inhabited was violently taken from us and never returned.

Our people have been trying to restore our federal status but we have been repeatedly thwarted by neighboring Tribes who have already been recognized and currently hold a monopoly on gambling in California. These competing tribes are making billions of dollar in annual revenue from gaming and they use that money to buy-off politicians, and to deny my Tribe of our inherent right to self-determination – and continuing the historic atrocities of America’s Manifest Destiny.

The Muwekma tribe was originally recognized by the federal government, in 1905, as the Verona Band of Alameda County, but the Indian Agent in charge of the Sacramento Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs unilaterally and illegally removed us from a congressional mandate in 1927.  Congress mandated that land be purchased for us, and had allocated money for that purchase. 

Despite mountains of evidence documenting the tribal community dating back thousands of years, we are still fighting to be federally recognized, with no definitive timeline of when that fight will be over.  For the past century, our Tribe has been locked in an arduous legal process for federal recognition.  It’s a struggle that often falls on deaf ears – due to all the “campaign contributions” the casino Tribes give to politicians to make sure that Muwekma never is able to affirm our federal recognition status.  They fear that we will be able to compete with other Tribes who now control a monopoly on gaming in an incredibly lucrative market: California.

In an effort to raise awareness of our plight, our Tribal leaders along with Tribal members, have traveled across the country from California to Washington D.C., on horseback, during a spiritual freedom ride that we have called the Trail of Truth.  Over the last three months we have gained wonderful allies in Indian County and have raised public awareness of our struggle to new levels. 

When we finally got to Washington and set up an encampment at the Capital, sources say that Nancy Pelosi, who received over $250,000 in campaign contributions from “recognized” Native American Nations, demanded that the National Parks Police (under the purview of Deb Haaland’s Interior Department) attack our tribe. And they did! As you can see from the video below, our tribal leaders and members of other Native American nations were beaten by police and hauled off to jail. Nine members of our delegation were unfairly arrested and only recently released pending trial for trumped-up charges of assault (which never took place).

The data clearly shows that Native American Tribes that already have casinos have overwhelming directed their financial support towards Democratic candidates and organizations, particularly those aligned with Kamala Harris, even though the facts indicate that Republican Presidents are much more productive in delivering meaningful change for our communities.

There is a consensus in Indian Country that President Richard Nixon has been the best President of any President for Indians.

The Nixon administration has been the most pro-Indian administration of the 20th century, having passed historic laws that made groundbreaking contributions to Native American rights and sovereignty. Nixon signed the Indian Healthcare Act, passed the Indian Education Act of 1972, enacted the Menominee Restoration Act, increased the budget of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) by 214%, established the first special office on Indian Water Rights, passed the Indian Financing Act, Passed the Sub-marginal Lands Act, passed the Indian Self-Determination Act and pledged that all available BIA funds be arranged to fit priorities set by tribal governments themselves.

In 1970, President Nixon delivered a special message to Congress, advocating for a policy of self-determination without termination. This policy was aimed at empowering tribes to govern themselves and make decisions about their own futures. President Nixon’s support for self-determination over termination policies was a crucial turning point for Native American sovereignty.

Due to these many policy changes, Nixon is rightly viewed as the most helpful of any President, by most Native American leaders and communities who saw his administration as a genuine partner in advancing our rights and sovereignty.  His efforts laid the foundation for future Republican leaders to engage with Native American communities.  President Reagan and President Bush also made important contributions to Native Americans with support is areas of tribal sovereignty, economic development, and cultural preservation.

Ronald Reagan’s administration continued the policies of self-determination set forth by Nixon.  Reagan emphasized a policy of government-to-government relations between the United States and Native American tribes. His administration supported several pieces of legislation aimed at enhancing tribal sovereignty, including the Indian Tribal Government Tax Status Act of 1982, which recognized the tax-exempt status of tribal governments. President Reagan administration also encouraged economic development on reservations through deregulation and initiatives aimed at fostering tribal businesses. He supported the establishment of tribal casinos as a means for economic self-sufficiency.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, though passed after Reagan left office, was largely shaped by the policies and attitudes toward economic development on reservations that were prominent during his presidency, as was his philosophy of reducing federal control and promoting self-sufficiency aligned with the desires of some tribes to reduce their dependence on federal programs and gain more control over their economic and governmental affairs.

The George H.W. Bush administration saw a continuation of the policies of Nixon and Reagan. President Bush maintained the policies of self-determination and supported tribal governance and autonomy through various measures, such as supporting the tribal self-governance demonstration project that allowed tribes more control over their resources and affairs and the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

Bush’s administration increased efforts to establish a more direct dialogue with tribal nations, encouraging regular consultations and cooperation on issues affecting Native American communities.

Surprisingly contributions to Republicans from casino-rich federally recognized tribes have been paltry.  While the Harris/Walz campaign, Democrat National Committees and SuperPACs supporting that ticket have received more than $5.8 million, Native American tribes gave a dismal $21,000 to Republican candidates.

Many Native Americans are encouraged that President Donald Trump has designated former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma to formulate policies regarding Indian Country.

In an upcoming article I will address the necessary reforms that must be enacted to ensure that all legitimate Native American Indian Tribes are treated fairly and have the same economic opportunities and rights.

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