VIDEO ON LINK BELOW
Oklahoma tribes join oil and gas industry in support of Gov. Mary Fallin for interior secretary
Officials say it would be good for state if she becomes interior secretary
Posted: Friday, December 2, 2016
Gov. Mary Fallin and the state’s tribal governments have not always seen eye-to-eye, but that apparently is not preventing at least some of the tribes from giving Fallin their unreserved support for secretary of the interior in President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration.
“Anytime we can get anybody in as secretary of the interior who we have a history of working with and who will help advance the priorities of Indian country, I’m in,” said Cherokee Chief Bill John Baker, a lifelong Democrat whose mother was a Hillary Clinton delegate at last summer’s Democratic National Convention.
Chickasaw Gov. Bill Anoatubby also backs Fallin’s candidacy, giving her the firm backing of two major economic forces — Indians and oilmen — with a strong interest in who runs the Department of the Interior.
Fallin’s connections to the oil and gas industry are obvious and well-known. Over the course of her 20 years as lieutenant governor, congresswoman and governor, oil and gas interests have contributed at least $1.3 million to her campaigns — around 10 percent of the total.
During Fallin’s two terms in Congress, Chesapeake Energy, Devon Energy and Anadarko Petroleum, and individuals connected to them, were her three largest campaign donors.
Perhaps more important have been her relationships with prominent oil and gas executives, including Continental Resources’ Harold Hamm, who is reported to be one of Trump’s closest energy advisors.
But Fallin has also received $85,000 from Indian tribes, most notably the Cherokees and Chickasaws, and as governor navigated several tribal relations minefields, including negotiation of dozens of compacts and the resolution of a lawsuit with the Chickasaws and Choctaws over water rights in southeastern Oklahoma.
Those negotiations, while sometimes difficult, forged relationships Anoatubby and Baker say would be useful in a Trump administration. “We have had a great working relationship with Gov. Fallin,” Anoatubby said in an email. “Gov. Fallin’s appointment would be a plus for Oklahoma and Indian tribes. “We believe she has a unique and broad understanding of the United States Department of Interior, and her knowledge of Tribal government is important to us. Considering all the candidates that have been nominated, Gov. Fallin is our choice for the job.”
Fourth District Rep. Tom Cole, a Chickasaw citizen and a Republican advocate for Indian affairs, said talk of Fallin’s appointment as interior secretary “is not just smoke and mirrors.”
“Oklahoma probably has the largest and most complex Indian issues of any state,” Cole said Thursday. “Most of the tribes were moved there, so there’s a lot of diversity. We have Modocs from California and Delawares from Pennsylvania.”
Cole said the combination of Fallin’s understanding of American Indian issues and the oil and gas industry are important assets. He noted, too, that she served on the House Natural Resources Committee during her time in Congress.
Cole said the weakest point in Fallin’s resume is that she hasn’t dealt much with the Bureau of Land Management, which controls large amounts of land in the West. “Her background is good,” Cole said. “She’s been supportive of (Trump). There are a variety of potential fits. Interior is the most intriguing, but it’s not the only one.”
Trump’s history with Indian tribes is undoubtedly a cause for some concern on their part. In the 1990s he fought the expansion of Indian casinos competing with his own interests in the East.
Trump told a House committee that the Mashantucket Pequots, who operated a casino in Connecticut, do not look like “real Indians” and that organized crime was “rampant” on reservations.
Recently, it was learned that during this same time frame Trump secretly paid for anti-Indian casino television ads in upstate New York that suggested the Mohawks were involved in drug trafficking and racketeering.
More recently, he has referred to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, an Oklahoma native, as “Pocahontas” because she claimed Cherokee ancestry that cannot be confirmed.
How much of all that is simply rhetoric is yet to be determined. But, more so than usual, the tribes would welcome a familiar face in the new administration.
“We sent out a support letter,” Baker said. “(Fallin) understands sovereignty; she understands oil and gas; she understands all of the issues under the Department of Interior. And we hope she has some impact on who is chosen for some of the other positions in the department.
“She’s somebody who has a history of working with us.”
No comments:
Post a Comment