Tribes state a view of their union

WASHINGTON — Fast on the heels of President Bush's State of the Union address, Joe Garcia, the new president of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), unveiled the State of Indian Nations address Thursday in Washington. Why the timing?

So that the issues and agenda of Indian country might get noticed. When Indian country makes the news, it is usually bad. These days, for example, the Mississippi Band of Chocktaw Indians, a former client of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, is bringing renewed scrutiny to laws that allow tribes, as sovereign governments, to donate unlimited amounts of money to political candidates.

In his address, Garcia, governor of the Ohkay Owingeh of New Mexico tribe (formerly known as the San Juan Pueblo), said that the state of Indian nations is "strong." But he added that "four areas of great challenge" persist.

Those include law enforcement and public safety, particularly for border tribes dealing with illegal immigration; health care (American Indians have a life expectancy five years shorter than the rest of the country); education and the economy (only half of Indian students complete high school); and the Indian trust lawsuit — a class-action lawsuit against the federal government for mismanaging Indian lands held in trust that has dragged on for 10 years.

Question: How has the Abramoff scandal affected Indian country — what do you think are the repercussions for tribes and gaming?

Answer: That's a pretty sensitive issue right now. It's like the drunken-sailor scheme — you see one drunken sailor, all sailors are drunkards. Same as in Indian country. The Indian issues are going to be scrutinized. I think that's not right — in every case that I'm aware of, we've followed the law about lobbyists. But the seriousness of it for Indian country is that we will be impacted by it.

Question: These days, most people outside of Indian country think of casinos when they think of tribes and reservations.

Answer: The facts really indicate that a small number of tribes have casinos. What's bad about it is that the press and the people against gaming have created this notion. Gaming is one way to provide the economic security that every other entity or every other organization strives to achieve. I'll probably be attacked for this, but the trust responsibilities that are not being provided for by the federal government — health and education — gaming helps support.