'He does not believe that we have sovereignty': Cherokee, Choctaw chiefs react to tribal compact veto overrides, fault governor's posture
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — The leaders of the Cherokee and Choctaw Nations are applauding Monday's overrides of Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt's vetoes of tribal compact extensions.
The tribal leaders are calling for good-faith negotiations from the governor on the compacts in the future, and say the tribes have previously been able to reach terms that benefit both themselves and the state as a whole.
According to Chuck Hoskin, Jr., principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, "Governor Stitt, philosophically, doesn't think there's a place for tribes in the 21st century. Plain and simple."
In Hoskin's view, Monday's votes showed that the state legislature understands the tenants of tribal sovereignty — but that the governor is an outlier in that regard.
"I'll give him this. He, he has principles. Those principles include that tribal governments should not exist, and he's very plain about it. And he's very purposeful about it. And I think that explains his stance on a lot of tribal issues," Hoskin argued.
The disagreement over tribal compacts comes as Gov. Stitt highlighted his objections to a recent court ruling concerning the jurisdiction of City of Tulsa to prosecute a Choctaw man for a speeding ticket in a video released on Jul. 17.
According to Hoskin, "When the governor comes out with a, a video as he did last week attacking tribal sovereignty, I mean that's bigger than the precise issue he was attacking. It's really about attacking tribes."
That video concerned a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that ruled the City of Tulsa didn't have the jurisdiction to prosecute an Choctaw man for a speeding ticket incident that happened in city limits that also fell within designated Indian Country.
This follows past laws and treaties— as well as the landmark McGirt decision.
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Chief Gary Batton argued that, "He does not believe that we have sovereignty... Whenever I have talked with him he wants to go back to 1907, which is statehood... But he will not be willing to go back to 1832 when we signed the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek between us and the federal government saying that we were a sovereign nation."
He shared that some disagreements between tribal leaders and the governor's office are bound to crop up— but that the current state of affairs is beyond his expectations.
"No, I would have never ever thought in my mind that there was a state that has 39 federally-recognized tribes that we would be battling with our governor," he noted.
The governor, himself a Cherokee citizen, released a statement himself in reaction to the overrides, which reads as follows:
Despite real concerns for the future of our state, the Senate has chosen to disregard the Governor's compact in favor of compact language the tribes wanted. I am trying to protect eastern Oklahoma from turning into a reservation, and I've been working to ensure these compacts are the best deal for all four million Oklahomans. Unfortunately, the Senate seems to disagree and used an illegitimate process to do so.
Both Chiefs Hoskin and Batton expressed hope that state-tribal relations improve in the future.
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