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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Oneida Indian Nation Representative Ray Halbritter signing a historic agreement that will hopefully bring an end to decades of animosity and contentious lawsuits between the two sides.
From Indian Country Today:
In less than a month of intense negotiations, decades of animosity and contentious lawsuits between the Oneida Indian Nation and the state of New York were brought to a close in a historic agreement that, if approved by the state legislature, will resolve all disputes between the two sovereigns over land rights, tax issues, gaming exclusivity and profits.
Ray Halbritter, Oneida Indian Nation Representative, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the monumental agreement that will recognize the Oneida Nation’s reservation, settle all outstanding litigation and resolve all disputes over property and sales taxes, including cigarette and fuel sales, at a press conference in Albany, the state capital, on May 16. The agreement also entails payments of tens of millions of dollars from the Oneida Nation, and concession of a gaming exclusivity zone by the state.
“This is indeed a defining moment in the history of the Oneida Nation and New York state,” Halbritter said. “Together today we begin a partnership in our shared prosperity in our upstate region. It’s not unlike the historical relationship the Oneida Nation had in the historical time of the Revolutionary War, when we were all under the Treaty of Canandaigua. We recognize together with the United States that peace and friendship shall be perpetual between our Nations and we’re here in that spirit today,” he said at the press conference.
“This is a fair and reasonable agreement that will benefit all parties involved and the people of the Oneida Nation, Oneida and Madison [Counties], and all New Yorkers,” Cuomo said. The agreement “ends years of expensive and disruptive court battles for all parties involved and marks a new era of collaboration and commonality between the Oneida Nation and the state of New York,” Cuomo said.
The deal was hammered out in negotiations that began on April 25, when Cuomo personally contacted the Oneida Indian Nation. “The governor’s office reached out to us and initiated discussions and we talked to things that are important to us and the more we talked the more we could see the possibility of [reaching an agreement] with all the parties we thought were important,” Halbritter told Indian Country Today Media Network, which is owned by the Oneida Nation. “So it was discussion and negotiation that was initially done at the governor’s call, and it proceeded from there. He really took a real leadership role to make it happen.”
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