AG Drummond To Represent Oklahoma In Tribal Gaming Compact Lawsuit

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has announced he will be representing the state in a lawsuit on tribal gaming compacts that were signed by Governor Kevin Stitt.

According to a press release from the Office of the Attorney General, the federal lawsuit was filed by the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Citizen Potawatomi and Choctaw nations after Gov. Stitt revised gaming compacts he had reached with four other tribes: the Comanche Nation, the Otoe-Missouria, the Kialegee Tribal Town and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians.

Drummond released the following statement along with the announcement:

“While Governor Stitt and I are both elected Republican leaders who agree on many issues, I have been highly critical of his dealings with our Native American Tribes,” Drummond said. “The Governor is free to make his own decisions regarding how he wants to interact with the tribes, but he is not free to violate Oklahoma law. I am taking this action in order to uphold the law and defend our constitution.”

The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled the compacts were invalid, but Gov. Stitt submitted them to the federal government where they were approved by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Drummond claims that millions of dollars have been spent on other lawsuits against several tribes during Gov. Stitt’s time in office. The claim also stated that $600,000 has been spent defending the compacts to the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia.

Drummond issued several other statements in the press release:

“Oklahoma’s relationship with our tribal partners has suffered greatly as a result of your divisive rhetoric and refusal to follow the law,” he wrote. “The citizens you were elected to serve are the ones who suffer from this irresponsible approach. Instead of working in partnership with tribal leaders to enact compacts that benefit all four million Oklahomans, you insist on costly legal battles that only benefit the elite law firms you hire. Millions of dollars of state resources have been squandered on these futile efforts.”

“Fortunately, I am merely one of a broad coalition of state leaders who sincerely wish to repair the damage you have done to state-tribal relations,” Drummond wrote. “The first and most critical step in that process is simple: we must follow the law. As Oklahoma’s duly elected Attorney General, that is exactly what I intend to do.”