“NIGC has nothing specific to provide with respect to the Chukchansi tribe.” “As a matter of course, NIGC routinely conducts audits and assistance visits to tribal gaming operations,” she said in an email. Mary Parker, a spokeswoman with the national NIGC office in Washington, D.C., wouldn’t confirm or deny an audit of Chukchansi and wouldn’t answer specific questions related to an audit. “The information that I received was that the audit was directly related to the disenrollments that occurred last month.and then the pending.disenrollments,” he said. According to a copy of one of the notices, the affected members’ disenrollment hearing is April 22.ĭehnert said there’s no “accountability, no judicial review,” and “no checks and balances at all” with the actions of the Chukchansi Tribal Council.ĭehnert said he’s been told by members of the tribe, whom he wouldn’t name in order to not jeopardize their positions, that the National Indian Gaming Commission is auditing Chukchansi.Ĭalls from The Bee to NIGC’s regional office went unanswered. The tribe, he said, has now selected another group of around 62 members who will be part of another wave of disenrollments. Dehnert is from Southern California, and he typically represents tribes, but said he believed the tribe’s actions were so egregious that he decided to change spots in this case to litigate the tribe. Dehnert represents about 39 of the 49 who received notices in mid-March saying their names would be removed from the tribe’s membership roll. Members of the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians who were targeted for disenrollment earlier this year were kickedout of the tribe in March - and now a new group of more than 60 members is facing the same fate, according to an attorney representing the majority of the impacted tribal members.Īttorney David Dehnert told The Bee the disenrollments and the new pending disenrollments are in violation of the tribe’s constitution and several other tribal laws.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |