Tejon Indian Casino Plan Hits Federal Register

Public comment on concerns invited

By Patric Hedlund

On August 13 a listing in the Federal Register out of Washington D.C. started the clock ticking for the public to comment with suggested issues that need to be researched before approval can be granted for an Indian gaming casino north of the base of the Grapevine.

Casino proposed near outlets

The tribal faction which is seeking to build the casino has no land base, but is moving rapidly to acquire acreage and permits in the name of the Tejon Indian Tribe.

They seek to acquire 306 acres of agricultural land near the junction of State Route 99 and Interstate 5. The listing says they plan to construct and operate a 250,000 square foot gaming facility and a 300-room hotel about 20 minutes north of Frazier Park and just north of Outlets at Tejon.

The announcement of the “Proposed Trust Acquisition and Casino Project” is required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

September 14, 2015 deadline

Members of the public must send their comments before September 14, 2015 to tell the Bureau of Indian Affairs the issues they want to see researched as part of the environmental impact statement (EIS) for the project.

Back story

It typically takes decades for a tribe to obtain ‘recognized tribe’ status with the United States government.

Although the Tejon Tribe as a sovereign entity entered into a treaty with the United States government in 1851, that same tribe was later dropped from the list of tribes recognized by the United States Government.

Loss of recognition occurred after 880 acres of land that had been designated in 1916 for the Tejon Indians were found by the Department of the Interior in 1962 to be ‘unusable’ by the tribe. It was placed back into the public domain. In 1969 the Department of the Interior’s list of recognized tribes did not include the previously-recognized Tejon Indians.

Then, in a December 30, 2011 decision announced on January 3, 2012 the United States Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk said an “administrative error” had caused the delisting. He said tribal recognition had been restored.

What appears on the surface to be an effort to correct a past mistake is interpreted differently by those of the traditional members of the tribe who say they were arbitrarily left off of the newly named “Tejon Indian Tribe” rolls.

Dee Dominguez, chairwoman of the original Tinoqui-Chalola Council of the Kitanemuk and Yowlumne Tejon Indians before the faction that seeks a casino broke away, said the casino supporters are included in Echo Hawk’s action. The others are left out. The reaffirmation split apart a single family, leaving on opposite sides of a widening legal chasm two bloodline cousins who share the same great great grandmother, the same great uncle, and whose mothers were sisters.

Dominguez and her extended family were not automatically made part of the reaffirmed tribe which she had chaired.

Lavish spending

Lavish spending—for example, more than $200,000 spent for well-placed attorneys and lobbyists in 2008-2009 alone—is alleged to have accelerated return of the ‘registered’ status for the pro-casino members of the Tejon Tribe that will qualify it as an autonomous governmental entity eligible to build a casino.

William C. Wortman, 63 is said to be the source for most of that funding. He is managing director of Millennium Gaming, Inc. and Cannery Casino Resorts, LLC from Las Vegas, Nevada. They have a joint venture with Tribal Financial Advisors to “identify, pursue and enter into agreements with Native American Indian tribes throughout the United States for the financing and management of…existing or new gaming properties,” according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

Their announcement also said the joint venture would help tribes obtain capital investment.

Searches of databases by The Mountain Enterprise in 2009 yielded records showing that in 2008 lobbyist Patton Boggs, LLP is reported to have been paid $120,000 and lobbyist Tew Cardenas was paid $50,000 by the Tejon Indian Tribe. The industry category for their lobbying is listed as “Casino/Gambling.” Payments reported in 2009 were $20,000 paid to the Patton Boggs firm.

On June 2, 2015 Wortman appeared before the Kern County Board of Supervisors with lawyers from Patton Boggs, Bakersfield lobbyist Gene Tackett and the tribal chair for the casino faction of the tribe, Kathryn Montes Morgan.

She and her attorneys said they wish to enter into negotiations as a sovereign nation with the government of Kern County. That is a step in preparing to develop a casino.

‘We have no plans’

This is the same Indian Casino which former Tejon Ranch Company CEO Robert Stine told the Kern County Board of Supervisors on October 5, 2009, “will not be built.” The TRC developer was speaking at a hearing to ask Kern County to certify the environmental impact report for Tejon Mountain Village. He was responding to questions raised by other Native American groups about the cumulative impact of all the proposed developments by Tejon Ranch and others along the Interstate-5 Grapevine corridor—including an Indian casino.

Stine was seeking entitlements from the county to subdivide Tejon Ranch Company property in Lebec for 3,450 homes (including single family residences, resort condominiums, luxury apartments and townhouses in a private, gated community), 750 resort hotel rooms, two 18 hole golf courses, two heliports, and substantial commercial facilities—much of it set within endangered California condor critical habitat. Supervisors voted unanimously to approve Tejon’s plan.

Leapfrog

Three years later, the Tejon Indian Tribe’s path to their reaffirmation triggered comment throughout the country in the Native American press.

Then, in April 2013 the Inspector General for the BIA confirmed in a scathing report that the Tejon Tribe’s application appears to have been jumped to the front of the line by Larry Echo Hawk, without following established BIA procedures.

The Tejon Indian Tribe’s petition was put in front of the application submitted on January 15, 1996—close to 20 years ago—by Morgan’s own cousin—Dominguez—on behalf of the entire tribe.

Tribes in other parts of the nation also said their petitions had been in the pipeline well before that of Morgan’s group. Dominguez said Morgan (financed by Wortman’s casino investors) broke off from the larger tribal group which opposes becoming indebted to casino investors.

The BIA Inspector General’s report said that Echo Hawk failed to verify tribal membership before granting Morgan’s group “reaffirmed” status.

Echo Hawk resigned on April 27, 2012, three months after the Inspector General began investigating his actions.

Meanwhile, Morgan says the purpose of the proposed casino is “to improve the economic status of the tribal government so it can better provide housing, health care, education, cultural programs, and other services to its members.” Dominguez’ side of the family, however, has received no such benefits.

Address for comments

The Federal Register notice opens the public scoping period to identify potential issues, concerns and alternatives to be considered in the casino environmental impact study. It says: “written comments on the scope of the EIS should be sent as soon as possible (and no later than September 14, 2015).”

Send comments to Amy Dutschke, Regional Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Pacific Region, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA 95825.

Include your name, return address, and the subject line: “NOI Comments, Tejon Indian Tribe Project” on the first page of your written comments.

The date of a public scoping meeting will be announced at least 15 days in advance. Check online at www.tejoneis.com.

See the full Federal Register listing online at www.MountainEnterprise.com

Photo captions:

An Indian Casino project is rushing full steam ahead to acquire permits to build just north of Outlets at Tejon. Behind the scenes, questions about legality of the process are simmering.

The family of Magdalena Olivas has split down the middle.

One side wants a casino. The other side doesn’t. Guess which side the Las Vegas investors, lobbyists, lawyers and the BIA director flocked to…and which side has been left out in the cold?

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This is part of the August 21, 2015 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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