<body><div><p><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1apzl7_0n73Mqca00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1apzl7_0n73Mqca00" width="1662" height="1247" ></p><p> Oklahoma City – Governor Kevin Stitt has made a straight-forward appeal that most Oklahoma laws should apply to all citizens of the state equally. He has consistently opposed plans to turn policy control over 42 percent of the state or more over to the leadership of the state’s largest Tribes.During a Friday, June 23 press conference, he made his case:“If you want to expand the definition of potentially where the state would be obligated to pay compact fees for any gas station owned in eastern Oklahoma outside the trust land, then override the veto. But if you think it should be limited to trust land only, then you should not override this veto.“I don’t begrudge the tribes. This isn’t Kevin Stitt vs. the tribes. The governor vs. the tribes. I have to think about what’s best for all 4 million Oklahomans. That’s who I’m elected to protect. And I don’t even begrudge them for arguing what’s better for them.”The City Sentinel’s reporter noted in a question to Stitt that just a few years ago, the governor of the Chickasaw Nation – Oklahoma’s wealthiest tribe – told a panel of the U.S. Congress that the state did not have reservations.However, after the Muscogee (Creek) Nation garnered an expansive 5-4 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court in the “McGirt” case, other tribes soon made their case for policy management on their pre-statehood reservations.But the Court has since moved to nip-and-tuck at the case, in some respects – so the justices themselves have made the issue, once again, a jump ball.In a Sunday, June 25 email to supporters and to many journalists, Jonathan Small – president of the the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) -- supported the state chief executive’s position on House Bill 1005X and Senate Bill 26 X.Small wrote:“These bills would prevent any negotiations before extending two tribal tax compacts. That’s unwise and unfair.“It’s unwise because lawsuits have changed what the words in the earlier compacts mean—and new lawsuits could change them even more.“It’s unfair because, after the McGirt court decision, the compacts could suddenly apply to many more transactions than anyone expected when the original contracts were negotiated. That would mean a massive windfall of cash for tribal tax collectors—all of it redirected away from state projects that benefit all Oklahomans.“Oklahomans should all play by the same rules, not get special deals based on a court decision that had nothing to do with taxes or compacts.”Note: Pat McGuigan is Editor Emeritus of The City Sentinel newspaper. In a 2020 analysis, he described the McGirt v. Oklahoma decision “the most important [legal] decision in Oklahoma history.” ( <a href="https://www.city-sentinel.com/criminal_justice/analysis-in-brief-the-most-important-decision-in-oklahoma-history-mcgirt-v-oklahoma/article_f58fe003-3a8d-504c-96fc-55010f0ed289.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> https://www.city-sentinel.com/criminal_justice/analysis-in-brief-the-most-important-decision-in-oklahoma-history-mcgirt-v-oklahoma/article_f58fe003-3a8d-504c-96fc-55010f0ed289.html </a> ) </p><nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate></div></body>

Mountain View, CA

Oklahoma City – Governor Kevin Stitt has made a straight-forward appeal that most Oklahoma laws should apply to all citizens of the state equally. He has consistently opposed plans to turn policy control over 42 percent of the state or more over to the leadership of the state’s largest Tribes.During a Friday, June 23 press conference, he made his case:“If you want to expand the definition of potentially where the state would be obligated to pay compact fees for any gas station owned in eastern Oklahoma outside the trust land, then override the veto. But if you think it should...