Jewish World Review
Oct. 23, 2000 / 24 Tishrei, 5761
Michelle Malkin
Tribulations of a dubious 'tribe'
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
THE MASHANTUCKET PEQUOTS are in
trouble again. And with the new
controversy, an old question
resurfaces: If an Indian tribe isn't really
Indian, why does the federal
government allow it to take advantage of
special programs, legal exemptions, and
enormous wealth? A few months ago, I
reviewed "Without Reservation: The Making of America's Most Powerful Indian Tribe
and Foxwoods, the World's Largest Casino,"
by investigative journalist and attorney Jeff
Benedict. The book exposes the dubious
historical claims of the Mashantucket Pequot
tribe and its founder, Skip Hayward. Hayward
had never lived on an Indian reservation, never
called himself an Indian, and never showed any
interest in embracing his alleged roots until
some clever lawyers created an opportunity to
turn his grandmother's land in Ledyard, Conn.,
into a gambling mecca.
According to Benedict's research, Hayward's
grandmother may not have been connected to
the Pequots at all -- but instead, had remote
links to the Narragansett Indians of Rhode
Island. In 1983, against the objections of
skeptical Reagan administration officials,
Congress granted Hayward and nearly 200
family members official tribal status without
ever verifying the clan's genealogical claims.
The Pequots annexed hundreds of acres of
additional land and finagled key regulatory
exemptions from clueless state officials (including then-Connecticut
attorney general Joseph Lieberman). Seventeen years later, the Pequots
run the world's largest gambling complex, Foxwoods, which reported
more than $300 million in revenue in the first five months of this year
alone and continues to take in an estimated $1 million a day.
Congress has never sought the truth about the Pequots. Connecticut's
congressional delegation ignores calls from local officials and residents
to investigate the tribe. Democrat Rep. Sam Gejdenson, who authored
the bill that granted the Pequots federal status and all its attendant
benefits, has been unresponsive to inquiring media and to his own
constituents in the district where he is running for re-election this year.
|
Purchasing this book -- linked in 1st paragraph -- helps fund JWR |
"He was somewhat aloof when he sponsored the legislation, and now
that it's 17 years after the fact and it's pretty well proven that the
legislation has enormous problems, he's nowhere to be found," author
Benedict recently told The Hill, a weekly D.C.-based newspaper.
When I spoke with a staffer from Gejdenson's office in June, he
questioned why I was writing about the Pequots' origins and dismissed it
as a "local" issue of little interest to the rest of the nation. He said he
would get back to me. I'm still waiting for the call.
Meanwhile, the Pequots are in the national headlines again. A new audit
by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' inspector
general reports that the wealthy tribe used a government health program
intended for low-income Indians to acquire $7.1 million in heavily
discounted prescription drugs for non-Indian casino employees and their
families.
The federal drug discount program was initially established to help
American military veterans pay for prescription medicines, but was
expanded to cover federally recognized tribes. The Pequots have
parlayed their casino empire into a number of expansive enterprises,
including a $15 million-a-year mail-order prescription drug business with
more than 2 million subscribers and a pharmaceutical network that
dispenses discounted drugs to 16 other tribes.
The HHS audit (which can be found on the Internet at
http://www.hhs.gov/progorg/oas/reports/region1/19901502.pdf) outlines
how the Pequots failed to follow federal guidelines for determining
eligibility in the drug program. The inspector general noted that the tribe's
violations could undermine support for the program -- hurting the truly
needy (and truly Indian) Indians who participate in it.
The Pequots have refused to respond to the feds' request to cease
dispensing the drugs to non-Indians. A tribal spokesman, Arthur Henick,
told the press that Foxwoods' non-Indian employees are "members of
the tribal family" and, therefore, entitled to the federally discounted drugs.
Washington is responsible for helping breed this incorrigible arrogance.
If this "tribe," which never was required to document its origins as
required by law, can continue to scam taxpayers with impunity, what's to
stop others from donning feathers and headdresses, claiming Indian
status, and cashing in? It's time for Congress to investigate and rein in
the Pequot
juggernaut.
JWR contributor Michelle Malkin can be reached by clicking here.
10/20/00: Pharmaceutical butchers of Beijing
10/16/00: How the West was seized
10/12/00: Fight the anti-pesticide pests
10/10/00: Moochers at the multiplex
10/05/00: Pay for your own day care
10/02/00: Not every senior demands a handout
09/27/00: Racial hype at the Olympics
09/25/00: Watch the other Washington
09/20/00: Textbook case of media arrogance
09/18/00: New York: Land of medical pork
09/13/00: Voices from the womb
09/11/00: No cure for generational pain
09/08/00: Notes on a West Coast wilding
09/06/00: Race matters at Washington Post
09/01/00: For those who labor 24/7
08/28/00: There's something about Rudy
08/25/00: A conservative case against Napster
08/22/00: Death Row Marv mocks justice
08/18/00: The party of Maxine Waters
08/14/00: "Make-A-Wish" shoots down dreams
08/10/00: Who will stop Bill Lann Lee?
08/07/00: Emily Dickinson's lesson for rude drivers
08/03/00: Leave the slogans behind
07/31/00: Hey, GM: Build cars, not quotas
07/28/00: Stop milking The Juice
07/24/00: Silencing Jeff Jacoby
07/21/00: Score another one for TV execs who want to keep us brain-dead
07/17/00: Can somebody say McStupid?
07/12/00: Beware of Ugly Building Syndrome
07/10/00: The miracle of a lead pencil
07/07/00: Partying on the people’s dime
06/29/00: When "Indians" exploit their own
06/23/00: Kids in a public school daze
06/21/00: Fed up with Fannie and Freddie
06/19/00: D.C.'s gag order for Christians
06/16/00: Dads, daughters, and PETA's spoilsports
06/13/00: Tune out Eminem's pitiful "poetry"
06/07/00: "Pained" Dem leader Torricelli deserves to feel some; Why hasn't he?
06/05/00: Tom Green's hidden health-care lesson
06/01/00: Farming out the pork
05/30/00: The perils of medical quackery
05/26/00: Awarding medals by race is a disgrace
05/22/00: Have Simon & Schuster execs lost their minds!?
05/17/00: Sports plebes vs. plutocrats
05/15/00: Whitewashing Red China's record
05/12/00: Our mothers' hands
05/08/00: Focus on the real Waco
05/05/00: An Internet victim's sad story
05/03/00: Phony pooh-bahs of journalism
05/01/00: Zoo tragedy triggers dumb reaction
04/24/00: Ecoterrorists on the loose
04/19/00: Beware of Elian's psychobabblers
04/17/00: The truth about Erin Brockovich
04/13/00: In defense of an armed citizenry
04/10/00: Playing hardball with taxpayers
04/06/00: Read W.'s lips: More new spending
04/04/00: The liberal media-in-training
03/31/00: Sticking it to the children
03/28/00: Declaring war on HOV lanes
03/22/00: Clinton and the Echo Boomers
03/17/00: Is Bush a Liddy Dole Republican?
03/13/00: Katie and the politics of disease
03/10/00: Maria H, Granny D, and the media Z's
03/07/00: Bubba Van Winkle wakes up
03/03/00: Double standard for day traders?
02/28/00: Sluts and nuts --- and our daughters
02/24/00: Zoning out religious freedom
02/15/00: The Baby Brain Boondoggle
02/10/00: Buddhist temple untouchables
02/08/00: CDC: Caught Devouring Cash
02/04/00: Hillary's poisoned poster child
02/01/00: Corporate welfare on ice
01/28/00: The silly sound of silence
01/26/00: The Old Media meltdown
01/20/00: The pied pipers of KidCare
01/18/00: Our imperious judiciary
01/14/00: Tune out Columbine chorus
01/12/00: Dying to be an American
01/10/00: Time for smokers' revolt?
12/30/99: Reading, writing, PlayStation?
12/27/99: Fight money-grubbing mallrats
12/23/99: Christmas for Cornilous Pixley
12/20/99: Who will help the Hmong?
12/16/99: Shame on corn-fed politicians
12/13/99: EPA vs. the American Dream
12/09/99: Look behind the Pokemon curtain
12/06/99: Amateur hour in Seattle
11/30/99: Stop the Ritalin racketeers
11/23/99: Welfare for a sports fatcat
11/19/99: Jeb Bush's political ploy of the week
11/16/99: Ben & Jerry serve up junk science
11/12/99: A monumental waste of our veterans' resources
11/10/99: Tax-and-spend schizophrenia
11/05/99: Spooky Guy Haunts the Capital
11/02/99: Mourning the loss of the last Liberty Tree
10/27/99: AOL goes AWOL on parents
10/22/99: The persecution of Harry Potter
10/20/99: Don't doctor the law
10/14/99: The trouble with kids today
10/12/99: Pro-animal, pro-abortion, anti-speech?
10/07/99: Beltway press corps needs more skunks
09/30/99: ESPN overlooks athlete of faith, grace, and guts
09/27/99: Personal freedom going up in smoke
09/15/99: Farewell, "Miss" America
09/10/99: Will George W. work for a color-blind America?
09/03/99: Feminization of gun debate drowns out sober analysis
08/27/99: America is abundant land of equal-opportunity insult
08/10/99: Protect the next generation from diversity do-goodism
08/04/99: Sweepstakes vs. state lottery: double standards on gambling
07/21/99: "True-life tales from the Thin Red Line"
(or "Honor those who sacrificed their lives for peace")
07/21/99: Reading, 'Riting, and Raunchiness?
07/14/99: Journalists' group-think is not unity
06/30/99: July Fourth programming for the Springer generation
06/25/99: Speechless in Seattle
06/15/99: Making a biblical argument against federal death taxes
© 2000, Creators Syndicate
|