01/30/2009

- Lawmaker’s talk spurs protest, calls for political mobilization

by Tim O'Leary - Temecula Valley News

A visit to Temecula last week by US Senator Daniel Inouye, a World War II hero and champion of Native American rights, sparked protests by one group of Indian activists and calls for political mobilization by another.

The Pechanga Resort & Casino – the site of Inouye’s keynote speech and a reception held in his honor afterward – was ground zero for both gestures.

As a result, a bitter feud over Pechanga’s tribal membership surfaced publicly as Indian leaders from across the country pondered their role in reshaped federal policies and spending.

“This is a new day for us,” Lynn “Nay” Valbuena, the vice chairperson of the Highland-based San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians, told conference guests. “Right now, the opportunities are there for us. The doors are open for us.”

Valbuena, who is also the chairwoman of the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations, was one of the moderators at a two-day conference sponsored by the American Indian Resources Institute.

The conference was titled “Tribal Sovereignty and Self-Governance in a New Era: Forging Fair and Equitable Governance in a Time of Change.”

The conference drew representatives from all four corners of the nation’s self-described “Indian country.”

Event sponsors included tribes from as far away as Mississippi, Florida, the Great Lakes, the Columbia River basin and Jamestown, VA.

As the conference unfolded, Pechanga leaders found themselves cast in the roles of congenial host and the target of criticism over decisions to eject certain families.

A group of ejected Pechanga members had set the stage weeks earlier by unsuccessfully trying to arrange a meeting with Inouye during his visit.

As a host, the Pechanga tribe sponsored the luncheon where Inouye spoke and also made the clubhouse of its recently opened golf course available for that evening’s reception.

Pechanga Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro gave the conference’s opening remarks both days.

His wife, Holly Cook Macarro, was a moderator in a panel discussion on how tribal governments can play a role in President Obama’s administration.

Cook Macarro is an attorney, a member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and a partner at a Washington, DC, consulting firm.

She also hosted a 1998 White House conference on tribal economic development and has advised law firms, the Democratic Party and the Clinton administration on Indian issues, according to a biography that was part of a conference booklet.

The Pechanga tribe also offered guests tours of its Great Oak, a massive coast live oak that is believed to be 850 years old or more.

The band also displayed baskets woven by their Luiseño ancestors and showed a 2007 documentary that traced the tribe’s roots and its rise to economic independence.

In the documentary, Chairman Macarro talks about how gaming revenues and other economic ventures have fueled “the beginning of a cultural renaissance” for the tribe.

Inouye’s 25-minute speech struck an odd chord at times among the luncheon audience of about 250 people.

Inouye said he is “adamantly opposed” to gambling, but nevertheless is a champion of native sovereignty rights.

He drew laughter and applause when he recalled being tapped for his first stint on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

Inouye said he was initially perplexed by the recommendation because there are no Indian reservations in Hawaii and, he quipped, the only Indians he was familiar with were Sitting Bull, Geronimo and Tonto.

But Inouye said he quickly became adept at Indian issues, rising to head that committee and also the Senate Appropriations Committee.

He was recently appointed chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

Inouye, 84, is one of the most prominent lawmakers to speak at the casino. Over the past five decades, he has become one of the nation’s senior Democratic Party leaders and revered war heroes.

The son of Japanese immigrants, Inouye was born in Honolulu and was17 when Pearl Harbor was bombed.

A medical student at the time, Inouye took charge of a crew that carried wounded sailors and civilians to first aid tents.

He later joined the Army’s 442nd regimental combat team and became a sergeant of a squad of “Go for Broke” soldiers of Japanese ancestry.

After repeated acts of bravery in Italy and France – campaigns that later led to the loss of his right arm – he was given the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second highest award for military valor, as well as the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and 12 other metals and citations.

The loss of his arm caused Inouye to abandon plans to become a surgeon, and he retired from the Army as a captain in May 1947. His Distinguished Service Cross was later upgraded to a Medal of Honor.

Inouye was elected to Congress in 1959, the year Hawaii became a state. He was the first Japanese-American to serve in the House of Representatives.

Three year later, he was elected to the Senate, where he became the first Japanese-American to serve in that legislative branch.

A newlywed of sorts, Inouye brought his wife, Irene Hirano, to the conference and introduced her to the audience.

His wife of 57 years, Maggie, died in March 2006. He married Hirano, who is 24 years his junior, last May.

In his remarks, Inouye recalled visiting the Pechanga reservation in 1986. He did not state the reason for that visit, but noted much has changed since then.

Other than a school, church, cemetery and a smattering of houses and mobile homes, few buildings marked the core of the hardscrabble reservation that was created in 1882 after a branch of the Luiseño band was ejected from its Temeku village site.

After Indian gaming was authorized by President Reagan’s administration, the Pechanga tribe opened a casino in temporary buildings in July 1995.

Operations steadily mushroomed there and the facility now features a sprawling gaming venue, concert hall, hotel, convenience store and gas station, recreational vehicle park and golf course.

As that growth unfolded, the tribe added large tracts to its ancestral lands, launched its own fire department and built parks, medical facilities and government, senior and cultural centers.

Much of Inouye’s speech centered on the grinding poverty that many non-gaming Indian tribes and reservations continue to face and how they must act quickly to take President Obama up on his campaign pledges.

Inouye said his dedication to Indian sovereignty is matched by Obama’s, and tribes and elected officials must work together to bring widespread improvements in economic development, education and infrastructure.

“So, in my mind when we speak of economic recovery acts and economic stimulus packages, our focus should be, first and foremost, on those who have been going without and making personal sacrifices far longer than anyone else in the United States: the first Americans,” he said.

“And thus, I call on you to help me help you,” he said. At the end, Inouye’s remarks netted him a standing ovation from much of the audience.

When questioned after the speech, Inouye said he opted not to meet with the group of ejected tribal members nearby because doing so would interfere in internal tribal matters.

“It’s not for me to tell them [tribes] how to run their government,” he told a reporter in a brief interview. “That’s been one of the weaknesses of the American government, trying to tell people what to do.”

After Inouye left the limelight, several panelists referenced his remarks during the final workshop of the conference. That session was titled: “Forging a Progressive Blueprint for Change.”

As the group of protesters began to line a segment of Pechanga Parkway across from the casino complex, about 140 people attended the wine and hors d’oeuvres reception to mingle with Inouye and his wife.

For part of the reception, Chairman Macarro helped guide guests into a receiving line and also snapped photos of them with the lawmaker and his wife.

Macarro cut short a reporter’s attempt to seek comments on the simultaneous candlelight vigil that attracted about 100 adults and children and was aimed at spotlighting tribal ejection practices.

The gathering was anchored by the Gomez and Madariaga families, which together total about 220 people who were ejected from the Pechanga tribe beginning in March 2004.

Those ejections factionalized the Pechanga band as leaders trimmed the tribe’s enrollment to about 1,200 members.

At that time, the ejected members each lost about $10,000 a month in casino profit sharing income as well as health and life insurance benefits.

The tribe’s monthly “per capita” payments fluctuate periodically due to casino revenues, operating costs and new expenditures.

Since the Pechanga ejections, so-called tribal disenrollments have occurred at other gaming tribes across the state and nation.

Many of the participants at the candlelight vigil cited their deep ties to distant tribes.

Besides causing economic hardships, the ejections have severed families’ longtime cultural connections to their tribes.

A lawsuit filed by the Gomez family ultimately failed to dent the Pechanga tribe’s shield of legal sovereignty.

The protesters remained along the street until the Inouye reception ended. Many participants chanted and carried signs splashed with such comments as “Corruption and greed equals illegal disenrollments.”

For much of the vigil, John Gomez Jr., who was active in Pechanga cultural and legal programs before his family was ejected, used a bullhorn to catch the attention of casino customers and other passing motorists.

Many of the protesters complained that the conference gave Macarro and other Indian leaders access to – and perhaps influence over – Inouye.

They questioned the fairness of the political process and wondered aloud whether their voices will be heard in the Obama administration.

“They know we’re right, but who’s going to listen to us?” asked John Gomez Sr., the patriarch of one of the ejected Pechanga families.