Excerpt:
Sen. John McCain burnished his reformist image two years ago by investigating lobbyists who took advantage of Indian tribes. But now, tribes are throwing their financial weight behind his rival, Barack Obama, donating more than $1 million to support the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign.
For his part, Sen. McCain has refused to take contributions from Indian tribes since 2006, when he was chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. The Republican presidential nominee maintains the tribes have better uses for their money, given the poverty of some reservations.
American Indian support for Sen. Obama may help swing some traditionally Republican states toward the Democrat.
American Indian support for Sen. Obama may help swing some traditionally Republican states toward the Democrat.
Many of the tribes that have given the most to help Sen. Obama are rich with gambling revenue. They've used a loophole in campaign-finance law that allows one tribe to donate more than $200,000, unlike corporations or trade groups, which can't give any money.
The Seneca Nation of New York, which operates casinos upstate, gave $213,000 to Sen. Obama's committees, according to campaign-finance data compiled by CQ MoneyLine. Three other tribes have each given more than $100,000 to his campaign or to party coffers he is using to get out the vote: the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and two California tribes, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians and the Viejas Band.
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Richard J. Arcara is a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. He joined the court in 1988 after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan. serving as the court's lead judicial administrative officer in conjunction with the clerk of court on the court's day to day operations.
Early life and Education
Arcara graduated from St. Bonaventure with his Bachelor's Degree in 1962 and graduated from Villanova Law with his J.D. Degree in 1965. Arcara also served as a U.S. Army Captain in the Military Police Corps from 1966-1967
I hate the Indian casinos. They don’t get a dime from me.
Good to see that the good judge saved the flow of cash from Nicotine Junkies to our Native Americans.
All States depend so heavily on cigarette taxes -as evidenced by the discrimination against smokers looking for a price deal and distributors looking for customers.
Could you imagine the uproar if there were interstate mailing prohibitions on Pet Meds and diabetic products?
I find tobacco use discusting and low class. But I’ll fight to my last breath to allow adults to chose to use it in a free America.