2 Indian Tribes Gave Emergency Funds to DNC

Two impoverished Indian tribes drained their emergency fund to donate $107,000 to the Democratic National Committee, hoping to regain tribal land taken by the federal government more than a century ago.

Tribal leaders have been wined and dined in Washington. But the land hasn’t been returned, and now tribal leaders say the DNC and Democratic lobbyists are back asking for more money.

“Of course we’ve been taken advantage of,” Archie Hoffman, secretary of the Cheyenne-Arapaho tribes’ business committee, said Monday. He conceded no promises about the land were made.

White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said Monday he didn’t know President Clinton’s reaction to news reports of the tribes’ donation.

Amy Weiss Tobe, a spokeswoman for the DNC, said her organization was looking into the matter.

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The tribes are trying to reclaim 7,500 acres the government took in 1869 to build Ft. Reno. The fort was closed in 1948, and the land is used for federal agricultural research.

The tribes want to turn Ft. Reno into a tourist attraction and use the surrounding land for agriculture.

About 80% of the tribes’ 10,700 members are unemployed, and the political donation came from an emergency relief fund that provides $150,000 each year to pay for food, medical care and other necessities, Hoffman said.

The tribes expect to make up for the donation with money raised by bingo halls, smoke shops and other enterprises, Hoffman said.

Since the big donation, said Tyler Todd, the tribes’ senior advisor, a DNC fund-raiser called this year and asked repeatedly for $25,000 for the presidential inauguration. Todd said he refused because the tribes had no more money to give.