316 sLAde goRton: A hALf centuRy in poLitics
Century world of Endangered Species Act listings, private property rights,
Supreme Court rulings on tribal tax evasion and Indian Civil rights?
Due to the sensitive nature of this issue, most of my colleagues prefer
to take a pass and not deal with this issue. I disagree by saying the indi-
vidual rights of all citizens are too important to ignore as we re-evaluate
the relationship among the states, the federal government, Indian tribes
and individuals. As part of the United States of America, individual citi-
zens and Indian tribes are all subject to the Constitution. We should
strive for equal application of its laws. The U.S. Supreme Court has de-
scribed Indian Tribes as “domestic dependent sovereigns.”
The critics of my proposal have misled the public by saying the intent
of my bill attempts to do away with Indian tribes altogether. Nothing
could be further from the truth. I have and will continue to recognize
Indian tribes as sovereign nations. This is not the issue. The issue at
hand is accountability on the part of Indian tribes and a restoration of
constitutional rights for both Indians and non-Indians. The enactment
of my proposal would mean that individual citizens will be able to take
their grievances with Indian tribes to neutral courts.^22Aftethe heR ARings, no further action was taken on Gorton’s bill. The
Indians, however, got busy. With the casino tribes leading the way, they
set a $4 million fundraising goal for the 2000 elections and launched a
voter registration drive. They wanted at least $1 million in “soft money”
for TV ads to target Gorton. “There’s no limit to the amount of money you
can contribute to bring him down,” Allen told the National Congress of
American Indians, reminding tribal leaders that “no one can know” who
donated to the First Americans Education Project. Gorton shrugged but
also girded. “I am firmly of the belief that we cannot constitutionally
limit the amount of money groups can raise for campaigns, and what’s
sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. They have a constitutional
right to do that.” He promptly mailed an urgent fund-raising letter of his
own, saying “Indian tribes flush with gambling dollars” were willing to
spend “whatever it takes” to defeat him.^23
“We certainly were out to beat him,” Ron
Allen told Gorton’s biographer in 2011. “We’re
still recovering from the way he hammered us
with that budget cut in 1995. To be fair and bal-
anced, he also did good things for us—on in-
frastructure, education and the environment,
especially fisheries restoration. ‘You have a le-
gal right to co- manage,’ he always said.... But