Facebook Twitter K1-TEXT Email Print

News

McGirt Decision

Posted: Aug 14, 2024 2:58 PMUpdated: Aug 14, 2024 3:21 PM

Kane, Brecheen and McGirt

Share on RSS

 

Tom Davis
US Congressman Josh Brecheen (CD 2-OK-R) was the guest speaker at the Bartlesville Kiwanis Club meeting at Lyon Hall at the Center in Bartlesville on Wednesday.
 
Congressman Brecheen gave an info graphic presentation on the huge national debt, how we got to this low mark as a nation and what measures could be taken to correct the problem. However, a question posed by a local attorney, rancher and state officeholder regarding the US Supreme Court's McGuirt decision and a recent theft at his property by a tribal citizen turned the event around quickly.
 
Here is the transcription/audio link of the conversation between Jess Kane and US Cnngressman Josh Brecheen:
 
"My name is Jess Kane, I'm a local rancher, local attorney, and I'm serving as the first district commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation appointed by Governor Stitt. Yesterday I met with senior law enforcement officials, game wardens, and members of the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission at the Governor's office. We met to discuss this, which is an announcement by the five tribes of a purported agreement between them to allow tribal members to hunt in eastern Oklahoma without having a valid issued state license.
 
And the topic of our discussion at the Governor's office yesterday was how our game wardens are to deal with such a reckless act of lawlessness. While I was meeting with the Governor's office, our family ranch south of Bartlesville was robbed. A guy by the name of Cordero Brent Parrott broke into our ranch, stole several pieces of equipment.
 
Mr. Parrott is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. He is known to the law enforcement agencies of Washington, Osage, and Nowata Counties as a repeat thief. However, he has consistently not been held accountable for his actions because as an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, the district attorneys in Washington and Nowata County have no jurisdiction over him.
 
By all likelihood, he is not going to be held accountable for the theft of our equipment yesterday. The situation caused by McGirt in eastern Oklahoma is totally out of control. And the idea that Congress is not going to do anything about it is unacceptable.
 
Congress could fix this today, but Congress doesn't want to touch the third rail of American politics, which is race. And that is simply not acceptable. It should be uncontroversial to everyone in America today that everybody has to live by the same laws and be held accountable for their actions regardless of their race.
 
And Congress won't touch it because it's an icky, hard issue. And it is totally out of control in eastern Oklahoma. Something needs to be done and the idea that we're just going to work with the tribes to make it better isn't going to work.
 
And the lawlessness that my family experienced just yesterday, whether it be through what's happening with enforcement of wildlife laws or just with trying to keep our stuff on our ranch, is an example of what's going on all over eastern Oklahoma. Something needs to be done and I would encourage you to make the hard decisions and put forward legislation that's going to do something. Alright, look, I agree with what you said.
 
And Jess is right in terms of, the reality is that, I'm trying to be careful because I don't want to say things that would throw anybody under the bus, but the reality is, I'm convinced Congress is not going to do anything on this. I'm convinced that lobbying dollars, because this thing is so complex, so complex, and since I got back into politics I've been trying to study and learn on it, and because it's so complex, and because you're going to have to, I tried to bring in a member of Congress and educate him on this, and it's so difficult to get one member coming into Oklahoma educated on this, that the ability to get other members educated and vote with you on a position, Jess, it's just not going to happen. Because you're
 
going to have lobbyist dollars that are going to go in the office while it's working on the Senate side or working on the House side, it's going to shut it down.
 
And so whether I'm wrong or I'm right, I actually think I'm right on this. I think that the way to solve this is what we are trying to do as an office. What you don't know, Joseph, raise your hand, Joseph Silk and I served on the State Senate together, in the State Senate together, and Joseph, Joseph has been tasked, we've moved him off of field rep duty, specifically, Joseph is doing nothing but, that's a few county representation, and a veterans issue, I put him on today, I asked him to help us with on today, Joseph is working specifically on McGirt, that is his sole duty within our office.
 
And let me tell you, this is a chance for you guys, it's not a town hall, it's a chance for you to chastise me, okay? I am convinced the only way we're going to change McGirt is for us to be able to go into a table of negotiations and get this out of a litigious atmosphere, and it's for people grieved in their conscience on the tribal side also to agree that this is a perversion of justice. And so what we are attempting to do is this week even, setting down, I'm making some first introductions this week with some tribal leaders, trying to have a first time meeting to talk about McGirt, and as of yesterday I had one of those with one of the more perceived, those that are perceived as not wanting to come to any negotiations, and I sat down yesterday and had a conversation about shared information, about if law enforcement is able to share information, state court network type sharing, also about what happens potentially with the opportunity to dual prosecute, so that somebody might be prosecuted on a tribal side, but also potentially it could also be dual prosecuted on a federal side. So I'm trying to develop some conversations and relationships just to get people to support that which they helped to create.
 
I'm convinced this is not going to change in Washington, D.C. Now, I'll open it back up to you, because you guys have said Josh, you're not pushing hard enough to run the legislation to be able to introduce it. If I do that, if I try to shove something in place, I'm convinced, then every conversation with me, no one's going to talk to me. This is a chance for you guys to talk to me and say, look, some of you know, I don't take money from tribes.
 
I've gone into them and said, look, that's not disrespectful, it goes back through history, but it also puts me as a fair broker so that nobody can accuse me of doing what I'm trying to do on this for monetary considerations. Now, I will tell you, the problem with the lobbyist effort and the position that I think would happen if somebody tries to cram something down is you've got a number of people who receive a large amount, and I'll just say it's a very healthy place for me to be in to receive no money from the tribes. Okay? All right, I'm going to throw it back to you, because I want you to disagree with me.
 
What I admire about you, sir, is that you truly are a man of your convictions, and I firmly believe that when you say that if a measure comes before you that is not one of the 18 numerator powers that's given to Congress, that you're not going to vote for it. I've been trying to do that consistently. I believe that.
 
And what I challenge you to consider is whether that should apply to what is the right thing here in eastern Oklahoma, which is that the law should apply the same to everybody, and it
 
doesn't right now. And you're concerned about the budget. We'll talk about a waste of money.
 
We're shoveling money into the tribes to build a whole second system of criminal justice when there's a perfectly good one down there at 5th and Johnstone. It makes absolutely no sense. It puts these guys, our law enforcement officers, in a terrible position.
 
Instead of doing their job, the very first thing that they have to ask from a potential criminal is, what's your rights? What a terrible thing to have to ask these guys to do. And that is the right thing to do, and it needs to be done, whether it's hard or not. Look, at the end of the day, y'all, to be able to... I've told my staff this.
 
Y'all know that I'm term-limited. If the Lord's will is for me to stay the eight years that I committed to serving maximum eight years in the House, I've got six and a half left. I am convinced, personally, that the one thing that we could actually change, outside of the influence I would have on D.C. on this problem with my colleagues, is on this.
 
I am convinced, though, that there's no opportunity to force a change. I'm convinced it's going to have to be dialogue that's not happening right now, that we are trying to, Joseph's side specifically to this, going to try to develop these relationships to say, look, justice is being perverted. So, Jess, I want you to always feel free to chat.
 
I said, Josh, am I doing enough on this? This is the dialogue, Congressman. And when you're talking about how we should be asking or we should be engaging in dialogue about how to fix this, this is what the tribes are putting out there. They're telling people that they do not have to comply with the wildlife laws of the state of Oklahoma.
 
That makes it a pretty fundamentally unproductive dialogue. I have shared with individuals, and I'll just say, on the hunting element, it scares me to think that the unintended message that's getting out there is that you've changed the rules now so that people think that private property rights don't matter anymore. So they think that they're not under the rules and regulations of abiding by private property rights.
 
You may know this, I ranch. I'm concerned about people just wanting to come on what little place I've got, my family's got a larger place, and just decide they want to hunt because there's confusion in the messaging that's out there that we don't operate under the rule of law. What I'm trying to say to you is the bigger picture is, and Joseph, we take this chastisement well, right? We take this chastisement well.
 
Jess, I'm trying to find a solution with the way we think we're going to get to a solution. Does it make sense what I'm trying to tell you? If I try to shove a solution that no one's going to talk to us, and then people think that I'm trying to cram something down, and the dollars and the lobbyist money I think will run the day, and litigation is going to be the only solution. I'm convinced of that, and I'm trying to figure out a way where I can walk into a conversation with tribal leaders and say, look, I agree that the United States made treaties, and so part of the conversation here is, we'd like to see a list of the exactness of the treaties, bullet pointed, so that we can be able to say, alright, that's an obligation.
 
What does Article 6 of the Constitution say? It says that treaties are to be treated as federal law. So as a constitutionalist, we're trying to scrub down to the nth degree to figure out, what's really a treaty, and what's just cultural expectation? So, this is difficult. I take your chastisement.
 
Joseph can look at me when we're driving off and say, Jess is right, and we're not doing enough. I'm telling you, all this week, and I know the media is here, but what you don't know in addition to town halls, we are shutting down having conversations with tribal leadership, trying to move the ball this time. Gorsuch wrote in the opinion what the solution is.
 
They need to read what Gorsuch said. Okay. I mean, they can read what Gorsuch said, Josh, but look, the practical reality is, y'all, lobbyist money is plentiful.
 
Lobbyist money is plentiful. Y'all understand that? I mean, I'm like, you've got to be able to use wisdom in these situations. How are we going to get this ball off? Y'all know this.
 
I ran a campaign that justice should not be perverted based on race. It shouldn't, but it's kind of like the old adage of somebody telling a story about between the wind and the sun. The wind tried to blow the coat off the guy, and the part of the wind blew the coat off the guy, the harder he held on to him, and the sun said, you done? Let me try.
 
He warmed up a little bit, and it became the guy's decision to take his coat off. People support what they help to create. What I'm hopeful of is that the attempt we're trying to do, build relationships and find solutions where we can get into conscience with each other.
 
One of the things I'm saying to the tribal leaders is, look, if there's any part of you that's not 100% full CDIB, you know, whether it's Cherokee or Choctaw or Creek, part of you was also the victimizer, not just the victim, right? And so for all of us as Oklahomans, we have to be, you know, emotions are going to take over. We have to look back and go, wait a minute, I may identify only as this or only as this, but if part of my lineage is both, maybe reconciliation is my responsibility, even though I'm a leader of a tribe, right? So, we're trying to build relationships, hopeful that we can get to a solution. I welcome your chastisement, just like I welcome anybody in law enforcement, you know, a Cherokee would say, Josh, you're not doing enough.
 
We're trying to do it because we feel like this is the best strategy to get to a solution."

« Back to News