County residents deserve better settlement with tribe

Conservative Party The Executive Committee of the Madison County Conservative party has voted to issue a resolution that will deny any Madison County supervisor endorsement from the Madison County Conservative Party, now and in the future, who votes in favor of the proposed settlement agreement between Madison County, Oneida County, the Oneida Indian Nation Group, the State of New York and the federal government that is scheduled to be voted on May 30, 2013.

This proposed agreement is extremely unfair to the residents of Madison and Oneida counties How to have your say: Letters and comments up to 400 words will be considered for publication. All letters must include a full name, address and daytime phone number for verification purposes, plus any affiliations that would place your opinion in context. Unsigned letters and those written under a pseudonym will not be published. Public officials and representatives of groups may receive a guest column with advance arrangement with the editor. and places the financial risks and burdens on them rather than on New York State who should be making the counties whole for all the wrongful actions that the State of New York has committed over the last 220 years in their interactions with the Native American peoples of New York State.

The only fully innocent victims in this long sad saga are the residents of Madison and Oneida County and they are being sacrificed by the selfish agenda of our state government.

The Madison County Conservative party calls on the Madison County Board of Supervisors to reject the proposed settlement agreement and demand that Governor Andrew Cuomo come to Madison County to publicly explain to our citizens why we should bear this burden instead of the State of New York.

Madison County Conservative Party Chris Kendall said, “Madison County is currently losing approximately $ 1 million per year in real estate and school taxes on lands now owned by the Oneidas. It would be less than 1/ 1000 of 1 percent of New York State’s $ 140 billion budget to indemnify our county for those lost taxes.

Further, it is morally wrong for the Oneidas, as American citizens, to not pay sales taxes on their commercial interactions with non- Indians, as all other Americans must do.

The law in New York State Mail: Oneida Daily Dispatch letters to the editor 130 Broad Street, Oneida, NY 13421 currently requires them to pay those sales taxes. Repealing those laws by this proposed agreement is repugnant to every concept of equal protection under the law.

The Madison County Conservative Party also condemns the secretive process and the tactics that were used by the governor and his administration in forcing this agreement.

Threatening, bullying and promising punitive economic actions against the counties has no place in public discourse.

The threatening of Madison County’s outside legal counsel, Nixon Peabody, LLP., to withdraw from representation of Madison County or lose large amounts of public work is one of SMS: for news, sports & weather sent to your phone text: “0NEnews” to 22700 text: “ONEsports” to 22700 text: “ONEweather” to 22700 Twitter: @ oneidadailydispatch @ oneidaeditor @ oneidaphoto @ oneidasports many disgraceful examples of the conduct of the governor’s office.

In a society where we try to stop bullying in our schools and among children, there is no place for these shameful actions.

Madison County calls on all the parties to return to the negotiating table and work out a sensible agreement in an open public process that is fair to all parties and one that does not punish the innocent citizens of Madison and Oneida counties for 220 years of wrongdoing by the State of New York. Facebook: Leave comments at www. facebook. com/ oneidadispatch