The Four Directions Committee and the Mashantucket Pequots

The Hartford Courant has an extremely interesting story today headlined "Pequot Role Seen In Crucial Election." (Registration required.)

The Mashantucket Pequots have become behind-the-scenes players in one of the highest profile political races in the country - the fall South Dakota elections, which could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.

Organizers of an Indian voter registration campaign say the influential Mashantuckets are blocking their fund-raising efforts, a contention the Pequots deny....

The controversy surfaced last week when Henry Buffalo, a Chippewa Indian who is a lawyer for a Minnesota tribe, berated the Pequots at an open session of the National Congress of American Indians for trying to thwart the registration and get-out-the-vote campaign. Political observers say Indian voters in Western and Midwestern states could play a pivotal role in congressional and presidential elections this fall.

Buffalo blasted the Pequots for assuming that the Rapid City-based "Four Directions Committee" was merely a front for the Democrats. Speaking at a meeting at Mohegan Sun, he said the Pequots told Sodak Gaming Inc., a supplier of slot machines based in Rapid City, not to make a $100,000 donation to the campaign. The Pequots are one of Sodak's best customers.

"The Pequots told Sodak, `Don't give money to Four Directions.' That is absolutely outrageous," said Buffalo, lawyer for the Minnesota-based Prairie Island Indians, a leading supporter of the South Dakota registration drive. He said the Pequots - whose wealth from Foxwoods Resort Casino makes them influential among potential donors - have made it hard to raise money for the project.

I'll have more on this later.