"It is your land, we respect your sovereignty and, if the legislature acts as I  am requesting, you will have the right to sell tax-free gasoline and cigarettes free from interference from New York State." N.Y.S. Governor George Pataki, 1997
SAY ONE THING, DO ANOTHER...

 OUR TRIBE HAS ALWAYS  BEEN INVOLVED IN STRUGGLES WITH THE NEW YORK STATE GOVERNMENT. BUT LATELY, IT SEEMS GOVERNOR GEORGE PATAKI AND HIS ADMINISTRATION HAS BEEN BRUTALLY TRAMPLING OUR RIGHTS AND CANNOT KEEP THEIR  FEET OUT OF THEIR MOUTHS.

 HE HAS RECENTLY SIGNED A BILL WHICH COULD HAVE A DEVASTATING EFFECT ON OUR ECONOMY. WITHIN THIS BILL ARE SECTIONS THAT GREATLY PROHIBIT THE SALE  AND TRANSPORTATION OF CIGARETTES. THE PEOPLE OF THE SENECA NATION HAVE BEEN LIED TO BEFORE ,AND LISTENED WITH SKEPTICISM AS  PATAKI MADE THE   QUOTED PROMISE  BACK IN 97' ..BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE ARTICLE AFTER IT DETAILING THE STATES LATEST LIES IN AUGUST , 2000

 On May 18, more than 100 state troopers attacked a  peaceful gathering of Native people on Onondaga territory. Native and non-Native television viewers in western and upstate New York were horrified to see New York State Troopers viciously clubbing and arresting Native elders and children. But the state police miscalculated. The state's position deteriorated further. Despite media efforts to minimize what had happened at Onondaga, word of the police brutality was traveling fast via the moccasin telegraph. It reached Native communities as far away as Nova Scotia and British Columbia. The Native nations and the state teetered on the edge of a full blockade and all-out armed struggle. After Onondaga, the resulting public outcry made it even clearer that outside support for the growing Native struggle was intensifying. Several Native nations refused to sign tax agreements with the state. At other reservations, the people adamantly refused to honor agreements made without consultation with the elders, clan-mothers and the full nation. Indians kept tires burning on reservation land along major highways to bring attention to the state's intervention in Native sovereignty. Protesters closed the New York State Thruway for over 22 hours while interstate traffic had to be diverted. Routes 11 and 81 were also closed. The Seneca Nation at Cattaraugus and Allegheny discussed the possibility of collecting tolls from cars crossing their land. Native people and their supporters traveled to the capital in Albany for several demonstrations. Thousands of non-Indian supporters began to show their outrage at what the state was doing in their name. Scores of letters supporting the Native struggle were published in local newspapers. Thousands of petitions demanding respect for Native sovereignty were collected. Non-Native people organized support caravans from Buffalo to Seneca territory. Pro-Native demonstrations in downtown Buffalo received widespread support. Early on, when almost no news of the Native struggle for economic self-determination had gone beyond the local area, the Buffalo chapter of the National People's Campaign had organized a news conference attended by over 100 Native people and supporters. It helped break the isolation of the Native nations and spread solidarity. Calls started to pour in to the NPC office asking, "How can we help?" LESSONS OF THE STRUGGLE: While it was clearly the state--the governor and his armed police--carrying out this attack on Native sovereignty, the petroleum and  convenience store business owners were behind them. They helped fund Pataki's election campaign and quite literally sat at the negotiating table with the state in an effort to gain a competitive advantage and raise their profits. The people's struggle, not the court, pushed back the state. True, the state courts recently ruled in favor of the Native business owners, ordering Pataki to stop the police occupation and the economic blockade of reservations that refused to sign agreements with the state. But the courts would never have issued pro-Native rulings had it not been for the burgeoning struggle. The struggle is not over. Petroleum and convenience store associations are trying to overturn Pataki's decision in the courts. But the victory has already proven the potential of mass struggle. Oppressed people can break out of isolation and link up in a broad-based movement to become a powerful force for change. The state is strong, but it had to back down because of a growing mass movement.

- END ,...or so we thought!

(note- an injunction on this law has been issued -click here)

By AGNES PALAZZETTI  BUFFALO News Staff Reporter 8/18/00
The multimillion-dollar Internet cigarette business flourishing on the Seneca Indian reservations went up in flames Thursday when Gov. George E. Pataki signed a bill prohibiting Indian sales of cigarettes to individual Internet customers.

"This will wipe out my business," said Larry Ballagh, a Seneca who started in the mail-order business in 1987 and then switched to an Internet site, Ballagh said that "100 percent of my business is with individuals, as I would guess it is for the dozens of other people on our reservations selling cigarettes via the Internet." "They will be out of work, as well as the people who work for them - a major blow to the Senecas who live on the reservations," Ballagh said. But Buffalo attorney Joseph F. Crangle, who represents several Indian business people, insisted that the new law, which takes effect in 90 days, "does not apply to the Indians."

"I cannot believe Gov. Pataki would go back on the promise he made to the Indians in 1997 after the last tax protest," Crangle said. "He promised the state he would not interfere with the Indians again."

Suzanne Morris, a spokeswoman for Pataki, said the law would not stop the shipment of tobacco products to the reservations, where they can be sold tax-free. "The law does prohibit Internet sales to individuals off the reservation," Morris said, "but the Indians could sell to licensed retailers." The licensed retailers would be required to buy the state tax stamps and affix them to the cigarette packages. Ballagh laughed at that reasoning. "Why should the retailers buy from us?" he asked. "They still have to collect the state taxes, so they will be paying as much as they now do to their wholesalers."

There are more than 50 Indian Internet sites advertising cigarettes at prices that are much cheaper than those sold off the reservation because they are tax-free. New York has the highest cigarette tax in the nation at $1.11 per pack. The legislation will also hit hard at carriers such as United Parcel Service and Federal Express that pick up hundreds of packages of cigarettes daily from Indian businesspeople for shipment to customers.

The legislation would penalize carriers for delivering cigarettes that do not carry the tax stamp.

Illegally shipped or transported cigarettes will be seized by law enforcement officers when they leave the reservation. Violators will be charged with a misdemeanor for the first violation, punishable by up to a year in jail. For the second violation, it will be a Class E felony, punishable by up to four years in prison. The state health commissioner will have the authority to impose fines of up to $5,000 per violation.

There is one gaping loophole that could keep the Internet businesses going: The state cannot stop the U.S. Postal Service from doing business with the Indians. The law amends the state tax law by adding a new Class D felony offense, instead of the current misdemeanor penalty. Violators could face up to seven years in prison for shipping large quantities - 30,000 cigarettes or more, or basically a truckload - into New York that do not have the New York State tax stamp on them.

We expect this law to be amended or overturned. write to your local government to protest these frivolous actions.