Obnoxious Paternalism

I had to agree with Paula Lorenzo of the Rumsey Tribe that Dave Cox, Tom McClintock, and other state Republicans were unforgivably insulting by equating tribal sovereignty with private property rights (in the July 16th Sacramento Bee): the two concepts are very distinct, and have long, storied, and most importantly, separate histories. Using supposed high principle in order to conflate the two concepts, especially for base political purposes, is very bad to the reputation of statewide Republicans. McClintock, in particular, has no excuse for his grotesque error:

Cox said Friday he had "placed a call" to Lorenzo and would assure her he meant no offense when he compared the government's seizure of tribal lands at gunpoint in the 19th century to Yolo County's eminent domain action against developer Steve Gidaro and other investors in Conaway Ranch.

At Wednesday's hearing, Cox told a visibly fuming Lorenzo that he "was very disappointed in the Rumsey band for participating in what I consider to be an abuse of power, where you're taking land from an unwilling seller."

...In her letter, Lorenzo called Cox's analogy between the national and state governments' historical treatment of her ancestors - which included paying bounties for their scalps - and the county's eminent-domain action "nothing short of obscene."

"First, our land was taken without any compensation, let alone just compensation, as required by the eminent domain provisions of the United States Constitution and California law," Lorenzo wrote. "More importantly, the purpose for taking our land was to facilitate the genocide of our people."

...McClintock, an outspoken defender of private property rights, told Lorenzo he felt "inexpressible dismay, distrust and sadness" at seeing an Indian tribe associated with an eminent-domain action. He asserted that the notion of tribal sovereignty was an outgrowth of private property rights.

"For you (Cox) and Sen. McClintock to lecture me, a tribal official and descendent of the few survivors of the 19th century holocaust of our people, about the nature of sovereignty and what is in the tribe's interest is the height of arrogance and paternalism," Lorenzo wrote.

...But McClintock made no apologies for his remarks. In a Friday interview, he said he has spent many years defending the sovereign rights of Indian tribes. In the 1980s, he said, he backed a San Diego-area tribe that wanted to build a landfill on its land.

"It was one of the saddest days of my legislative career to see one of those tribes trying to deny the same rights to others that I spent a quarter of a century trying to maintain for them," McClintock said.

...The Rumsey Band, flush with profits from its Cache Creek casino, recently boosted the county over a major hurdle when it said it would help pay for the Conaway property, which Gidaro's group bought for an estimated $60 million last year.

"The Rumsey folks have a sterling reputation," Cox said. "They're the ones who are supplying the money for this eminent domain, and I just take exception to that. But this is not about Rumsey. This is about the eminent-domain proceedings."