US judge sides with Comanches in tobacco dispute

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal judge in Oklahoma City sided with the Comanche Nation on Thursday in a dispute with the governor's office over the state's tobacco compact with the tribe.

U.S. District Judge Robin Cauthron issued a temporary restraining order that allows the Comanche Nation to enjoy the same tobacco compact the state has with the Chickasaw Nation. Under that deal, the $1.03 state tax rate per pack of cigarettes is distributed with 70 percent of the revenue to the tribe and 30 percent to the state during the first two years of the compact. The temporary restraining order will remain in place until the court resolves the dispute.

"The Comanche Nation sought a fair compact that was equal to the (Chickasaw Nation compact)," Wallace Coffey, the chairman of the nearly 16,000-member southwest Oklahoma tribe, said in a statement. "We feel like the state of Oklahoma didn't give us fair treatment and showed a lack of respect, and so we took action."

Each of the state's 38 federally recognized Indian tribes has the opportunity to negotiate a compact with the state that determines how much of the $1.03-per-pack tax is distributed between the state and the tribe. Nearly all of the existing tribal tobacco compacts expired this year, and new ones have been negotiated with the governor's office for 23 tribes so far, said Steve Mullins, Gov. Mary Fallin's general counsel who negotiates with the tribes on behalf of her office. Eleven other tribes, including some that don't sell tobacco or sell it only to their members, chose not to sign a compact. Negotiations are ongoing with the Ponca Tribe, and three others, including the Comanches, are currently tied up in litigation or arbitration.

Mullins said he was disappointed in Cauthron's ruling. He said most of the new compacts are unique for each individual tribe and that the governor's office used the compact negotiations "to find joint public policy goals."

For example, the Kaw Tribe was able to negotiate a better rate in exchange for making one of its casinos smoke-free.

"We basically said let's make individualized compacts a partnership," Mullins said. "If you agree to do certain things, we will agree to lower rates from the base rate."

In the case of the Chickasaws, the lower rate resulted from an agreement with the tribe to convert its vehicle fleet to natural gas and install compressed natural gas fueling stations at some of its convenience stores, Mullins said.

"The first thing we talked about with the tribes was did they want a one-size-fits-all compact where every tribe gets the same deal," Mullins said. "The consensus from the tribes was that a one-size-fits-all issue ignores the individual sovereignty of the 38 federally recognized Indian tribes in Oklahoma."

The governor's office also negotiates compacts with tribes over casino gaming, but Mullins said those compacts don't expire until 2020 and are the same for all tribes.