Fact Checking the Arcuri-Hanna Debate
In an Oct. 8 debate on News 10 Now, Congressman Michael Arcuri and his challenger Richard Hanna repeatedly blamed Oneida Nation Representative and CEO Ray Halbritter for not wanting to negotiate on the land into trust issue. Arcuri said he worked hard to resolve the issue through negotiation to avoid litigation, while Hanna said he would have been successful where Arcuri was not.
Fact: Both candidates were wrong in their assessment of what transpired. The Oneidas have said they would negotiate—and have done so. The Nation actually made proposals to both Oneida and Madison counties. Halbritter sat down face-to-face with the leaders of both counties. The counties then chose litigation over negotiation. Neither Arcuri nor Hanna was ever directly involved with the negotiations so neither really knows what was going on. Instead, they chose to make up their own “facts”. Fact: The Oneidas have made proposals to the counties to settle the claim at least three times in the past. The Oneidas offered the counties has much as $100 million to settle—a claim where the State and counties were at fault, not the Oneidas. In 2002, a framework for a settlement was reached but then the State walked away.
Fact: The Nation has created nearly 5,000 jobs since 1993—with wages earned of more than $130 million. In addition, the Nation spends about $328 million for goods and services—nearly $120 million of that in Central New York. According the US Department of Interior’s Final Environmental Impact Statement on the Oneidas’ land into trust case, for every $1 the Nation does not pay in property taxes, the state and local receive nearly $17 in other revenues that can be traced to the Nation’s business and government activities.
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