Indians Accuse the Governor and the Mayor of Taxicide

YNN is reporting that the Seneca are once again resorting to lies and distortions in their ongoing effort to undermine the rule of law-this time taking out an ad that accuses the two law makers of, "death by taxes." Here's what the intrepid Liz has found: "The Seneca Free Trade Association took out this full-page ad in today’s Buffalo News that hits Gov. David Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg for the (currently stalled) effort to collect sales taxes on cigarettes sold to non-Indians on Indian land. The ad states that “Death by Taxes” is “not just a clever pun about today’s economic times, but an actual threat made by NYS Governor David Paterson and encouraged by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg...”

Of course, neither the mayor or the governor said anything remotely threatening-but both men have been keenly aware of the threats of violence echoing throughout the tribal network ( not to mention the actual violence that took place in the nineties). But what we thought was rather droll is the following characterization of Bloomberg and Paterson as being tools of some unnamed special interests: 'They may think nothing about sacrificing Native Americans to make good on promises made to special interest groups and campaign contributors…When Native Americans are beaten and killed in the days to come it will easily be defended as WE ARE JUST DOING OUR JOBS.”

Now that's a mouthful crying out for some deconstruction. In the case of the mayor, of course, he hasn't taken a dime from anyone but his own accountant-so that accusation is simply farcical. The governor has done business with a wide range of groups and interests-and we would be shocked if an investigation uncovered no Seneca contributions to all of  NY's last three governors. These Indians are Players!

But of course, both the governor and the mayor are actually trying in this case to represent not only the public interest, but the rule of law-and with multi-billion budget deficits why should the Seneca be given special dispensation from our tax laws? And let's be real, the governor's concern with violence is certainly not some kind of psychotic break-and the Seneca's charge is a classic example of projection.

Put simply, any violence and loss of life would only be a consequence of efforts by the tribes to forcefully flout the law. If that happens, the instigators have only themselves to blame.