Seneca Nation President JC Seneca is set to co-host a fundraiser tonight for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman. The event is being held at the nation's Seneca Niagara Casino and ranges in donation levels from $150 to $9,000.
Among other hosts is State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt and State Senator George Borrello, two prominent GOP members of Western New York's delegation to Albany. All coming together to support Blakeman's shot for the governor's office.
"The Seneca people did not approve of this, do not support Blakeman, nor do we support Hochul for that matter," said Seneca activist and former council candidate Leslie Logan.
Logan is among a group of Seneca women and others who are leading a protest in front of the Niagara Falls casino, objecting to the usage of nation property for the event and getting involved in state politics.
"The Seneca Nation Council did not vote, approve, sanction, or bless this Blakeman fundraiser. This is J.C. Seneca out as a rogue kind of renegade president doing whatever he feels like without the approval of anybody."
Taking such a strong position for a state political campaign is at odds with Haudenosaunee principles, Logan argued.
Namely, the Two Row Wampum which was formed in 1613 between the Haudenosaunee and European colonists as a means to show co-existence without interference in the affairs of the other.
"What it's come to mean in present day times is that we still are bound by these kinds of principles," said Logan. "Wherein the the one row of wampum beads signifies the foreign entity in their ship, and the other represents the Haudenosaunee people, including the Senecas, in our canoe. And that we will travel side by side, but not attempt to put one foot in the others, try to steer the other, or interfere with the other. We should stay out of their politics, and we should certainly not fundraise for them."
Blakeman has taken positions that are at odds with stances by the Seneca Nation and other Native nations in the state. Those include support for data center development, loosening regulations around natural gas extraction, prediction market trading and Indigenous mascots in public schools.
The governor hopeful has previously said he's "ready to sit down and talk" to about a new gaming compact.
Seneca’s term as president expires in November. There still is no gaming compact signed between the state and nation. Although Seneca indicated there is an agreement in principle, Governor Hochul’s office dismissed that wording.
A spokesperson for the president declined to comment, and the Blakeman campaign did not respond to BTPM News' inquiry.
