Did Clinton promise to help donating Indians regain land? Story-Date: 10:47 a.m. PST Saturday , October 11, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ Did Clinton promise to help donating Indians regain land? By James Rowley Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The leader of an Oklahoma Indian tribe that gave Democrats $107,000 in hopes of recovering disputed land said President Clinton told him "we can help you" at a White House luncheon for donors, a transcript of a tribal meeting showed. Charles Surveyor, chairman of the Cheyenne-Arapaho, recounted Clinton's words two days after he joined a small group of big donors at the June 17, 1996, luncheon, according to the transcript, obtained by The Associated Press. Tribal officials donated the money to the Democratic National Committee as part of a still unsuccessful effort to win back the 7,500 acres -- land that the federal government took more than a century ago to build an Army fort. The DNC returned the tribe's donation this year. The tribe promised the donation with the understanding tribal officials would get to meet Clinton, the tribe's chief lobbyist said at the meeting. At the White House luncheon, Surveyor had made the tribe's pitch to Clinton for the land's return. "I told him how it was taken and if there was any way they could get it back," Surveyor is quoted as saying. "When I got through talking, he said, `Well, I think we can help you then."' Senate aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, said tribal representatives told investigators that Terence McAuliffe, Clinton's chief campaign fund-raiser, assured Surveyor as they left the luncheon, "When the president makes a promise, he keeps it." White House special counsel Lanny J. Davis said it would be "unfair and baseless" to conclude that Clinton's remarks were related to the $107,000 in donations the tribe gave the Democratic National Committee in a two-month period after the lunch. "Certainly, there is no basis for concluding that anything the president said was in response to a pledge or commitment for a campaign donation," Davis said. In such situations, Clinton "would listen carefully and sometimes respond sympathetically," Davis said. But the president "makes his decisions and implements his policies based on what he considers to be the merits and the best interests of the American people." "Bill Clinton never made any promise to anybody," McAuliffe said in an interview. "My guess is the president said, `I will have my staff look into it."' McAuliffe, who accompanied two tribal officials to the lunch, denied making the comment attributed to him. "I never met these people before," McAuliffe said. "I never spoke to these people after the lunch." When questioned by Senate investigators, McAuliffe said he might have given the Indians general words of encouragement but didn't recall saying anything specific about a presidential commitment, a Senate aide said. The transcript of the tribe's meeting was made by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee from a tape recording furnished by the Cheyenne-Arapaho. Surveyor and two other officials, plus the tribe's lawyer, are seeking immunity from prosecution as a condition of testifying before the panel's hearings on campaign fund-raising abuses. At the tribal meeting, Surveyor and Tyler Todd, the tribe's chief lobbyist, were questioned about the necessity to make the donation. Asked if Clinton made a commitment, Todd said: "You don't go in and make deals with the president. We go in and talk to him." Surveyor noted that when the Cherokees were lobbying the Bush administration, they made no deals. "They donated $150-and-some-thousand or $200-and-some, right around there, and you can see the results. They got everything and are getting everything. That is what it comes down to." Asked by Arapaho Chief Virgil Franklin if the tribe received a commitment for the donation, Tyler said: "I believe there was the assumption of a commitment -- again to meet with the president." ------------------------------------------------------------