Senecas react to Schumer bill
From Business First in New York - March 12, 2006
United States Sen. Charles Schumer said he will file a bill in Washington to ban the shipment of cigarettes and other tobacco products through the U.S. Mail.
The democratic senator said he collaborated on the measure with state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The two Democratic officials said the legislation would close a current loophole in the law that is allowing the illegal shipment of tobacco products to continue.
Barry Snyder Sr., president of the Seneca Nation of Indians, criticized the legislation that he says would impact many members of the tribe.
"That Attorney General Spitzer and Sen. Schumer would call Senecas who sell cigarettes as being part of a 'massive criminal enterprise' is to malign the entire Seneca Nation and its people," Snyder said. "The only way legislation such as this can be enforced is if Senecas are denied the ability to ship packages through the mail, presumably on the basis of our 'looks.'"
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