Newsom also appointed a Regent who claims Native American heritage to the Board of Regents, Greg Sarris (who at one point taught at UCLA). But now questions have arisen. From Capitol Weekly:
An esteemed author and scholar as well as a long-time tribal leader, Greg Sarris would seem to be a natural fit on the UC Board of Regents. Sarris, 71, taught English and writing at three California universities, UCLA, Loyola Marymount and Sonoma State, for more than 30 years and authored several well-regard books, including Grand Avenue, a collection of short stories that was adapted into an HBO miniseries co-executive produced by Robert Redford. In 2020, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
His leadership of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria in Northern California has been no less impressive. Sarris is credited with securing federal recognition of the tribe in 2000, then leading it to build the ultra-successful Graton Resort & Casino in the Bay Area with the help of the ubiquitous Las Vegas gaming chain Station Casinos. He’s currently serving his 16th term as tribal chairman. So, it was no surprise to see in late June that Gov. Gavin Newsom would appoint someone of Sarris’ stature and prominence to the Board of Regents. With that record, his confirmation by the Senate would seem to be a no brainer.
But scratch below the surface and you’ll find that Sarris has led such a controversial life that he could face scrutiny when his appointment is reviewed sometime next year. For starters, Sarris has been dogged for years by allegations that he’s not actually Native American, including in a 2011 story in Capitol Weekly...
Meanwhile, Donald Craig Mitchell, a California-educated attorney who once served as a former vice president and general counsel for the Alaska Federation of Natives, has accused Sarris of not only tricking Congress into recognizing his tribe and granting it gaming rights, but of also making up the very idea of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria to begin with.
“Other than in Greg Sarris’ imagination,” Mitchell wrote in his 2016 book, Wampum: How Indian Tribes, the Mafia, and an Inattentive Congress Invented Indian Gaming and Created a $28 Billion Gambling Empire, the tribe “had never existed.”
But perhaps most glaring was Sarris’ tortured relationship with Sonoma State, where he taught for 16 years, until 2021.
Under Sarris’ leadership, the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria donated $1.5 million to Sonoma State in 2003 to endow a chair in Native American studies – or, well, Station Casinos advanced the money to the university for the tribe, which at the time was still trying to get its own casino up and running. Who do you suppose Sonoma State eventually chose for the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria Endowed Chair in Creative Writing and Native American Studies? Why, Greg Sarris, the chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, of course...
Sarris has refused to take a DNA test of his own, saying he’ll only do so if his tribe permits it, and the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs insists that sovereign tribes determine their own membership...
Full story (there is much, much more) at https://capitolweekly.net/questions-dog-new-uc-board-of-regents-appointee/.
It's hard to believe that whoever does the research on possible appointments for the governor could have been aware of this background. After all, Newsom is in the midst of his I-am-not-running-for-president campaign. But there is always the simple explanation:
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