Oklahoma Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat has formally asked state Attorney General Gentner Drummond to intervene in an ongoing dispute over tribal gaming compacts.

In 2020, the legislature filed two lawsuits against Gov. Kevin Stitt, arguing his signing of four tribal gaming compacts with tribal nations were illegal, as the governor did not receive legislative approval.

The state Supreme Court ruled twice in the legislature’s favor, saying the compacts were invalid under Oklahoma law. Stitt has attempted to have the compacts approved by the federal government.

Four separate tribal nations then filed a federal lawsuit in a Washington D.C. court against Stitt, the four nations involved in the compacts and the U.S. Department of the Interior, seeking to have the four gaming compacts voided due to the illegality of them under Oklahoma law.

In Treat’s letter, he wrote Stitt has asked a federal court to ignore Oklahoma law, proving him unfit to represent state interests.

“It has thus become clear that the Governor has a conflict: he can either choose to represent the interests of the state or his own personal interests, and I believe he has made his decision clear,” Treat wrote.

Treat formally asked Drummond on behalf of the state Senate to intervene in the federal lawsuit, though whatever means necessary, to defend state interests.

“I can no longer stand by and watch Oklahoma taxpayer dollars be spent on high-dollar east coast law firms in pursuit of Governor Stitt’s personal agenda at the expense of the state’s interest,” Treat wrote.

Treat included in his letter that all Oklahomans are to be treated equally under the law, meaning no one, including Stitt, is above the law.