Ute Tribe declares political war with Rep. Rob Bishop

Source: The Salt Lake Tribune

Notable Ute wars included the Walker War of 1853-54, the Black Hawk War of 1865-72 and the Posey War of 1923. Now add to the list the tribe's political war of 2016 against U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop.

The tribe provided $100,000 in startup money for the new Ute Indian Tribe Political Action Committee. That PAC has contracted for at least $40,000 in ads that would air on Utah broadcast TV stations, accusing Bishop of attempting the "first Indian land theft in 100 years," and more are coming to cable TV. The ads also are online.

That $100,000 is slightly more than Bishop's Democratic opponent, Peter Clemens, reported raising this cycle through Sept. 30 — $98,596.

Meanwhile, Bishop's campaign is questioning whether Clemens and the tribe may have crossed legal lines that bar coordination between them. It provided a copy of a fundraising email in which Clemens' campaign appears to seek money to run its own TV ads at the same time as the tribe "in order to hit Bishop from two fronts."

Read more: http://www.sltrib.com/news/4481217-155/ute-tribe-starts-political-war-with