Seneca Nation-President - NY's Seneca Indian Nation installs new president

IRVING, N.Y. (AP) – New York's Seneca Indian Nation has inaugurated a new president, a Harvard Law School graduate who promises to make economic diversity and education the nation's top priorities.

Forty-seven-year-old Robert Odawi Porter was installed Tuesday during the 7,800-member tribe's “Canvass Day” ceremonies on the Cattaraugus territory in western New York. He was elected last Tuesday.

Much of the Seneca Nation's economy is built on casinos and tax-free cigarette sales but Porter says continuing to rely on smoking would be risky because the public tide has turned against it.

The nation is among five New York tribes that have taken the state to court over its efforts to heavily tax smokeshop sales, which the tribes see as impinging on tribal sovereignty.