CTUIR Gaming Inspector Spencer Elected OAIGC Vice Chairman

MISSION, Ore. – Brad Spencer, gaming inspector for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) Gaming Commission, was recently elected vice chairman of the Oregon Association of Indian Gaming Commissions (OAIGC).

He was elected to the position during the OAIGC’s December meeting at the Spirit Mountain Casino & Lodge in Grand Ronde.

“It’s an honor to be elected vice chairman of the OAIGC, mostly as representative of the CTUIR but also to be a representative of Oregon and the tribes gaming,” Spencer said. “I was surprised and humbled by the gesture. I owe a ton of what I have learned within the OAIGC to my former boss Atway Maureen Minthorn-Bates, as she is the epitome of being a representative of the OAIGC and CTUIR.”

The late Minthorn-Bates served as the CTUIR gaming inspector before Spencer. Joining the Gaming Commission in 1995, she worked her way up to the position in 2001. She also served as OAIGC chairwoman. Minthorn-Bates passed away in 2020.

Spencer said his duty as vice chairman is to assume the chairperson’s role in his or her absence or inability to perform OAIGC duties.

“The chair, or the delegate in their stead, shall be the executive officer of the association and shall have responsibility for the general management of the association,” he said. “They shall see that all requests and directives from the association members are carried into effect. The chair shall have powers and duties as may be prescribed by the association.”

The OAIGC is a mutually formed association that provides to the general welfare and promotion of the Indian gaming industry by ensuring the fairness, honesty and integrity of the gaming enterprises for each Oregon tribe. Its goal is to promote, support, protect and provide for the tribes’ goal of autonomous self-regulation.

The OAIGC elects its officers annually at its last meeting of the year. Officers are elected by OAIGC members, who are comprised of any gaming commission member of a recognized tribe in Oregon.

For more information about the OAIGC, visit 256232 (oregonlegislature.gov).

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation is comprised of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla Tribes, and formed under the Treaty of 1855 at the Walla Walla Valley, 12 Stat. 945. In 1949, the Tribes adopted a constitutional form of government to protect, preserve and enhance the reserved treaty rights guaranteed under federal law.