People Against a Casino Town
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Tribal Casinos - today it's Florence's problem

Tomorrow it may be every Oregonian's
 
Opinion By:
Arnold Buchman
Spokesperson for People Against a Casino Town

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

A recent press release describes how a governor is fighting IGRA (Indian Gaming Regulation Act) and political loaded dice to make tribal gambling expansion subject to state law limitations and to open the process to public input and debate.

Don’t get excited Oregonians. Governor Kulongoski has not experienced an epiphany. The press release comes out of Denver, not Salem.

Colorado Governor Bill Owens is frustrated by the statutory and administrative loopholes that leave the meager state protections provided by IGRA to a governor vulnerable to easy evasion by Indian casino developers. The result is that local communities can be defenseless against the detrimental effects of a proposed Indian casino.

Florence area residents are all too aware that when a governor, for whatever reason, turns his back on the state's constitution and on local concerns, “locals” are left high and dry. Suspicions are raised when the back-turning happens to benefit those who are immune from the constraints on campaign contributions. It’s the sad truth that contributions can play an important part in our governmental decision-making process. 

The threat to Colorado comes from a group of non-Indian investors fronted by Oklahoma tribes to open a large casino near a major Colorado city. In a move that has become part of the casino-expansion playbook, these tribes recently filed a land claim for millions of acres of land in Colorado.

IGRA requires the approval of a state's governor before gambling can be conducted on land acquired in his or her state by a tribe after 1988. But, a gaping loophole in federal law allows the state to be bypassed if the land is taken into trust as part of a land-claim settlement.

"By attaching a few vague sentences onto a bill" Owens points out, "a member of Congress can grant land to a tribe as settlement for a land claim without state and local communities even knowing that the proposal existed."

The obvious objective of the million-acre land claim is to leverage a settlement with Congress that will evade Colorado law, cut state government out of the process and give the tribes a casino. Governor Owens sees this for what it is: a circumvention of Colorado’s constitutional processes.

"I am troubled," Owens said, "by the decision to file a land claim on 27 million acres in Colorado. As a result of this action, property owners in nearly two-thirds of the state may be required to take legal actions to clear their title or may face additional expenses associated with selling their property.  Colorado citizens should not be faced with such a burden and the state of Colorado will not accept or yield to such acts, which could be viewed as extortion."

It’s all too easy for casino developers, working through their client casino tribes and around IGRA's meager protections to deny local communities targeted for exploitation any say in casino site approval.

Even Connecticut, where it all got started, has had to turn to its Congressional delegation. BIA abuses have opened the door in the southern part of the state to a new casino that will rival the Foxwoods and Mohegan Suns behemoths that dominate the communities and economy of eastern Connecticut. Similarly, Governor Owens has turned to the Colorado congressional delegation for help.

Indeed, Florence residents have petitioned their representative in the House and Oregon's senators for help. So far, they have chosen not to respond to the community's concerns.

Today, it’s Florence’s problem. But casino developers are hungrily eyeing Portland and the Columbia Gorge.  There are rumors of a casino in Marcola.  Millions upon millions of dollars being made available for Oregon casino expansion by an obscenely wealthy Connecticut casino tribe.  And at least six Oregon groups soliciting the BIA for tribal recognition and a ticket to the casino gravy train.

So it may be every Oregonian's problem tomorrow -  especially when the first, and often only, line of defense is a governor deaf to local concerns.

(Published in Register-Guard newspaper as a Guest Viewpoint, September 22, 2004)

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