Gov. Pawlenty's Casino Plan

As clocks ticks on session, Canterbury casino still in play

PATRICK CONDON Associated Press

ST. PAUL - Gov. Tim Pawlenty's decision to pull his gambling proposal from consideration in the House doesn't spell doom this session for a proposed casino at Canterbury Park racetrack, its chief supporter said Wednesday.

Rep. Mark Buesgens, R-Jordan, said that in the next few days he would bring the so-called racino proposal directly to the House floor for an up-or-down vote. He hopes for support from lawmakers worried that Pawlenty's decision leaves them $200 million short of what they want to spend on state needs.

Buesgens said a number of lawmakers not comfortable with the major gambling expansion proposed by Pawlenty - the racino and a state-tribal casino, both located near the racetrack - told him privately that they'd support the racino on its own.

"Let's get it through the House, and you have a running chance of getting it through the Senate," said Senate Minority Leader Dick Day, R-Owatonna, a longtime racino backer. He said 27 of his Senate Republican colleagues would vote in favor, meaning it would need support from less than 10 Democrats.

However, Pawlenty himself could be a stumbling block to the racino becoming reality. His chief of staff, Dan McElroy, said this week that the governor would not support a gambling expansion that didn't include participation by interested Indian tribes.

Sviggum said that wouldn't necessarily stop the House from approving the racino. "If you approve it, it becomes another piece that could come up in negotiations," he said.



In Minnesota as elsewhere, standing up to governors is a good idea

Posted: May 19, 2005
by: Staff Reports / Indian Country Today

In America, the Indians are made to pay. Indian property - stolen ''fair and square,'' apparently - has been the fuel of American economy for more than 200 years.

The solution in the minds of politicians and other special interest groups in the various states that contain Native nations is to go after whatever assets and revenues Indian tribal governments and member associations presently hold, and work to impose fees, taxes and any and all manner of tentacles upon such sovereign properties. State governors throughout Indian country are intent on making tribal America fill the gap left behind for the big tax cut cave-in to special interests at the federal level. Everywhere the bite of states - illegal and unwarranted - upon the economic treasure of Indian country grows more ferocious.

The assertion that states have the right to tax the revenues of Indian governments must indeed be challenged at every turn. In Minnesota, Stanley Crooks is one of those who stand their ground.

Crooks stood up quickly when Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, in an act of political duress if ever there was one, demanded some $350 million in gambling revenues from the tribes for his state's treasury. The feds are failing him, so the Indian tribes must pay. If the tribes don't acquiesce, he threatened to make Minnesota the Nevada of the upper Midwest, throwing the state wide open to state and corporate casino operations.

Crooks, chairman of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux (Dakota) Community, wrote the governor last December: ''There is no reasonable justification for you to demand, or otherwise expect, tribal governments in Minnesota to share any of their gaming revenues with state government.'' In the now-renowned letter, Crooks cited the reigning interpretation of sovereignty-protected Indian gaming as a nation-building enterprise: ''Tribal gaming revenues are for tribal governments and Indian people to use in an effort to address historically dire conditions on Indian reservations. Such conditions persist today in most of Indian country. ''Even with gaming, the tribes have limited resources with which to address the many issues throughout Indian country. On the other hand, state government has ample opportunity and resources available to it to pay for its own responsibilities without having to look to the tribes.''

University of Minnesota Law professor Dr. David Wilkins also weighed in on the governor's arm-wrenching proposal. He shared this 1988 quote from Sen. John McCain: ''The state and gaming industry have always come to the table with the position that what is theirs is theirs and what the tribes have is negotiable.'' He then went on to call Pawlenty's proposals ''attempts to coercively extract $350 million'' from tribes, while their ''present compacts are still good law.'' Pawlenty's arm-twisting tactics would violate the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Wilkins quoted the act: ''Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as conferring upon a state or any of its political subdivisions authority to impose any tax, fee, charge, or other assessment upon an Indian tribe or upon any other person or entity authorized by an Indian tribe to engage in a Class III [gaming] activity.''

While the Minnesota governor touted his squeeze-the-Indians campaign as a ''better deal for Minnesotans,'' Crooks pointed out that ''not all Minnesotans are members of tribes [but] all tribal members here are Minnesotans.'' He pointed to the ''improved lives of over 14,000 Minnesotans, Indian and non-Indian, who are employed by tribal governments and the thousands of others whose jobs are supported by tribal gaming.''

In 2002, Pawlenty promised the Tax Payers League that as governor, he would not raise taxes in a million years. He also promised not to expand gaming beyond Indian casinos. But it is easier to fight with Indians, so he turned on the tribes. Some local columnists now call him ''Big Tim, Indian Fighter.'' As Pawlenty's Minnesota predecessor, the independent Jesse Ventura, put it to a similar-minded governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger of California: ''He promised to balance the budget without raising taxes ... [but] ... I guess it's OK to rip off the Indians.''

The stand by Crooks and others among the economically fortified tribes in the state, while not fully successful to everyone's satisfaction, forced the governor to forward a plan both politically savvy for him yet necessarily advantageous for some of the state's most economically poor northern Chippewa tribes - White Earth, Red Lake and Leech Lake - which would become partners in a metro-area casino.

It is a substantial forward motion when disenfranchised and remote tribes can be brought into the playing game of casino capitalization. And regardless of how the political ball happens to roll on any particular season, it is always a good thing for Indian leadership to stand up against local and state jurisdictions whenever these cross the line and try to limit Indian sovereignty in any way. While no doubt Pawlenty's approach is chapter and verse out of the divide-and-conquer book, it is always a good thing when any Indian community improves its lot. It is also always best to maintain a vigilant and cautious attitude toward every governor of every state. This we fully encourage, as it always tends to bring around better situations and agreements for all tribal peoples who refuse to forget who they are.