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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1996)
2 tpliftl(t(B SMOKE SIGNALS "IT Si Letter to the Editor Dear friends, family, and tribal members: On behalf of the Harrison family, we would like to extend our gratitude to ev eryone that helped us this year. Know that your cards, prayers, and support strengthened us in the loss of our brother and son, Tom Harrison. There are too many to mention by name here. We'd like to thank those who turned their prayers our way, those who mourned with us and felt the loss with us. We would also like to thank those who could come to our giveaway during Pow-wow. It meant a lot to see your faces there. Our family was proud to welcome into our family circle a nephew and cousin, Roy Track, Jr. We were all glad that he was able to be there to help with emcee duties and to finally meet our "long lost cuz." Finally, we would like to show our ap preciation to the Arena Directors, Buddy Haskins and Jackie Provost. You did an outstanding job. Thank you again. Respectfully, Kathy Harrison Colcy and the Harrison family J EDITORIAL POLICY Mm niJtmxfifri'jiFiiH'tiii nan m maam- - SALEM - September 3: 3 to 7:30 p.m. September 4: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. September 5: Noon to 8 p.m. - SILETZ - September 17, 18, and 19 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. When it comes to compact negotiations, the states seem a . a j J to have the upper hand now more man ever. When gaming veterans look back on 1996 they'll likely see it as the year the massive and sudden expansion of Indian gaming across the country slackened to an agonizing crawl. Impeded by the uncertain results of the Supreme Court's, landmark Seminole decision which inconveniently occurred in the middle of a Presidential election campaign tribal members, lobbyists, and lawmakers now find themselves in far muddier waters than they did just six months ago, when Seminole was yet to be decided. ESCALATING TENSIONS The questions surrounding tribal gaming stem from the central issue of the Seminole decision: Tribes pursuing compacts faced with states that refuse to negotiate with them in good faith, can no longer sue the states in federal court, as the 1988 Indian Gaining Regulatory Act (IGRA) originally stipulated. "I think Indian gaming is in a phase right now where you have some strong tribal-state relations and some that aren't as strong," said Frank Miller, the director of the Washing ton State Gambling Commis sion. "Some states aren't ne gotiating, and tensions are es calating. For the next year or so it's going to be very inter esting to see how these issues are going to be resolved." In the meantime, while Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt goes about asking for input on whether and how he should set up pro cedures for establishing com pacts, and while individual members of Congress con sider reopening IGRA to find a legislative remedy, many tribes without gaming operations may find themselves in limbo. PROTRACTED PROCESS Even if Presidential politics didn't enter the picture, establishing an Interior remedy to the Seminole decision could stretch on for months or even years. Observers on both sides of the Indian gaming debate are looking to Congress to resolve such issues as the Interior remedy and how or whether tribal gaming opera tions should be subject to tighter regulations. For instance, Tom Foley, a commissioner at the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC), would like to see SB-487, a bill that would toughen regulations of Indian gaming operations sponsored by Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) that last summer passed the Senate Indian Affairs Commit tee, move along towards passage next year. He said SB-487 "is a bill we need and I am in favor of it" and that "the courts seem to be signalling that they want Congress to provide the solution to this particular diffi culty, if the state doesn't want to engage in gaming." TRIBAL TRIBULATIONS This puts some tribes in a difficult posi tion a position tribes in states like Ari zona and Nebraska are familiar with. Na tive groups in those states and others are trying to obtain compacts with states that the tribes allege are not negotiating in good faith. Options for these tribes are limited and controversial. , , They can open a gaming '""V P.era." .. . . fi h .v.;' - -Sri . .Ui i .L v, , compact ' J f -v.'.; lira; i hi n yU 1 I 1 tion without a compact and risk federal pu nitive measures; they can await a remedy from Congress or the Interior, which could take months or years; or they can attempt legal remedies other than a bad faith law suit. In Nebraska the Santee Sioux tribe, un able to reach a gaming agreement with the state, opened a small casino on the reserva tion land along the Missouri River. The tribe also filed a bad faith suit against the state in federal court. After the Seminole decision came down the stale interposed the 1 1th Amendment immunity to lawsuit that the Seminole decision reiterated, and the Santee Sioux case was dismissed. The U.S. Attorney's office seized the tribe's funds, the National Indian Gaming Commission threatened a $25,000 pcr-day fine, and a court order forcing the casino's closure was considered. The casino was shut down, but attorneys for the tribe say they continue to pursue le gal means by which they hope to have the Santee Sioux gaming operation reopened. In Arizona the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian community also asked the state gov ernor to enter into negotiations for a com pact. Governor Fife Symington refused, de spite the fact that he had earlier worked out compacts with 16 other tribes in the state. The Salt River tribe was preparing a bad faith lawsuit to be filed in federal court when the Seminole decision forced them to re consider. The tribe is now pursuing legal action against the state under the principals of equal protection and due process. AN ISSUE OF POWER That Indian gaming re mains a political hot potato is no surprise to those who have watched the industry since the first reservation bingo halls opened in the late 70s. Whatever the motives of the individual governors and legislators may be, several industry watchers feel that the Seminole decision has had a clear and obvious im pact on the political atmo sphere nationwide. "There's a push by some in the political arenas to slow down the process, to try to use Seminole as a way not to i j negotiate with other tribes," said Washington state's Miller. To his mind, IGRA still requires state governments to negotiate with Indian tribes, despite the removal of the tribe's abil ity to sue the state. The problem, as Miller and nearly every one else in the gaming industry readily ad mits, is that there is no longer any penalty for a state that refuses to negotiate a compact. One thing is certain: For all the ques tions it didn 't answer, the Supreme Court's ruling in the Seminole case has profoundly altered the landscape of Indian gaming in the United States. This story was reprinted in part from Inter national Gaming and Wagering Business magazine. Illustration by James BozzinL
