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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
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- 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."
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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