Gov. Pawlenty discusses gambling ideas with northern tribes at White Earth visit

By Brad Swenson

Pioneer Political Editor

A proposal putting the state in the gaming business with three northern tribes gained ground Thursday, but no deal was sealed.

“We did explore some general ideas and concepts about gaming partnerships,” Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Thursday after meeting with officials from Red Lake, Leech Lake and White Earth bands of Chippewa.

“We agreed to continue to talk and visit about those concepts,” he told reporters in a telephone news conference with the tribal leaders after spending about three hours on the White Earth Reservation. “We have made no decisions. ... We are just exploring and researching ideas and options at this point.”

The three tribes, among the state’s poorest, have proposed operating a northern Twin Cities casino in a partnership with the state, sharing revenues. The three tribes see the Twin Cities market more lucrative than their current operations.

Other gaming tribes which do operate casinos near the Twin Cities, however, have opposed such moves and don’t believe the state should engage in casino gaming. Pawlenty has also angered them with a proposal that the state get about a quarter of their profits in exchange for exclusivity for gaming in Minnesota.

“I think that we are on the same page with understanding many of the challenges between the initiatives on gaming,” said White Earth Tribal Chairwoman Erma Vizenor. “We’re on the same page, however the words may change some.”

The original Minnesota Gaming Equity Act with Red Lake and White Earth proposing the joint casino with the state has previously been approved by the Minnesota House. Now, however, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe has joined with the other two tribes.

“We only see the addition of Leech Lake as an asset, given the fact that the three tribes now comprise at least 80 percent of all the Indians in the state and represent probably the most economically deprived citizens of the state,” Vizenor said. “That strengthens our position.”

But much needs to be done, in both convincing the Legislature on a plan and internally to convince members of the three tribes that a partnership with the state has benefits.

“We have to look at ways that will make it attractive not only to the legislators to get it passed, but also ways that our constituents, our tribal members, are assured that our interests are protected,” said Red Lake Tribal Secretary Judy Roy. “We still believe that it (the Minnesota Gaming Equity Act) has a solid foundation for benefits to the tribe and to the state, in fact three tribes which are now involved.”

Pawlenty said he offered some options to the three tribes during the meeting, much along the same lines as the act, and that the tribes will consider them.

“We presented some additional concepts that we asked them to consider that would take the form of a partnership, a gaming partnership, with the state,” the Republican governor said. “They agreed to at least consider those things and then have further discussion or reaction in the not too distant future.”

A study done last month for the Red Lake Nation scoped out the cost of a potential northern Twin Cities casino at $475.8 million, which would also offer a hotel. Net revenues were estimated at $446 million a year, leaving $90 million to the state and the three tribes to split $192 million, of which construction bonds would also have to be paid.

“We are a new partner and we are open to discussions on almost any topic,” said Leech Lake Tribal Executive Director Lenee Ross. “We certainly support the tribes and are interested in any and all proposals that the governor and his staff bring forward. … We have a lot of people we need to talk to and discuss, to build consensus among our constituents, among our elected tribal government officials.”

But Pawlenty said any potential casino would be run by the tribes, not the state.

“The state isn’t interested in running or managing or operating a casino,” he said. “We would simply authorize or license and look at being a financial partner perhaps, if this is route we’re going.”

And the proposal could include other tribes, as well, he said.

“I will say in short that so far they’ve indicated that they wouldn’t be interested in a partnership,” he said of the state’s other tribes. “We continue to be open to and solicit them coming to the table as well, but at the moment, they appear unwilling to do that.”

But Pawlenty views the potential northern tribes partnership as a separate gaming issue from his push to get a percentage of the take from the more lucrative tribes already operating in the Twin Cities area.

“We’re going to get on the positive side of the ledger and view this, if we went down this trail, as a free-standing decision on its own merits, not related to what the other tribes do or don’t do,” Pawlenty said.

“The potential outcome here will do a lot of good for people who need some help and who need some additional opportunities. I’m speaking specifically of our potential northern tribe partners, who are the vast majority of tribal members in Minnesota but really have not proportionately benefited in terms of many of the advances for the tribal communities.”

The meeting also included state Sens. Rod Skoe, DFL-Clearbrook, Keith Langseth, DFL-Glyndon, and Jim Vickerman, DFL-Tracy. The group toured White Earth housing and school facilities, attended a drum ceremony, had a pipe ceremony in their honor, and ate an Indian tacos fry bread meal.

“It’s an historic day for us,” Vizenor said. “None of us can recall ever having a governor come to visit us, and so we are very, very honored.”

Pawlenty said the group talked about a host of issues aside from gaming, such as energy assistance, education, health care, infrastructure needs and economic development.

“We want to reach out to the tribal communities in Minnesota and make sure that we have a respectful relationship, so we always start the discussion with making sure that we recognize the government-to-government relationship,” Pawlenty said. “Tribal governments that are represented here today have needs and challenges, and they’re trying to articulate those needs and challenges.”

“I believe it’s optimistic and hopeful that we are engaged in a true dialog, and as the governor has said, a true government-to-government discussion about how we the individual sovereign tribes can relate with the state in a way that will be mutually beneficial and that will take advantage of whatever the window of opportunity is for gaming,” said Red Lake’s Roy. “We don’t it to be the be-all and end-all; we want to use the opportunity to diversify our own economy and to build our own nations.”

“We’re all people and we all share common bonds, that we have relationships that are mutually beneficial,” agreed Leech Lake’s Ross. “We talked about services, needs, our employment needs, and our labor force, which is equipped to do many wonderful things for our people at Leech Lake.”