Column: Gambling continues as hot Capitol topic

By Don Davis

Capitol Reporter

      ST. PAUL - Minnesota legislators need to pass a $30 billion budget, but the hot topic in the Capitol is gambling. \

      Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, who is sending strong signals he will run for governor next year, complains that Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty is using gambling as a way to divert attention from his budget proposal. The Willmar Democrat does not mention that his party has yet to advance its own budget, so there is little else to discuss than casinos.

      Even when the budget debate begins, gambling will be hot. Despite Johnson’s claim that Pawlenty is using gambling as a diversion, the fact is that money is needed for the budget. As House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, says, when lawmakers get down to finding the money to fund programs, it is likely a casino feeding money to the state will be part of the solution.

      At this point, two gambling proposals are far and away the leaders. One would allow three northern American Indian tribes, all facing deep poverty, to open a Twin Cities casino with profits flowing to them and the state. The other major plan calls for adding a casino to the Canterbury Park horse-racing track in Shakopee with the state getting a cut.

      In recent days, the leading solution appears to be a merger of the two major plans, putting a tribal casino at Canterbury. But it is far from sure that such a plan, first reported in this column on Nov. 21, will get enough votes.

      There are wild cards to consider.

      The biggest question mark out there is what happens to a Mall of America proposal. Its owners appear ready to embrace any plan that would allow them to open a casino in the country’s largest mall, including hosting a tribal casino.

      The megamall’s problem has been Bloomington city leaders don’t want a casino in their community. However, if a mall casino could turn over $30 million or $40 million every year to the city, that might be pretty tough for City Council members to resist.

      Another question mark is legal action. While Pawlenty and his top aides brush off threats of lawsuits, the courts could delay any casino construction for years, or kill it all together.

      The newly sworn-in secretary-treasurer of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, one of the three tribes involved in the casino proposal, is a likely candidate to file a suit if a tribal casino bill passes. Archie LaRose came close to saying so in a letter to Pawlenty.

      LaRose wrote that Leech Lake bylaws require the secretary-treasurer and tribal chairman both sign official documents, such as one that would be required to establish a joint Leech Lake, Red Lake and White Earth casino with the state. He and other tribal leaders are not working on the same page these days.

      “I am saddened that a majority faction of members of the Leech Lake Reservation Business Committee has misinformed you about their legal ability to enter into any agreement without my knowledge or signature ...” LaRose wrote.

      Then there is the politics of gambling.

      The Republican Party platform decries gambling on moral grounds, while Canterbury’s owners heavily donate to their campaigns. Democrats have a soft spot for the three northern tribes, but they get a lot of contributions from the other, richer tribes.

      The budget may be more important, but with story lines like these, it’s a safe bet that gambling will continue as the Capitol’s hottest story.

Don Davis is Capitol correspondent for the Pioneer