House panel Oks two casinos

By Don Davis

Pioneer Capitol Reporter

      ST. PAUL - Northern Minnesota American Indian tribes and a southern suburban horse-racing track would get casinos under bills a House committee approved Friday night.

      One proposal allows White Earth, Leech Lake and Red Lake bands of Chippewa to open a Twin Cities casino for their economically depressed members. The other bill establishes a casino at the Canterbury Park horse-racing track in Shakopee. Both would be in partnership with the state.

      The House Gaming Division passed both on voice votes. They face several more committee stops before a vote in the full House.

      During 5½ hours debate, American Indian tribal leaders strongly disagreed about the tribal casino proposal.

      Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the three northern tribes bore the brunt of an attack by Doreen Hagen, president of the Prairie Island Indian Community Tribal Council.

      “It’s hard for us not to judge this effort in the context of history,” Hagen said. “It seems every time our people get ahead, someone is there to knock us back.”

      Leaders of the three northern tribes said their remote locations prevent them from taking care of their members’ needs.

      “If we raised taxes to the sky, it would not have a significant impact on White Earth,” band Chairwoman Erma Vizenor said.

      Dan McElroy, Pawlenty’s chief of staff, said he thinks the next committee will approve the casino, but beyond that he isn’t sure its fate.

      “These bills are really going to have a tough time,” Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, predicted.

      Backers of the Canterbury plan, called a racino, promoted its importance to the state’s horse industry. Craig Biorn of the Minnesota Thoroughbred Association said 1,400 horses from 20 states race at Canterbury and adding a casino to the track would mean more money for racing purses, helping the track attract more horses.

      The racino would expand the business’ existing pari-mutuel betting and card club operation. The state would receive at least $100 million a year from the racino, its backers say, plus a $100 up-front payment. It would have 3,000 video slot machines.

      A thousand more slots would be in the tribal casino. About $146 million a year would go to the state, with the three tribes splitting a like amount. The tribes also would pay $200 million before construction begins.

      The racino bill awaits a Senate hearing, while the tribal casino proposal is expected to be introduced soon.

      Atkins repeatedly pressed the northern tribes for financial information that would convince him they could pull off a $550 million casino construction project. He waved three sheets of paper from the tribes, saying: “This is all they have got.”

      Valerie Red-Horse, financial consultant for the three tribes, said they would sell enough bonds to finance construction and a $200 million up-front payment the Pawlenty administration wants. That system has worked for other tribes building casinos in less desirable locations than the Twin Cities, she said.

      Leaders of the three northern tribes, however, said there is little else they can do.

      “It’s a chance for us to make a difference in the lives of our people, to provide for them the things they won’t have, the things that the state and federal governments are cutting.” Leech Lake Chairman George Goggleye Jr. said.

      The three tribal leaders said one of their most urgent needs is to provide homes to their members. Goggleye, for instance, said more than 300 Leech Lake members are on the housing waiting list.

      “Although it is a gaming bill, it is an economic development bill,” added Red Lake Treasurer Darrell Seki.

      Indian activist Vernon Bellecourt, a White Earth member, said tribes with profitable casinos are not doing what should be expected of them.

      “In the Indian tradition, the Indian is very sharing,” he said.

      Twin Cities’ union and minority leaders supported both the tribal casino and racino, citing benefits people they represent would see from the new businesses.

      More than 1,000 jobs would be lost at existing tribal casinos if the new casino is approved, John McCarthy of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association told the committee. He said that estimate has gone almost unnoticed, while the loss of 900 Northwest Airline jobs this week earned headlines.

      “Why the loss of jobs in outstate Minnesota is less newsworthy is a puzzle to me,” he said.

      Hagen’s comments were the strongest yet against the northern tribes’ proposal. The Prairie Island council president said her tribe’s 20-year-old Treasure Island Resort and Casino helped her community move into the modern world.

      “We’re very proud of our success,” Hagen said. “Yet now we’re being attacked because of it. We’re told that the rules need to change because some of us have too much and because the state deserves a better deal.”

      She was critical of Pawlenty’s comments about the northern tribal plan being all about fairness--for the northern tribes and for the state. She said her tribe “has endured more than its share of injustices.”

      Hagen said her tribe has just 500 acres of land, compared to the three northern tribes’ 2 million acres.

      “The governor told us he was against an expansion of gambling, then suddenly he was for it,” Hagen said. “He told us any new agreement needed to involve all 11 tribes, but now only three stand with him. He told us he respected us as governments, but then he went on the radio to attack us. He demanded we surrender 25 percent of our revenues, and then he plotted to divide us.”