DFL Senators look at gambling

By Don Davis

Pioneer Capitol Reporter

       ST. PAUL – Minnesota Senate Democrats may be ready to deal the cards.

Some are ready to soften their long-held opposition to any gambling that could compete with 18 Minnesota tribal casinos.

      “There has been some interest in our caucus,” Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, told a small group of reporters Thursday. “I would be foolhardy to tell you folks that gambling is dead. It is not. It’s just not.”

      Sen. Keith Langseth, DFL-Glyndon, said that even if DFLers don’t back it this year, their attitude is changing: “A little possibility this year, a good possibility next year.”

      The comments were the first time DFL leaders publicly said they may back expanded gambling, with some profits going to the state. DFL senators normally refuse to allow the state to be involved in a more gambling, fearing it could hurt tribal casinos.

      Johnson said Minnesotans’ support for using gambling money in the state budget influences his members. So does Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s apparent shift toward gambling.

      The majority leader said Democrats still won’t approve the “racino” Republicans want. But he said they may be open to a casino, horse track, card club or other form of gambling to support the state budget.

      “I would welcome the gesture,” House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, said when a reporter told him about the Senate change. “I have not heard that yet.”

      “That is a good sign,” added Rep. Dean Simpson, R-New York Mills.

      The House last year approved a racino, which would add a casino to the Canterbury Park horse-racing track in the southern Twin Cities suburbs. It is an integral part of the House budget plan.

      A racino would belong to the race track owners, but the state would get more than $30 million in the next year and an estimated $100 million each year after that.

      A second casino proposal still alive in the Legislature would establish a Twin Cities casino run by the White Earth and Red Lake bands of Chippewa. On Tuesday, it goes in front of the House Ways and Means Committee, which defeated a similar plan last year.

      White Earth and Red Lake officials say each of their northwest Minnesota reservations would receive $65 million annually, with the state getting $90 million.

      The White Earth-Red Lake proposal may have a bigger hurdle than Senate DFL opposition. Darrell “Chip” Wadena, in a run-off election with Erma Vizenor for tribal chairman, opposes it.

      “You alienate all the other tribes in the state of Minnesota,” said Wadena, who received more votes than Vizenor in the initial vote. “You need support from those tribes.”

      Out-going Chairman Doyle Turner champions the plan.

      Turner wants the casino to be near an Albertville outlet mall, northwest of the Twin Cities on Interstate 94.

      Langseth said that location could work, although it might be competition with Grand Casino Mille Lacs.

      He would rather see a state casino in the southwest suburbs near Mystic Lake Casino, the state’s largest tribal gambling operation. Other tribal casinos are not as flush with money and Langseth said he would like to avoid giving them more competition.

      Johnson said his colleagues might agree to a casino or other gambling endeavor that provides money to “the poorer tribes.” White Earth and Red Lake are the state’s poorest, one of the reasons Sviggum supports the bands’ casino bill.

      A representative for 16 of the state’s Indian casinos said he doesn’t think the Senate will allow more gambling.

      “It doesn’t surprise me that the caucus is open or looking at things,” said John McCarthy of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association. “But the Democratic caucus has been aware of the real positive benefits of Indian gaming.”

Forum of Fargo-Moorhead reporter Dave Roepke contributed to this report.

Bemidji Pioneer: www.bemidjipioneer.com