The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1997-09-19

              Tribes pay-off White House to keep casino
monopoly    Poor tribes shut out of process
Judge extends tribal sovereign immunity to non-Indian lobbyists in
Washington D.C.
By Julie A. Shortridge
Lobbyists for The Minnesota Indian
Gaming Association and tribal officials from Minnesota and Wisconsin
appear to have used illegal political
influence to oppose possible development of an Indian casino in Hudson,
Wisconsin.
Apparently not only do the Minnesota tribes want to maintain a casino
monopoly that prevents non-Indians
from developing casinos; they want to
keep other tribes out of the game as
well.
Rather than encouraging their
small and poor neighboring Chippewa
bands in Wisconsin to develop a potentially lucrative casino for themselves at the dog track in Hudson, the
Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa, Prairie Island Sioux Community, Upper
Sioux Community and Mdewakanton
Sioux Community of Minnesota, and
the St. Croix Band of Chippewa, Ho-
Chunk Tribe, and Oneida Tribe of
Wisconsin — who own some of the
largest and most lucrative tribal casinos in the entire nation— fought tooth
and nail behind the scenes to prevent
three impoverished Chippewa bands
from developing their own tribal casino.
Apparently these wealthy tribes assert "self-determination" only for
themselves, and are willing to deny the
same self-determination to less pow
erful tribes, if doing so is deemed beneficial to their own money-making
plans. So much for respecting the individual sovereignty of each tribe.
The Chippewa bands being so ruthlessly opposed by the wealthy and
'powerful members ofthe Minnesota
Indian Gaming Association (MIGA)
and the Wisconsin tribes who have
thriving casinos are the Lac Courte
Oreilles, Mole Lake and Red Cliff-
bands of Wisconsin. None of these
bands has received any significant revenue from Indian gaming thus far, but
they had recently joined hands to work
cooperatively with a management
company, including current owners of
St. Croix Meadows dog track in Hudson, Wisconsin, to build a casino at
Pay-Off cont'd on 6
Tribes pay-off White House to keep casino monopoly
Revenues for Elder's Lodge may be threatened
Hearings to decide if Leech Lake for sale
Draft constitution nearly completed
Provisions opposed by tribes stripped from bill
Voice ofthe People
1
Did White House kill a casino? Rejection of
Hudson plan is topic of influence peddling probe
ing in Wisconsin, Minnesota, federal
court and on Capitol Hill.
The investigations are probing
whether political influence, greased
by hundreds of thousands of dollars
in campaign contributions, got the
project killed.
By Cary Spivak
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Robert Mudge was stunned.
Until May 8, 1995, he had uncovered only mundane correspondence
about his client's plan to convert an
ailing dog track in Hudson, Wis., to
an Indian casino.
Then he saw the bombshell. A copy
of a memo, dated that day, from veteran lobbyist Patrick J. O'Connor to
Harold Ickes, then White House
deputy chief of staff, came to Mudge
from Hudson City Hall.
It said President Clinton, his confidant Bruce Lindsey, and Donald
Fowler, then-chairman of the Demo
cratic National Committee, had all
been briefed by opponents ofthe plan
to install slot machines at St. Croix
Meadows Greyhound Racing Park.
"Right away, we said, 'Hey, this is
crazy,'" said Mudge, the dog track's
Hudson lawyer, who was monitoring
local politics for the track's Florida
owners. "We knew there were meetings in Washington, but we didn't
know that the White House staff was
involved."
Wouldn't the president "be far too
busy to worry about something that
was happening in Hudson, Wis.?"
Mudge wondered.
That simple question, and many others, have since been asked in a series
of investigations and lawsuits unfold-
Fifty Cents
OjibWi
News
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Founded in 19B8 Volume 9  Issue 49
September 19,1997
1
A weekly publication.
Copyriyht, The Ojibwe News, 1997
Fowler Testifies
In July 1995, the U.S. Interior Department rejected an application by
the Lac Courte Oreilles, Red Cliff and
Mole Lake Chippewa tribes to place
the ailing St. Croix Meadows track
into federal trust - a necessary procedural move so blackjack tables and
more than 1,000 slot machines could
Casino cont'd on 8
Gaming revenues for Elder's Lodge may be
threatened by dispute
By Gary Blair
Charitable gambling funds that
were supposed to go to assist the
residents of the Elder's Lodge in St.
Paul, MN has not been received—
since the 42 unit complex opened in
a year.
On Wednesday the lodge's newly
organized board of directors told
PRESS/ON that the money was used
for the salaries of two of EarthStar,
Inc's administrative staff, Perry Bolin
and Frances Hart. EarthStar is a nonprofit organization that developed the
Elders Lodge and has acted as the
organization's fiscal agent until the
lodge recently obtained their own nonprofit status and formed their own
board of directors.
"I used some of that money for my
salary until July (1997)," Bolin,
EarthStar's executive director
admitted Thursday, but he denied that
any of the charitable gambling funds
were used for Hart's wages.
"The Elder's Lodge residents
should have received about $ 110,000
ofthe money that was raised from the
charitable gambling that we started
two years ago. Perry (Bolin) told us
that money wasn't being touched,"
Sheila White Eagle said Thursday.
White Eagle had served as a board
member for EarthStar and recently
became a board member for the lodge
when that organization's board of
directors split and the Elders Lodge's
board of directors was formed. White,
Eagle also serves as the gaming
manager for EarthStar's charitable
gambling operation that includes
bingo and pull-tabs.
Lodge board member Prosper
Waukon announced at the Wednesday
Lodge con'd on 3
Photo by L. A
The latest offering by Ann M. Dunn, an Ojibwe writer from the Leech Lake Nation in northern Minnesota, is
"Grandmother's Gift Stories From The Anishinabeg."Dunn's original shortstories in "Grandmother's Gift"
goes from spring to winter, symbolizing the circle of life and the beginning of mending the sacred hoop.
Draft constitution nearly completed
Hearings to decide if Leech Lake for sale
By Jeff Armstrong
The Leech Lake town of Ball Club
will host a public hearing 7 p.m.
Wednesday on the U.S. Justice
Department's offer of $20 million for
the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe to
relinquish its claims to more than
800,000 acres of on-reservation land,
including more than half of Leech
Lake.
Tribal members at Leech Lake have
never consented to the sale of the
Chippewa National Forest lands, the
proceeds of which were used largely
for a prolonged campaign of forcible
assimilation. As recently as 1934, tribal
leaders testified to Congress that they
actively opposed the land sale at the
time and now insisted on its return.
The hearing will be the first since
tribal members overwhelmingly
rejected the offer last year at similar
meetings in Cass Lake and Fond du
Lac. In May, the Tribal Executive
Committee asked for a 6-month
extension of its government-imposed
deadline for acceptance ofthe offer in
order to hold a Tribal referendum.
But as the referendum deadline
approached, Leech Lake RBC
chairman Eli Hunt announced in De
Bah Ji Mon that the TEC had
abandoned its resolution for a
referendum as unworkable. Hunt said
the TEC would leave the decision of
whether to accept the land sale up to
the people of Leech Lake, whose views
will be expressed at a series of public
hearings throughout the reservation.
Representing the tribe is the
controversial James Schoessler, a
former tribal antagonist as attorney
for the state who once argued in court
that the White Earth Reservation no
longer existed. Criticized by many for
his law firm's intervention in internal
tribal matters, Schoessler could stand
to gain as much as $2 million from the
settlement.
Schoessler, whose contract expires
Oct. 1, has apparently led TEC
members into believing the only option
other than accepting the settlement is
to dismiss the case. In fact, the tribe
would likely not go to trial for years,
and would be well justified in
requesting a delay to peruse some 7
tons of land documents the U.S. turned
over to the tribe after more than 50
years~and to consult an attorney with
no conflict of interest in the case.
The land documents remain
unexamined in the possession of
Schoessler's law firm.
By Jeff Armstrong
Nearing consensus on a draft plan to
overhaul the structure of tribal
government, White Earth's
constitutional reform committee took
steps to reaffirm its commitment to
open meetings and to establish its
independence from the governing
Reservation Business Committee
which appointed it. After much
discussion, the committee voted to
postpone a meeting with the RBC until
a final draft is prepared with further
public input.
"Everyone should have their say, even
if it's something we don't want to
discuss, "said committee member Ray
Bellecourt.
Roxanne LaRose pointed out that
grassroots support will be essential, if
only as a practical matter. "If we're
going to do away with the present
constitution, everyone's going to need
to be involved," said the longtime
tribal activist from Leech Lake.
According to Shirley LaDuke, the
principles of equality and respect
should govern all constitutional
meetings, particularly with the RBC.
"When they do come in, we need to
insure that it's equal participation, not
an RBC meeting."
Committee member George Earth, a
hereditary chief, said the people's anger
is understandable and must be
redirected toward achieving common
goals. "We were a strong nation once-
-we all fought together. Now we're
fighting each other."
Earth said restoring traditional
practices and participatory
government would go a long way
toward alleviating some ofthe violent,
self-destructive behavior rooted in
despair. "Spirituality—that's what's
needed in our communities. That's why
there's so much anger."
While the committee has yet to tackle
perhaps the thorniest issue of how to
implement the changes within—or
outside—the six-reservation Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe, it has established an
outline of how the tribal government
should look. Under the present
working proposal, the RBC would be
replaced by an 18-20 member Central
Draft cont'd on 5
Provisions opposed by tribes stripped from
bill     Legal immunity issue hearings set for next May
More gang activity seen  on  Indian
reservations, federal officials say
Associated Press
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Street
gangs are spreading to the nation's
Indian reservations, often
overwhelming tribal police and courts,
federal law enforcement officials said
Wednesday.
Studies indicate the number of
gangs has more than doubled since
1994, and the FBI has reported a
major rise in violent crime linked to
gangs, said Kevin Di Gregory, a top
official in the Justice Department's
criminal division. He told the Senate
Judiciary and Indian Affairs
Committees Wednesday that the
"emergence of gangs in Indian country
strains already limited tribal law-
enforcement resources and threatens
the safety and security of many tribal
communities."
The problem appears to be
particularly acute in Arizona. The
Navajo Nation reports 55 gangs with
900 members, and the Gila River
Indian Community says it has 20
gangs. The Salt River Pima-Maricopa
Indian Community, a small tribe near
Phoenix, estimates it has 19 gangs,
about one for every 300 tribal
members on the reservation. This year,
five members ofthe reservation's East
Side Crips Rolling Thirties gang were
convicted of murder and other
offenses under a federal organized-
crime law.
Surveys have found significant gang
activity on other reservations,
particularly those close to cities,
including Seattle; Tulsa, Okla.;
Albuquerque, N.M., and Rapid City,
S.D., said Charles Rinkevich, director
of the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Center. Agents from the
FBI's Minneapolis office say they
have noticed emerging gang and drug
activity on some ofthe 13 reservations
under their jurisdiction. (That includes
the Red Lake and Nett Lake
reservations in Minnesota, and 11
others in the Dakotas.)
When asked about gang presence
among Minnesota tribes, Joel Smith,
ofthe Cass Lake office ofthe Bureau
of Indian Affairs (BIA), said, "We're
seeing the beginnings of it on the
reservations - little paintings, that kind
of thing." The BIA is responsible for
several northern Minnesota tribes. "It
could potentially be a problem, and
the tribes are stepping up to address
it," he said. There are 11 reservations
in Minnesota.
The rise in gang activity correlates
to a sharp increase in violent crime
overall on reservations. The homicide
rate on Indian lands has soared 87
percent in the past five years, even as
it has declined nationwide by 22
percent.
- [Minneapolis Star Tribune] Staff
writer Bob von Sternberg contributed
to this report.
This article is reprinted from the
Thursday, September 18, edition ofthe
Minneapolis Star Tribune.
By Philip Brasher
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) _ After a
furious lobbying effort by Indian
tribes, an Interior Department
spending bill is being stripped of
provisions that would force them to
give up their immunity to lawsuits and
start reporting their income.
Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., on
Tuesday ended his effort to pass the
two measures in exchange for a
promise of hearings on the immunity
issue and a separate study of ways to
overhaul the federal funding system
for tribes.
The income-reporting requirement
was intended to lead to a redistribution
of federal funding to favor the neediest
tribes.
Gorton's provisions "constituted a
dramatic departure from existing
federal Indian policy," said Sen. Ben
Nighthorse Campbell, a Colorado
Republican who is the Senate's lone
Indian. "We can't begin to
contemplate what effect they would
have on Native American people."
Gorton said, "I have not gained the
goal I set for myself... to make
substantiative changes, but we are
going to be able to debate these issues
intelligently over the coming year in
a way we haven't done in this
Congress."
The General Accounting Office, the
investigative arm of Congress, will be
asked to recommend ways to end
disparities in the way tribes are funded
by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
An Associated Press analysis ofthe
BIA funding system found that
wealthier tribes with strong political
connections and reservations near
urban areas often receive far more
federal aid per capita than poorer
tribes in Arizona, South Dakota,
Bill cont'd on 5
Republican leader: DFL tainted by Indian funds
By Patrick Sweeney
Minneapolis Star Tribune
State Senate Minority Leader Dick
Day charged Thursday that top DFL
leaders in the House and Senate have
been "bought and paid for" by Indian
gambling interests trying to prevent
competition with their casinos.
In a raucous Capitol news
conference, Day, R-Owatonna,
repeatedly charged that campaign
contributions influenced Senate
Majority Leader Roger Moe's and
House Speaker Phil Carruthers'
opposition to Day's proposal to install
slot machines at Canterbury Park
racetrack and use the revenue to build
a stadium for the Minnesota Twins.
Day's attack on Moe's and
Carruthers' integrity was the latest
development in the increasingly bitter
fight at the Capitol over whether the
state should pay to build a new Twins
ballpark. Legislators sometimes
question opponents' motives, but
seldom in the strong language Day
used Thursday.
His accusation came the same day
that Don Beaver, a North Carolina
businessman and minor league
baseball team owner, confirmed he's
been talking with Twins owner Carl
Pohlad about buying and moving the
team out of Minnesota.
Beaver said the Twins could play the
1999 and 2000 seasons in a minor
league ballpark near Charlotte.
Knights Castle, in Fort Mill, S.C.,
Funds cont'd on 3