The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1997-10-17

              Multiple investigations continue of Hudson
CaSinO prOpOSal  Babbitt may testify before Senate committee
by Julie A. Shortridge
Several state and federal lawsuits,
and U.S. Senate and House investigations are all trying to ascertain exactly
what happened regarding the Hudson
tribal casino which was proposed by
three small Chippewa bands in Wisconsin. New information on the Hudson deal is emerging each week as investigations unfold, and it appears
there were many improprieties.
In reviewing court documents,
depositions and memos, it's difficult
to find the "good guys" in the Hudson casino fiasco, although everyone
involved claims to be innocent victims.
■ In truth, it seems a lot of people
have not been completely honest
about their motives and tactics in the
Hudson proposal. In investigating
what has happened, I have come to
the conclusion that this entire battle
has virtually nothing to do with the
welfare, self-determination, or opportunities for Indian people. It seems to
have everything to do with money and
greed.
The Hudson casino proposal was
initiated by the owners ofthe St. Croix
dog track based in Florida which is
losing money and is looking for a
tribal angle to bail itself out. The effort to stop the proposal is led by
wealthy tribal governments making
huge political contributions and paying big lobbying fees to keep nearby
tribes out of the casino game. Those
political contributions appeared to
weigh heavily in the Department of
Interior's decision to reject the casino
proposal.
Caught in the middle are the ordinary citizens ofthe city of Hudson and
of the three small Chippewa bands
involved.
In short, this is what happened regarding the Hudson proposal. HAH
Enterprises (HAH) out of Miami,
Florida owns the Flagler dog tracks
in Florida and other dog tracks and
businesses around the country, including St. Croix Meadows in Hudson,
Wisconsin. HAH, which stands for
"Hecht-Amdur-Havenick," is owned
by the Hecht family's Southwest
Florida Enterprises, Inc. (Fred
Havenick and Neal Amdur married
two Hecht daughters). HAH spent $40
million developing the new Hudson
dog track, which is losing between $4
million and $10 million a year. The
Hecht family (known for now deceased patriarch Isadore (Izzy)
Hecht's Florida gambling enterprises)
is looking for a way to get out from
under their money-losing Hudson dog
track. Turning it into a tribal casino
Hudson cont'd on 6
New chair charges feds with subverting
democracy Drift accepts NIGC casino ultimatum
By Jeff Armstrong
Accusing the Bureau of Indian
Affairs, the Tribal Executive
Committee and the National Indian
Gaming Commission of pushing the
reservation to the brink of violence
and economic ruin, Bois Forte
chairman-elect Mark Drift
relinquished control of the Fortune
Bay Casino Thursday to the ruling
faction that ousted his predecessor.
"We've got to vacate the casino, turn
it over to the Andersons," said Drift.
"The National Indian Gaming
Commission got their way. I don't
want to shut down the casino. I don't
want no, fines issued to the casino, to
any individual management
personnel," he said.
"That's why I'm standing down for
now," Drift announced. The chairman-
elect claimed a partial victory,
however, in securing the transfer of
casino records he believes substantiate
his claims of large-scale embezzlement
to U.S. Attorney David Lillehaug.
The dispute should add drama to a
TEC meeting set for 10 a.m. next
Tuesday at Fortune Bay.
.In a bold move immediately after
winning last week's election, Drift
took control ofthe RBC, terminating
Fortune Bay attorney Mark Anderson,
of the influential and controversial
Jacobson, Buffalo, Schoessler and
Magnuson law firm; general manager
Rick Anderson, Mark's brother; and
facility engineer Dave Anderson, a
cousin to the Andersons. The
chairman-elect also dismissed former
BIA superintendent Frank Annette as
executive director and replaced the
head accountant and comptroller of
the casino.
Drift described Anderson and his
law partners as "the crookedest law
firm in the state of Minnesota." Both
Drift and former chairman Landgren,
who was removed by the incumbent
RBC members less than one year into
his term, oppose the firm's proposed
land claims settlement with the U.S.
"They want their cut right away, then
wash their hands of it," said Drift of
the land claims attorneys. "Forget
about the people and how they were
taken, how they took this land. So if I
was on the TEC, I'd vote no." Although
the firm's contract expired Oct. 1,
there is concern that they may be
purporting to represent the Tribe in
the federal claims court.
The reaction from the federal gaming
commission—headed by Bois Forte
tribal member and former reservation
attorney Tadd Johnson—was swift and
unyielding. Drift said he received a
call from a commission representative
threatening to close the casino and
impose a $60,000 fine on Saturday,
October 11, the same day he publicly
announced the shake-up.
By Monday, runner-up Doris Isham
Charges cont'd on 3
Suit alleges MN residency requirements for
welfare eligibility unconstitutional
By Gary Blair
A class action lawsuit has been filed
in Ramsey County District Court
challenging the State's "durational
residency" requirements for families
and individuals who apply for welfare
benefits. The suit seeks to restore all
the benefits that would have been
available to the welfare recipients at
the time they applied for services.
The plaintiffs are four AFDC
mothers, one single man, and Loaves
and Fishes Community, an
unincorporated non-profit
organization that serves low-income
people. The defendant in the suit is
David Doth, commissioner of the
Minnesota Department of Human
Services. The lawsuit was filed on
behalf of the complainants by Mid-
Minnesota Legal Assistance of
Minneapolis.
The legislature imposed the
residency requirements in 1997, in an
effort to discourage people from
coming to Minnesota for the welfare
benefits. Lead Legal Assistance
attorney Timothy L. Thompson says
the plaintiffs are trying to obtain a
"summary judgment" overturning the
law, or an "injunction," a court order
temporarily preventing the law from
being enforced.
The 1997 law provides that families
and individuals applying for Aid to
Families with Dependent Children
(AFDC, a program that on Jan. 1,
1998 will change to the Minnesota
Family Investment Plan or MFIP) or
General Assistance (GA) who have
not lived in Minnesota for at least 12
consecutive months immediately
preceding their application, only
receive a grant equal to that from the
state in which they previously lived.
The "durational residency" provisions
are very similar to a law enacted by
the Minnesota Legislature in 1991.
That statute was subsequently struck
down by the Minnesota Supreme
Lawsuitcont'donpg.8
Casino firings spark allegations   Tribal
chairman's actions met with foes' protests
By Steve Kuchera
News-Tribune staff writer
Recent actions at Fortune Bay
Casino by newly elected Bois Forte
Reservation Tribal Chairman Mark
Drift and his supporters are attracting
attention from the group that oversees
Indian casinos.
"The National Indian Gaming
Commission is very concerned," said
Bois Forte attorney Mark Anderson,
who Drift said he fired over the
weekend. "They intend to take swift
and sure action to make sure that the
gaming facility is operated in
accordance with tribal law."
The NIGC has the power to close or
fine the casino if it feels laws are being
broken.
Last year, the agency threatened to
close the Leech Lake Band of
Chippewa's two casinos and fine the
tribe if the band didn't resolve a power
struggle that left its casinos operating
without required controls.
Drift said on Saturday that after he
fired several managers at the casino
and seized financial records, a NIGC
representative called and threatened to
close the casino and levy a fine of
$60,000 if Drift didn't retreat from his
stand.
Drift blamed the threat on the fact
that NIGC Chairman Tadd Johnson is
related to several of the people
involved in the weekend's dismissals.
But Anderson said Johnson has
removed himself from this matter
because it involves his tribe.
NIGC representatives are expected
to visit the casino early this week.
Drift's actions have raised the
question of who is in control of the
Bois Forte Band of Chippewa and its
profitable Fortune Bay Casino and
Resort near Tower.
"I am the tribal chairman and I'm
making decisions for the band," Drift
said Sunday afternoon. Band members
elected Drift chairman on Thursday.
Investigations continue of Hudson casino proposal
New chair charges feds with subverting democracy
Suit alleges welfare requirements unconstitutional
WE tells DNR Commissioner not to encroach/ pg. 3
TALRF goal is accountability & responsibility/ pg. 4
Voice ofthe People
1
e-mail: presson@bji.net
Fifty Cents
Ojibwe
News
Founded in 19BB
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Volume 10   Issue 1 October 17,1997
\
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe Mews, 1997
Submitted Photo
This painting by Red Lake Senior Sarina Lasley is one of eight paintings on display at the Professional Association
of Treatment Homes (PATH) office located at 1510 Bemidji Ave. The paintings are part ofa newprogram established
at the PATH office to support students' ability to express themselves. An open house reception will be hosted Oct.
23 from 3-6 p.m. The public is welcome to drop in during business hours to view the art.
OIC hopes to provide disadvantaged
with programs to develop job skills
By Brad Swenson
Bemidji Pioneer
Green - the color of money - should
be the only color of importance when
companies open their doors to employ
economically disadvantaged workers,
says the former president ofa national
program promoting opportunities.
"People earning money is an
investment- it comes back," Elton
Jolly, past president and executive
officer        of        Opportunities
Industrialization Centers of America,
said Friday at a banquet held by
Bemidj i's Northwest Indian OIC.
"People who live on the reservation
spend money in Bemidji," said Jolly
of Philadelphia. "There are lots of
(job) ads in the Sunday paper, but our
people don't have the skills. The real
colors are green - the dollar - not red,
black or white."
The Northwest Indian OIC,
resurrected from near dead a year ago,
held what it hopes will be an annual
recognition dinner with about 125
people attending. The OIC works with
all economically disadvantaged, but
primarily with American Indians. It
hopes to provide programs and
training to give the necessary job drills
to employ more people. First formed
as the Bemidji Area Indian
Employment Council, the local OIC
has attempted to increase the number
of American Indian workers by
OIC cont'd on pg. 3
Minnesota appeals Chippewa treaty case
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) _The state
of Minnesota, landowners and nine
counties asked an appellate court
Friday to reconsider a ruling that
authorizes off-reservation fishing and
hunting by Chippewa Indians.
The ruling affects two bands of
Chippewa in Minnesota, and six from
Wisconsin which is affected by a
similar federal-court ruling that was
issued in 1983.
Minnesota requests a hearing before
the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
It argues a three-judge panel ofthe
St. Louis-based court disregarded
judicial precedent when it ruled in
August that the Minnesota food-
gathering rights granted under an 18 3 7
land-cession treaty remain in force.
The rights were sought by the Mille
Lacs and Fond du Lac bands of
Minnesota concerning lakes in an east-
central portion ofthe state.
The 1983 ruling for Wisconsin
Chippewa came from the 7th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.
It involved hunting, fishing, trapping
and grain-harvesting in approximately
the northern third of Wisconsin.
The eight bands' use of off-
reservation hunting and fishing rights
in the Minnesota case has been
withheld by court order during
litigation.
The appeal by Minnesota,
landowners and counties argues the
treaty rights would endanger the fish
and game supplies in a region that
relies on tourism income.
Did Clinton promise to help donating Indians
regain land?
Firing cont'd on pg 8  Babbitt accounts of Indian casino meeting
conflict in letters
By James Rowley
WASHINGTON (AP) _The leader
of an Oklahoma Indian tribe that gave
Democrats $107,000 in hopes of
recovering disputed land said
President Clinton told him "we can
help you" at a White House luncheon
for donors, a transcript of a tribal
meeting showed.
Charles Surveyor, chairman of the
Cheyenne-Arapaho, recounted
Clinton's words two days after he
joined a small group of big donors at
the June 17,1996, luncheon, according
to the transcript, obtained by The
Associated Press.
Tribal officials donated the money
to the Democratic National Committee
as part ofa still unsuccessful effort to
win back the 7,500 acres _ land that
the federal government took more than
a century ago to build an Army fort.
The DNC returned the tribe's donation
this year.
The tribe promised the donation with
the understanding tribal officials
would get to meet Clinton, the tribe's
chief lobbyist said at the meeting.
At the White House luncheon,
Surveyor had made the tribe's pitch to
Clinton for the land's return.
"I told him how it was taken and if-
there was any way they could get it
back," Surveyor is quoted as saying.
"When I got through talking, he said,
'Well, I think we can help you then.'"
Senate aides, speaking on condition
of anonymity, said tribal
representatives told investigators that
Terence McAuliffe, Clinton's chief
campaign fund-raiser, assured
Surveyor as they left the luncheon,
"When the president makes a promise,
he keeps it."
Clinton cont'd on pg. 3
By Eun-Kyung Kim
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Interior
Secretary Bruce Babbitt denies being
told by the White House to conclude a
Wisconsin casino dispute involving
American Indians who contributed
campaign money to the Democratic
Party.
In a letter to Senate investigators,
however, Babbitt admits telling a
lawyer for Chippewa Indians that
deputy White House chief of staff
Harold Ickes pressed him to make the
decision.
He fabricated the Ickes story just to
wrap up a conservation with the lawyer,
he said Friday in a letter to a Senate
committee.
Babbitt's Interior Department
rej ected a request by the Chippewa for
support in seeking state permission to
open a casino at a para-mutuel race
track in Hudson, Wis.
They hatfe sued in U.S. District Court
in Madison, Wis., saying the rejection
by the Clinton administration followed
political donations from Minnesota
and Wisconsin tribes that have casinos
and do not want the Hudson
competition.
The casino matter is part of an
investigation by a Senate committee
into political donations from various
sources, including Chinese business
interests.
In his letter to committee chairman
Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., Babbitt said
his remark about Ickes was phony.
Attorney Paul Eckstein says he did
not know if tribal contributions led to
rej ection ofthe casino petition but that
Babbitt mentioned them when he was
asked why the Chippewa were turned
down.
The Minneapolis regional office of
the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs had
recommended the casino.
Hudson is on Wisconsin's western
border within a 30-minute drive ofthe
Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Casino-
operating tribes in both states
contributed $273,000 to the
Democratic National Committee.
Babbitt cont'd on pg. 6
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MUM