California, Nevada Senators Oppose Indian Gaming Story-Date: 08:17 a.m. PST Sunday , November 9, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ California, Nevada Senators Oppose Indian Gaming By Elmer Savilla, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Nov. 10--Two senators in particular were hotly eloquent and persistent in their criticism of Indian gaming in general. The first was Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. who appeared as a witness and although she said she was neutral on S. 1077 she dropped a few bombshells. Accompanied by aides who dislayed two large poster maps which showed the locations of 40 gaming tribes in her state of California, she began by saying Indian gaming tribes were violating fedeal law by operating illegal machines in their casinos, locating their casinos next door to schools and day care centers, and causing all manner of serious problems which were causing budget-poor county sheriffs to spend a lot of money on law enforcement on Indian reservatins. She singled out the examples of the Elem Rancheria in northern California where two tribal factions had resorted to guns to settle their differences, and an incident on the Rincon reservation in San Diego County where she said "the mafia had taken over the casino." Sen. Richard Bryan of Nevada then joined the chorus saying "In California, there are 40 tribes operating illegal casinos with more than 14,000 illegal slot machines." He said the state has been frustrated in their efforts to shut down the casinos. He asked that states be given concurrent jurisdiction to be able to enforce the regulations set down by IGRA and be given the right to sue to stop the illegal operations. Then Sen. Frank Murkowski of Alaska joined in. Sen. Murkowski asked Chairman Nighthorse Campbell if it would be appropriate to ask U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the failure of U.S. Attorney's to enforce federal law and shut down the casinos. Sen. Campbell said it might be apropriate and he would take it up at the next Senate Indian Affairs Committee meeting. During the testimony of David Hayes, counselor to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbit, Sen. Murkowski said, "I'm curious, to know what standards the Bureau of Indian Affairs uses to approve or disapprove a tribal/state compact." Mr. Hayes replied that "The Secretary basically looks to see if any provisions of the compact violates IGRA. That's the benchmark used." Then Sen. Murkowski launched into pointed questioning of how and why the Secretary disapproved of the Chippewa tribe who was denied approval to establish a gaming casino near Hudson, Wisc. (The tribe's application had been opposed by several other nearby Chippewa tribes and there had been allegations of illegal actions by he Secretary in denying the casino in return for money contributed by the seven tribes to the National Democratic Party. The BIA's Area Office in Minneapolis had recommended approval of the casino. It is also alleged that the White House may have had interest as well as activity in this matter. The allegations are currently under investigation by the Justice Department. Time after time, Mr. Hayes was asked about the reasons why Secretary Babbit denied the tribes application. He was asked if he knew about conversations between Babitt and White House personnel, and time after time Mr. Hayes would say that he had no knowledge of the issue. Nevertheless, Sen. Murkowski spent over an hour of time on this fruitless search. Mr. Hayes finally tired of the questoning and said, "Respectfully, Senator your questions sound more like advocacy than questions." This was in reference to the fact that on the next day, the Senate investigation into White House fund raising and Indian tribe's contributions to the Democratic Party for influence, would take up the issue in a hearing. The large amount of time spent by Sen. Murkowski on the issue became obviously important when it was announced that the hearing room would have to be vacated with another panel of Indian witnesses still waiting to testify. This lack of respect for witnesses who have travelled long distances for the opportuity to testify, become a usual thing for Sen. Murkowski who has taken opposition stances on many Indian issues recently. At home in Alaska, he has consistently worked against Native issues, and he recommended the siting of a low-level radio active waste dump to be placed near Indian lands in the California desert close by the Colorado River, and in that issue he has called for an investigation of Interior's actions. As for the proposed amendments of S. 1077, no one is willing to predict an outcome and it may be late next year if the bill comes up for a vote. ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ ----- (c) 1997, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------