Casino news source: The Morning News - http://www.nwaonline.ne
Developer Backs Pro-Casino Petition
Governor's Legal Role Limited Early In Process
Friday, April 20, 2007 10:37 PM CDT in Business
By Ben Boulden
Times Record
The Tahlequah, Okla.-based United Keetoowah Band has asked the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs for permission to open a casino on land north of the city's River Park. The tribe wants to build a $131 million hotel and casino, according to Westphal, the Fort Smith developer who sold the tribe 10 acres for the project.
"I want to show the BIA what support we have out there" with the petitions, he said.
Westphal said copies of the petition began circulating among downtown merchants and Pic-N-Tote convenience stores last week, and he'll begin collecting them next week.
More than 2,500 people in the community have signed a petition opposing a casino, according to Lyndel Hobbs. Westphal said he has no number in mind for his drive.
Hobbs is on the steering committee of the anti-casino group Friends of Fort Smith.
Although Gov. Mike Beebe recently said he has not officially advised the federal government of his opposition the casino, he intends to do so.
The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 says the Bureau of Indian Affairs must accept land into federal trust before a tribe can secure permission from the Department of the Interior to begin gaming operations on the land.
A tribe's application for trust can be made under a number of exceptions established under IGRA though, said Kathryn Rand, an associate dean at the University of North Dakota School of Law.
Along with UND political science professor Steve Light, Rand also is author of "Indian Gaming & Tribal Sovereignty: The Casino Compromise."
One IGRA exception is for an application in the "best interest" of a tribe, and under it a state governor has a procedural role.
Because the Keetoowahs have no land under federal trust though, the tribe can and has applied for trust under an exception as a landless tribe.
"If the tribe isn't proceeding under the best interest exception, then the governor can try to influence the process but doesn't have the legal ability to simply say no," Rand said.
Despite not having a formal, procedural role in such a circumstance, she said a governor still can have considerable political influence.
U.S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers, agrees.
"In visiting with the BIA, I think they place great weight on the opinion of the governor," he said. "This is an elected official who is answerable to the people. My understanding is they almost never override the governor."
Boozman also opposes the proposed casino.
If a tribe overcomes all the political and procedural hurdles to trust and gaming, then it can offer gaming on a site comparable to that allowed anywhere else in a state.
To offer anything more than that though would require the tribe to negotiate a compact between it and the state of Arkansas.
"Usually the compact is negotiated with the governor and the governor wields a lot of power in those compact negotiations -- what kinds of games are allowed, how many machines are allowed and revenue sharing usually is the big one," Rand said.
In Florida, Rand said the Seminole tribe has been stymied in its attempt to get a compact allowing Class III games by the refusal of its governor to negotiate with them.
Class III games are comparable to those in Las Vegas casinos.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1996 that a tribe cannot sue a state for failing to negotiate in good faith without the state consenting to be sued.
Still, Westphal hopes that the petitions he's gathering will help the casino proposal to clear potential hurdles from the opposition of elected officials like Boozman and Beebe.
"I think what the driving force is our local community and what the support is," he said. "That's what I'm concentrating on. ... I think the support we've got is overwhelming."
Westphal said Thursday he believes support from the local community would weigh more heavily than the governor's opposition. A privately commissioned poll found that 71 percent of people in the community support a casino, he said.
As for a management agreement between Westphal and the Keetoowahs that will include a provision for local revenue sharing from the casino, Westphal said a second draft is being prepared but has not yet been finished. |
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