Gambling news from http://www.columbian.com/
If Gov. Chris Gregoire had her way, Washington would be casino-free.
She doesn't have that authority, so she will treat the Cowlitz Tribe's proposal for a casino on an initial reservation west of La Center like any other, she told The Columbian's editorial board Thursday.
"I met with all the tribes a week ago," Gregoire said in a wide-ranging interview. "I told them then, 'I hate gambling. I don't have the ability to shut it down. ... I wish it had never expanded off reservation.'"
The governor, who served 12 years as the state's attorney general, said she doesn't like the drinking and smoking that accompany casino gambling, and she doesn't like the state's growing problem of gambling addiction.
"If this is an evil I have to accept, I want to see (the tribes) do something good with the money," such as support education, health care and more diversified tribal economies, Gregoire said.
The governor has no love for the state lottery, either.
"The message heard by the voting public on the lottery was that it would pay for our schools," she said. But money from the lottery, which the Legislature created in 1982, goes into the state general fund to pay for a variety of state programs, she said.
As long as the lottery exists, Gregoire said, she wants to see it run in a way that benefits state programs. But she strongly opposes marketing the lottery to people in their early 20s.
"We now have a problem in this state with gaming addiction," she said.
Gregoire said the Cowlitz Tribe appears to be working only with the federal government in seeking a permit to build a $510 million complex that would include a 134,150-square-foot casino. "There is a little quirk in the law that allows them to go around the state," she said. "They are doing it all through a federal process."
The process the Cowlitz Tribe is following is different from the process a tribe with an existing reservation would follow for an off-reservation casino. In such cases, federal law requires that the governor concur that the casino is in the public interest.
If the Cowlitz Tribe wins its permit, Washington's governor will have a role to play negotiating a compact with the tribe detailing such issues as hours of casino operation, bet limits and gaming revenue sharing with the state.
But even in that role, Gregoire said, "the state has severe handcuffs" as it tries to protect the public interest.
"If we don't engage in good-faith negotiations" over the compact, "the tribe can go over our head," she said. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has the power to reject the terms of a compact if it believes the tribe is not getting a fair deal.
On North Korea, salmon
Gregoire had these comments on other topics:
* On North Korea's firing of seven missiles in recent days, including at least one missile that was designed to reach the West Coast:
"We're so focused on Afghanistan and Iraq, and here is a huge threat to us. ... I think it's an act of provocation. ... This reminds us that it's a dangerous world."
* On funding for cleanup of nuclear waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation:
The U.S. Department of Energy "has constantly caused itself nothing but problems by its lack of oversight of its contractors. ? We are literally on borrowed time here. It's no secret there is a plume of radiation. It's no secret it is headed for the Columbia River. Once it reached the Columbia, you cannot clean it up, not in my lifetime or my children's lifetime."
* On the federal courts' oversight of salmon restoration and the need to breach lower Snake River dams:
"I have not said, 'Yes, breach dams,' or, 'No, don't breach dams.' I believe we have to make a scientific decision. I do not believe we have done all the mitigation that is possible." The federal courts, rather than trying to manage the Columbia River hydroelectric system for salmon, should give regional leaders "a shot at trying to bring the parties together."
* On border issues and a federal ID card:
Gregoire has joined with the premier of British Columbia in urging that the U.S. government reconsider requiring a passport for Canadian-U.S. border crossings. Such a requirement could sharply curtail U.S. attendance at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.
Instead, they propose using Washington as a pilot project for development of a much more secure driver's license similar to one used in British Columbia, which would be much more difficult to forge than a passport.
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