The Desert Sun, Palm Springs
Calfornia
Valley Voice: Tribal gaming
insinuations unacceptable
By Frank R. Jozwiak
Special to The Desert Sun
As an attorney whose firm represents
several California Indian gaming tribes, I object to the misleading and
inaccurate opinion submitted by Todd Harris that appeared in the Oct. 16
edition of The Desert Sun . The article states that
the nine tribes who have entered into new gaming agreements with the current
governor have stepped up and are working as partners with the governor "to
help
Since when did the Indian tribes assume responsibility for
The letter states that if Proposition 70 passes, tribes will be allowed to
build as many casinos as they want, with the only requirement being that those
casinos be built on Indian land. In the very next paragraph, the letter states
that under Proposition 70, "the governor will be required to approve
virtually every request for a new Indian casino that crosses his desk."
However, that second statement is qualified by the first. The governor does not
have to approve any request for an Indian casino that is to be built on other
than Indian land and, under federal law, the governor
has an absolute veto over acquisition of lands within the state by Indian
tribes for gaming purposes.
The next paragraph, where the writer insinuates that Proposition 70 will allow
Indian casinos "right in your downtown," must be qualified by the
requirement that the tribe must first own trust land within "your
downtown" before a casino can be approved and the governor can veto the
Indian’s purchase. How many
The main controversy surrounding urban Indian casinos has to do with
off-reservation acquisition of land for gaming purposes by the tribes and the
governor’s apparent willingness to approve those acquisitions so long as the
tribes agree to pay obscene amounts of money to the state, ostensibly to help
the governor solve
Finally, the writer claims that the tribes sponsoring Proposition 70 will not
be paying their "fair share" to the state, whatever that means. Even
though the tribes would agree to pay the equivalent of the corporate business
tax, a tax that many corporations evade, both legally and otherwise, through
tax loopholes, exemptions, etc., the writer insinuates that the Indians would
cheat or would cook their books or otherwise withhold payment from the state
illegally.
Why does the writer believe that Indians are likely to cheat the state? Does
the writer have a twinge of guilt about the treatment of Indians by the
non-Indian dominant society over the last 200 years? Does he think the Indians
will now seek revenge? Or does he just simply think that Indians should not be
trusted? That kind of racist attack on Indians is unacceptable and should not
form the basis for an opinion in your newspaper or any other newspaper.
Frank R. Jozwiak is an attorney for Morisset, Schlosser, Jozwiak & McGaw.
http://www.thedesertsun.com/news/stories2004/opinion/20041022022543.shtml