Blanco says no casino for Jena Band of Choctaws

April 13, 2005

BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco vowed Tuesday she would oppose the Jena Band of Choctaws' proposal for a casino in Grant Parish or anywhere else in Louisiana.

For the tribe of about 240 members, the governor's announcement means yet another fight to establish a casino in a state that already has three Indian casinos. The governor's stance is a mixed bag for Grant, a parish that consistently has voted against gambling issues yet could use the jobs a casino would provide.

For the governor, it's a definitive stance against the expansion of gambling. And it's a stance she's willing to defend in court.

"I do not believe gambling is in the best interests of the citizens of our state," Blanco says in a letter to tribal Chief Christine Norris of Jena. The letter was released in Baton Rouge after the governor left to tour southwest Louisiana.

"I cannot support the establishment of another gambling casino," Blanco wrote. "To this end, I have asked Attorney General Charles C. Foti Jr. to research all legal avenues available to the state to oppose a casino. I must be up front with you and tell you that this means I feel the duty to do all that I can to oppose the establishment of any new casino."

Norris said she was blindsided by release of the governor's letter. "It came out of left field. I was not expecting a letter today. So we have to regroup, and we're just beginning to sit down and consider our options."

Norris said there are two options: file a lawsuit or explore opening a Class II casino -- slots and bingo only -- while the tribe continues to push for a full casino with table games. Whether the tribe could establish a Class II casino without the state's cooperation, however, remains in question.

There likely will be a lawsuit, said attorney Julie Wilkerson of Alexandria, who represents the tribe. "I don't think we have a choice."

The tribe will argue that the state has not lived up to federal law that requires a governor in a state that has legalized gambling to negotiate in good faith with the tribe, she said.

Enacted Oct. 17, 1988, the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act includes a section that initially gave tribes the power to force states to negotiate casino compacts. That section of the law later was ruled unconstitutional.

This is the tribe's fifth major push for a casino. There were failed attempts to locate a casino in Vinton, near Lake Charles, in 2002, in Logansport in DeSoto Parish an hour south of Shreveport's commercial casinos in 2003 and two blocked casinos in Mississippi. Also, a 1998 attempt for a casino in Natchitoches Parish soured quickly and never reached the stage of negotiating with the state after the Police Jury there refused to cooperate with the tribe.

Wilkerson believes Blanco made her decision based on politics.

The governor's actions mean a hot political football has been tossed back to U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-Metairie, one of the leading critics of the Jena Band's efforts to obtain a casino. He now has the lead role in lobbying the Republican administration and the Interior Department to reject a fourth Indian casino sought for Louisiana.

Vitter publicly released a letter March 21 highly critical of Blanco for meeting with tribal officials in October and agreeing to an environmental assessment of the Grant site. Blanco immediately fired back with a publicly released letter in which she says she never made any such agreement.

Wilkerson said the tribe met with Blanco in October but had been unsuccessful in arranging follow-up meetings.

Terry Ryder, Gov. Blanco's executive counsel, said he and the attorney general's office are researching "every imaginable possibility" to get ready for a major legal fight.

"The ultimate issue is that, thanks to federal legislation, a governor doesn't have a clear and decisive veto," Ryder said. "The federal regulations actually were enacted for the purpose of putting a casino in place over the objections of a governor. We need our congressional delegation to address that."

Vitter applauded Blanco's "very strong and clear statement" Tuesday and said he is "looking forward to working with her."

He agreed that Interior Secretary Gale Norton has broad powers to accept lands in trust for Indian tribes and to approve casino gambling on those lands under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988.

He said he would be lobbying the department not to accept in trust lands donated to the tribe in Creola in Grant or anywhere else as tribal lands.

Vitter held a previously scheduled meeting in his U.S. Senate office Tuesday morning with representatives of the Louisiana congressional delegation and the state attorney general's office to discuss options of stopping the Jena Band from establishing a casino.

"We are still digesting what we're in a position to do," Vitter said. "The federal Indian gambling law is badly flawed. I will be introducing legislation very soon to address that.

"But given the slowness of the legislative process, that probably won't help the Jena situation," the senator said. "So I will be working administratively to block it under the present law."

Blanco campaigned for governor in 2003 on a pledge not to expand gambling. "I believe its short-term apparent benefit is far outweighed by the long-term negative consequences," Blanco wrote in Tuesday's letter.

"After having the privilege of serving as governor for more than a year, I have seen nothing which would cause me to change my conviction regarding this matter," Blanco said. "And I feel even more strongly against the expansion of gambling in an area of the state where the people there have voted against gambling."

At Blanco's request in 2003, then-Gov. Mike Foster declined to sign a proposed compact for a Jena Band casino in DeSoto even though Logansport residents supported it. Foster said he would leave the choice to Blanco, who never has taken action on the request. The tribe then began looking at Creola in Grant, where it was given land in 2001.

Creola is along U. S. Highway 167 near the Rapides Parish line. The state has three other Indian reservation tribes with casinos in Charenton, Marksville and Kinder.

Anti-gambling attorney and political Web site publisher C.B. Forgotston said Blanco is living up to her campaign promise. "But even more important is her recognition that gambling is not in the best interests of the citizens of our state. Even though that same statement was made by our previous governor, his actions were the opposite."

State Sen. Joe McPherson, D-Woodworth, who represents the Alexandria area, said the Jena Band of Choctaws had been willing to make a substantial payment to local government where it located. "My little understanding of the federal law is that this tribe will be allowed to have a reservation and, by virtue of that, will have a casino," he said.

"They are going to wind up in an area that is probably the Bible Belt of the state, where the citizens voted out gambling in any form," McPherson said. "I think they will eventually have gambling in central Louisiana. I think the end result is they won't be required to have any local contribution."

The Jena Band's attempt to place a casino near Kinder failed in 2002 when federal officials refused to approve a deal between Foster and the tribe requiring the Jena Band to pay a percentage of the casino's net revenues to the state. Typically, Indian casinos can be required to pay only for the cost of local services they use.

Foster said Tuesday he agrees the Bureau of Indian Affairs could easily approve a casino for the Jena Band in its home area north of Alexandria.

"One of the major reasons I supported the tribe was to put it somewhere else," Foster said. "You don't have to negotiate, but you do if you want to put it in one particular place."

McPherson said he's no gambling proponent. "I think gambling is the worst evil that has ever come to Louisiana."

When the Legislature was approving riverboat gambling during former Gov. Buddy Roemer's administration in 1991, "there was never a mention that when the state legalized different classes of gambling that we could not preclude any form of gambling on Indian reservations," McPherson said.

"We still don't seem to have an understanding of the federal Indian gambling law," he said. "I think this is going to give us a lesson. I hope it's not too costly to the taxpayers."

Source: Shreveport Times