And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: [EMAIL PROTECTED] replies: Note the April date on this Seattle news article. http://www.seattletimes.com/news/local/html98/gort_19990404.html Posted at 09:50 p.m. PST; Sunday, April 4, 1999 Tribes target Gorton with casino money by Danny Westneat Seattle Times Washington bureau Fueled by profitable casinos at a handful of reservations, Native-American leaders are planning to spend $1 million to $5 million in the 2000 election to try to defeat Republican Sen. Slade Gorton, whom they regard as their primary political enemy in the United States. Gorton and Native Americans have been fighting to a stalemate for three decades: in the courts, in Congress and in a war of words. For the first time in Gorton's political career, tribes in the Northwest and around the nation have the ultimate election-year weapon: money. The large sums the tribes are talking about could be a potent threat to Gorton, who is hoping to raise $7 million for his re-election campaign. But it also would herald a political coming-of-age for the tribes. As recently as five years ago - the last time Gorton ran - local tribes barely were involved in electoral politics. "There's a hope that we can at least be a player in the political system," said Bob Whitener, executive director of the Squaxin Island tribe, near Olympia. "We're not even dreaming of controlling anything - we just want to have an effect like everybody else." Gorton's campaign is hoping the tribal effort backfires. A Gorton fund-raising letter last month raised the specter of "Indian tribes flush with gambling dollars" willing to "spend whatever it takes to defeat him." The letter lumped the tribes in with other groups opposed to Gorton, including "the trial lawyers, the bosses of big labor, (and) the radical environmental groups." That the chronically poor tribes are being mentioned alongside some of the top powers of politics suggests how much has changed since some of the tribes began making money. In the last presidential election year, the nation's 557 tribes collectively spent $1.35 million in federal elections, a tiny fraction of the more than $2 billion that was funneled into campaigns that year. Tribal money still will be a drop in the ocean, but this year tribal leaders are hoping to concentrate it. In addition to targeting Gorton, Native Americans also are expected to give heavily to presidential candidates, particularly Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Republican and a strong defender of the unique legal status of tribes as sovereign nations. It's difficult to overstate the animosity many Native Americans feel toward Gorton. The state's senior Republican has a long history of opposing tribes in the courts. Most notably, as attorney general in the 1970s, he fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court the landmark ruling giving Indians a treaty right to half of the state's salmon catch. But in the last few years his relationship with tribal leaders has soured even further. He advocated sharp cuts in tribal budgets in 1995, then introduced a proposal two years ago to force tribes to waive their sovereign immunity in lawsuits. Gorton said he was not trying to undermine tribes as independent nations; he thinks only that federal legal policy toward Native Americans is unfair and elevates some rights of Indians above those of non-Indians. But his idea touched off a furor among many Indians, who said their entire identity is wrapped up in the treaties their ancestors signed and the independent "nation" status they gained as a result. "Slade Gorton's name is known on reservations from Alaska to Florida," said Ron Allen, head of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe and president of the National Congress of American Indians. "If we say we have a chance to beat the dean of the anti-Indian movement, I think tribes everywhere will scramble for money." As much as $500,000 could come from Auburn's Muckleshoot Tribe, according to tribal sources. The 1,400-member tribe operates the state's most lucrative casino and, thus far, has assembled the most sophisticated political operation among local tribes. Last year the Muckleshoots gave $100,000 to 112 candidates for state and federal offices, 104 of whom were elected. The man in charge of the Muckleshoots political efforts, Michael Moran, would not say how much the tribe plans to spend but said "it could be substantial," particularly if Gorton draws a strong Democratic opponent that tribal leaders think has a shot at winning. "We're not going to just dump money into a lost cause," he said, adding that he is skeptical about the Democrats' chances because Gov. Gary Locke decided not to challenge Gorton. The three local tribes with profitable casinos - the Muckleshoots, Tulalips and Puyallups - gave the state Democratic Party $20,000 earlier this year to conduct a public-opinion poll about Gorton's strengths and weaknesses. The Muckleshoots also have given $30,000 to various national Democratic committees, including one that is targeting Gorton for defeat. The last time Gorton was on the ballot, in 1994, the Muckleshoots did not have a casino and the total yearly budget for the tribe was about $8 million. Today, the casino alone has revenues of at least $45 million a year. Local tribal leaders also are hoping to get money from the few tribes that truly have gotten rich off gambling. Last year, for instance, Connecticut's Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, which runs a $1 billion-a-year casino, donated more than $400,000 to federal candidates and parties. Tribal leaders involved in plotting election strategy say they have not decided yet how to spend the money. Some options include donating to the state and national Democratic parties or forming an independent political-action committee that would buy television ads to air the tribes' views on Gorton's record. Spending a lot of money on politics may not sit well with some Native Americans, who say money earned in the new casino era would be better spent on jobs, housing and better schools. Moran of the Muckleshoots also warned the tribes must be judicious with whatever newfound financial clout they have. Gorton still is chairman of the Interior Appropriations Committee, which gives federal aid to Indian tribes. He may retain that post after the election, Moran said. "Going after Gorton is not a low-risk strategy," Moran said. "We're getting more sophisticated, but we need to be careful about how we engage in federal campaigns, or it could blow up on us. This really is new territory for tribes in the Northwest." Copyright © 1999 Seattle Times Company Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
