Indian Casinos
<p><font size="4" style="" face="Times New Roman">7/15</font></p>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">just so weird and incestuous, this is a new node; see also Native American, Abramoff, gambling</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/05/whats-behind-lobbyist-attempts-to-block-casinos-on-native-land"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/05/whats-behind-lobbyist-attempts-to-block-casinos-on-native-land</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/05/whats-behind-lobbyist-attempts-to-block-casinos-on-native-land"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/05/whats-behind-lobbyist-attempts-to-block-casinos-on-native-land</font></a></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald Trump threw his weight against a bipartisan House bill last week that would affirm the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/lobby.php?id=D000046193" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe</a>’s right to 321 acres of land in Massachusetts. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act, or <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/312?r=1&q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22H.R.+312%3A+To+reaffirm+the+Mashpee+Wampanoag+Tribe+reservation%2C+and+for+other+purposes.%22%5D%7D" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">H.R. 312</a>, was introduced by Rep. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00031933" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">William Keating</a> (D-Mass.) and co-sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats. Supporters of the act said entitling the 2,600-member tribe to promised, federally recognized land upheld tribal sovereignty and protected the tribe’s economy by enabling the tribe to build a casino on the land.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The House voted in favor of the bill, moving the tribe one step closer to building a $1 billion proposed casino on the land. But the president’s opposition warrants a look into his past links to casino magnates and the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=n07" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">gambling industry</a>. The bill now heads to the Republican-controlled Senate.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1126151799868723200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">made known his opposition</a> to the bill in a tweet on May 8, calling it “a special interest casino Bill” and urged Republicans to back out, leading the House to temporarily delay the vote. The president has a long history of challenging tribes’ right to build and operate casinos on reservations. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The chaos that transpired over the legislation exemplified the gaming industries’ complex and costly tug-of-war over casino regulations on tribal land. This is not the first time interest groups, lobbyists or the president have challenged tribes’ protected federal status as sovereign nations to block the construction of competitive casinos. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Significant funding flows into the political fight from all sides. Last year, gambling groups spent a total of <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/lobbying.php?cycle=2018&ind=n07" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">$32.53 million</a>, deploying over 300 lobbyists. The Arizona-based <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000023646&year=2018" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Gila River Indian Community</a> led the pack with <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000023646&cycle=2018" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">$2.58 million</a> in spending. Federal lobbying in the gaming industry precipitously increased 112 percent between 2000 and 2018. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Tug-of-war over casino regulations</strong><br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Federally recognized tribal nations have the right to self-determination and the ability to oversee their own internal affairs on reservations, including the construction of casinos in many states across the U.S. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But gaming facilities on reservations are not immune from federal regulations. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some tribes must establish compacts, or agreements, with states before building casinos. These states then claim a percentage of the profits from the casinos. The National Indian Gaming Commission, established in 1988, is tasked with monitoring casinos on reservations too.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The ambiguity that can come with federal oversight has often resulted in tension between casinos, Congress and tribal nations over what rules to play by. When it comes to fine-tuning regulations, lobbyists play a significant role. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://mashpeewampanoagtribe-nsn.gov/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Mashpee Wampanoag</a> were among the first Indigenous people to come in contact with colonizers in the seventeenth century. Of the 69 tribes that once composed the Wampanoag Nation, the Mashpee Wampanoag <a href="https://mashpeewampanoagtribe-nsn.gov/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">remain one of three surviving tribes today</a>, following decades of colonization and genocide. Despite its over 12,000-year history, the tribe continues to live without a reservation. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The U.S. government did not “re-acknowledge” the Mashpee Wampanoag as a tribe until 2007, well after the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Last year, then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke determined the Department of Interior would not consider the 150 acres of land in Mashpee and 170 acres of land in Taunton, Massachusetts as the Mashpee Wampanoag’s reservation, reversing an Obama-era decision. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“If a federally recognized tribe does not have land over which to exercise its tribal authority, then what good is the government authority you have?” said Kathryn Rand, dean and professor of law at the University of North Dakota. “You have to have a place to exercise that authority.” <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rand, who also co-founded the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy, said the rescinding of the tribe’s land dealt a blow to their proposed casino and sent the economy into a tailspin.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The tribe started work on its casino, including seeking financing,” she said, “When the [DOI] Secretary changed his mind, the tribe was left with overwhelming debt.” She estimated the debt at $440 million.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe <a href="https://mashpeewampanoagtribe-nsn.gov/press-releases/2019/4/5/mashpee-wampanoag-provide-testimony-supporting-hr312-before-house-subcommittee" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">saw</a> the proposed casino as a key “economic driver.” Casinos can provide needed revenue for public services and other vital infrastructure on reservations, at times accounting for <a href="https://www.nigc.gov/commission/gaming-revenue-reports" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">a sizeable portion</a> of a tribe’s revenue.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is not the first time Congress has stepped in to preserve a tribe’s reservation from being taken away. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2015, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/113/plaws/publ179/PLAW-113publ179.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Gun Lake Tribe</a> underwent a similar struggle. Congress introduced and eventually passed the Gun Lake <a href="https://www.congress.gov/113/plaws/publ179/PLAW-113publ179.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Trust Land Reaffirmation Act </a>to affirm that the land could be held in federal trust, but not without a grueling fight. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled the decision constitutional in 2018.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Steven Light, co-founder of the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy and professor at University of North Dakota, said “it is arguably not the best thing for Congress to be legislating on bills specific to one tribe or another because what that suggests is that sovereignty [can be] compromised and politicized.” Instead, the DOI’s responsibility is to fulfill the federal government’s promises to all tribes, he said.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://twitter.com/mschlapp/status/1126252040861233162" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Lobbyists</a> representing Twin River Worldwide Holdings welcomed the DOI’s decision to un-acknowledge the land previously considered the Mashpee Wampanoag’s reservation. The private company has two casinos — Twin River Casino Hotel and Tiverton Casino Hotel — near the disputed site in Rhode Island. Rep. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00025726" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Tom Cole</a> (R-Okla.), who co-sponsored H.R. 312, said that Twin River was adverse to the competition from the new casino, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-tweet-derails-house-bill-opposed-by-lobbyist-with-close-white-house-ties/2019/05/08/019117d0-71b5-11e9-9f06-5fc2ee80027a_story.html?utm_term=.2aa1f894b6a7" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">according to the Washington Post</a>.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Twin River paid revolving door lobbyist <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/rev_summary.php?id=33712" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Matt Schlapp</a>, </b>who is the chairman of the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000023944" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">American Conservative Union</a> and a devout Trump supporter. The opposition’s ties to Trump go even deeper. The <a href="https://investors.twinriverwwholdings.com/governance/executive-management/default.aspx" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">president of Twin River</a> once served as an executive at one of the casinos owned by Trump in Atlantic City too, based on findings published by the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-riddle-in-new-england-a-casino-321-acres-of-indian-tribal-land-and-a-presidential-tweet/2019/05/13/dfcc6dd8-7354-11e9-9f06-5fc2ee80027a_story.html?utm_term=.c7efbfe0b30d" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Washington Post</a>.</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schlapp leads the lobbying firm <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000049818" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Cove Strategies</a>, which Twin River Management Group paid $30,000 in 2019 for lobbying related to the bill. Schlapp’s wife, Mercedes, holds a position in the White House as the director of strategic communications. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Twin River Management Group also paid the firm <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/firmlbs.php?id=F220948" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Black Diamond Strategies</a> $30,000.</b> Although there is no record indicating he lobbied on H.R. 312, revolving door lobbyist Rick Wiley is a political consultant with Black Diamond Strategies and played an influential role in Trump’s campaign as the political director during the presidential primaries. Doug Davenport, a former strategist for Trump’s campaign, lobbied on behalf of Black Diamond Strategies as well.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rep. Keating called out Trump’s “well-documented alliance with the [Rhode Island] casino lobbyist” in <a href="https://twitter.com/USRepKeating?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1126179837465509888&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wpri.com%2Fpolitics%2Fhouse-vote-will-help-decide-fate-of-taunton-casino%2F1988351630" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">a tweet last week</a>. </b><br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tribes also have accelerated their involvement in federal lobbying. The <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000046193&cycle=2018" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Mashpee Wampanoag</a> Tribe spent $150,000 on lobbying in this year. Last year, they spent $420,000.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In the American political system, money talks,” Light said. “Political responsiveness is generated through access and influence, which is linked to fiscal resources and lobbying.” <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://mashpeewampanoagtribe-nsn.gov/press-releases/2019/4/5/mashpee-wampanoag-provide-testimony-supporting-hr312-before-house-subcommittee" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">In testimony</a> before the House Subcommittee on Indigenous Peoples of the U.S. last month, Mashpee Wampanoag Vice Chairwoman Jessie “Little Doe” Baird said that the loss of the Mashpee Wampanoag’s status had devastated their economic development. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The damage done to our Tribe during the years in which the status of our reservation has been thrown into doubt is beginning to reach catastrophic levels,” Baird said.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The denial of land rights to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe harkened back to termination policies in the mid-twentieth century when the federal government terminated the status of numerous American Indian tribes and nullified preexisting promises to tribes bound by treaty, said Rep. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00025284" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Raúl Grijalva </a>(D-Ariz.) said on the House floor. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That said, money from casinos is not a panacea for the steep economic hurdles many tribal nations face. Some Indigenous leaders have called for alternate revenue streams <a href="https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/the-myth-of-indian-casino-riches-3H8eP-wHX0Wz0H4WnQjwjA/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">given the limitations</a> of the gaming industry. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nor do all tribal nations have a casino. Of the 567 federally recognized tribes, about 42 percent operate gaming facilities, according to 2016 data from <a href="https://www.nigc.gov/images/uploads/NIGC%20Uploads/aboutus/2016FactSheet-web.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">NIGC</a>. That means the majority — 329 tribes — have no casinos. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Not all casinos are created equal either, and profit varies widely depending on location and tribe. Of all the gaming revenue audits obtained by the NIGC in 2017, <a href="https://www.nigc.gov/images/uploads/reports/Chart2017GamingRevenuesbyRange.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">57 percent of casinos</a> brought in under $25 million. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Lobbyists put ‘political pressure’ on DOI </strong><br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is not the only tribe to run into issues with the DOI and lobbyists.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last year, the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000286" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Mashantucket Pequots Tribe</a> filed a lawsuit against the DOI and <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000193" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">MGM Resorts International</a> alleging that the agency intentionally delayed any decision over a proposed casino. This would be the third casino owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000053882" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">The Mohegan Tribe</a>, also located in Connecticut, joined the lawsuit.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000193" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">MGM Resorts International</a>, a company with plans to build a casino in Springfield, Massachusetts, lobbied against the construction of the the Mashantucket Pequots’ proposal, and may have been influential in the DOI’s lack of a clear verdict, according to an investigation of Zinke’s calendar by <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/01/zinkes-indian-casino-interior-312671" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Politico</a>. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Judge Rudolph Contreras allowed <a href="https://www.indianz.com/IndianGaming/2019/02/15/mptn021519.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">the lawsuit to proceed</a> in February, stating that the “plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that significant political pressure was brought to bear on the issue and the Secretary may have improperly succumbed to such pressure.”<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MGM Resorts International spent a record-breaking <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000000193&year=2018" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">$1.9 million lobbying</a> on issues related to gambling in 2018, up from $570,000 just two years before. The company paid Ballard $80,000 during the first quarter this year. Last year, he received $320,000. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MGM’s registered lobbyists include <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/01/ballard-partners-revolving-door-white-house/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Brian Ballard</a> who served as a fundraiser for Trump’s presidential campaign in Florida and later became a member of Trump’s transition team. Filings show MGM Resorts paid Ballard Partners <a href="https://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=794E4DD1-7064-47BB-B162-C3D901C5308D&filingTypeID=52" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">$80,000 in the first quarter this year</a> for lobbying on issues related to gambling on tribal land. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Revolving door lobbyist <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/rev_summary.php?id=71519" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Gale Norton</a>, who served as Interior Secretary in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 and 2006, lobbied for MGM Resorts International about the “Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Connecticut gaming amendments,” according to <a href="https://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=FAFB824A-66B5-497C-A558-95C0A22DCF37&filingTypeID=51" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">lobbying </a>records. She also served as counsel for <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00039503" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Shell Oil</a>. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/lobby.php?id=D000000286" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Spending on lobbyists by the Mashantucket Pequots Tribe</a> decreased from $380,000 in 2004 to just $84,000 in 2018. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The motivations behind steady efforts by lobbyists to challenge tribe’s right to hold federal land in trust can extend well beyond the gambling industry. Federally recognized tribal land accounts for about 2 percent of the country’s land, but holds about 20 percent of gas and oil. When a lobbyist successfully chisels away at tribal rights to self-determination over their own affairs, fossil fuel interest groups inch closer to accessing tribal land. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2016, Energy Transfer Partners lobbied to extend a $3.8 billion pipeline through sacred land on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota, despite widespread resistance from Indigenous organizers. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump eventually reversed the Army Corp of Engineers’ decision to halt construction of the controversial Dakota Access pipeline, made under the Obama administration. The case is now stuck in the courts. <br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump has a lengthy history with casinos. Trump owned casino ventures, including Trump Castle, Trump Plaza and Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City in the 1980 and 90s. All ended in bankruptcy but Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/nyregion/donald-trump-atlantic-city.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">walked away</a> with significant profit.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Currently, the Mashantucket Pequots Tribe owns two casinos, one of which Trump attempted to block in his days as a casino owner. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/04/nyregion/trump-in-a-federal-lawsuit-seeks-to-block-indian-casinos.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">In 1993</a>, Trump challenged the constitutionality of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in court in an attempt to eliminate competition from the the Mashantucket Pequots Tribe’s <a href="https://www.foxwoods.com/default.aspx" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Foxwoods Resort Casino</a>. Trump sued the federal government, arguing he was being discriminated against.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I love to compete but I like to compete on an equal footing. I’m competing and paying hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes,” <a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/05/13/trumps-mysterious-casino-tweet-hes-using-racism-to-cover-up-his-corruption/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">said Trump during a hearing</a>. All the same, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/nyregion/donald-trump-atlantic-city.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">New York Times</a> report later uncovered that Trump claimed $814 million in losses while forking over no money in income taxes.</font></p><div class="widget_text awac-wrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><div class="widget_text awac widget custom_html-5" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="textwidget custom-html-widget" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; border: 1px dotted; padding: 11px; border-radius: 15px; margin-top: 40px; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. </font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: <a href="mailto:info@crp.org" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">info@crp.org</a></font></div></div></div></div></div><div class="related-box" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; width: 760px; padding: 8px 0px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 12px;"><span class="txt" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; float: left; line-height: 28px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: -0.03em; margin-right: 15px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RELATED TOPICS</font></span><ul class="related-list" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px -5px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/casinos/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; 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max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/william-keating/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">william keating</font></a></li></ul></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Sex Scandal That Put Bush in the White House</b></font></div>
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>How GOP operative Roger Stone destroyed the Reform Party in the 2000 presidential campaign</b></font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wayne Barrett, Jessie Singer - May 18th, 2004 - http://www.<b>villagevoice.</b>com/news/0420,barrett,53586,6.h... </font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pat Buchanan ... seized control of ... the Reform Party ... became the party's presidential nominee ... (and) mysteriously disappeared, getting 2.4 million votes less than Ralph Nader, 80,000 less in Florida alone. ... Stone and Buchanan were aides to Nixon and Reagan, and <b>Stone, also a Bush I campaign veteran, was rewarded for his subterranean 2000 efforts with an appointment to the Department of Interior transition team, which he parlayed into a multimillion dollar business as an Indian gaming consultant ..</b>..Buchanan's vanishing act—-after Stone cajoled him to run Reform-—left nearly a dozen party leaders contacted by the Voice convinced that he and Stone were conscious agents of doom. ...</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">... "Buchanan hospitality suite" at the Dearborn, Michigan, convention hotel—with soda and hamburgers and occasional champagne—"was paid for by Roger, who, in turn, said he was covering it with Trump's money." .....</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone(s) ... sacking of the Reform Party may be his lasting legacy.</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">....... http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0416,barrett,52802,1.h... .....</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone, the dirty-tricks hobgoblin of Republican politics, has exploited his Bush connections to become an influence-peddling force in <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">the $13 billion Indian gaming industry.</span> Stone's booming business in such a federally regulated enterprise makes his recent pro bono orchestration of Al Sharpton's double-edged presidential campaign an even stranger covert caper.</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The longtime GOP consultant's reward for fomenting the "Brooks Brothers mob" that shut down the Miami-Dade recount in 2000 was an invitation within days of Bush's election to serve on the Department of Interior transition working group—<span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">helping, in his own words, to staff its Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).</span> Stone has since used this unannounced perch to market himself to tribes and developers from Louisiana to California, earning fat fees and contingent percentages of future casino revenue<span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. Just two of the five deals examined by the Voice are projected to pay him at least $8 million, and perhaps as much as $13 million.</span></font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Time, The Washington Post and The New York Times have published exposés about Bush's BIA, with a February story highlighting $45 million in payments to two GOP lobbyists from four tribes since 2001</span>. But no one has focused on Stone's profiteering, which, unlike the payments to registered lobbyists, is not reported on any public filings. .......</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">.... http://www.indianz.com/News/2004/001456.asp?print=1 ....</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Republican operative who helped Neal McCaleb and Aurene Martin get their jobs at the Bureau of Indian Affairs<span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> admits to orchestrating the campaign to fire former BIA deputy Wayne Smith.</span></font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Smith was ousted after letters from Phil Bersinger, a former business partner, surfaced in the spring of 2002</b>. In the letters, Bersinger touted his close connections to Smith, who handled land-into-trust, federal recognition and gaming issues for the BIA.</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the time, Smith was trying to resolve a leadership dispute within a small California tribe. Republican operative Roger Stone worked with one faction of the Buena Vista Rancheria that wants a casino. According to The Village Voice, this faction has a contract to pay Stone a $250,000 retainer plus 7.5 percent of annual gaming revenue from the proposed casino.</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When Smith refused to overturn a decision favoring Stone's clients, <b>Stone told The Voice that he "faxed the letters to certain members" of the press, leading to stories in Time Magazine </b>and other outlets. The stories suggested Smith was using his position to help Bersinger hire tribal clients.</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neal McCaleb eventually got rid of Smith </font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump, Rove, Norton, Barbour, Brulte = Inside Bush's Indian Bureau </font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">- A labyrinth of lobbyists is manufacturing millions</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wayne Barrett, Jennifer Suh - April 27th, 2004 - http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0417,barrett,53013,1.h... </font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">... Wayne Smith ... the '90s, he'd been chief deputy to California's Republican attorney general .</span>.. at 52, he was assistant deputy secretary at Interior, managing the $3.5 billion budget of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and overseeing the hotly politicized Indian casino industry ...</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">... in his new job—which he got on the recommendation of a colleague from his AG days, Sue Wooldridge, top aide to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton</span>. Neal McCaleb, who was Smith's immediate boss and ran BIA, put him in charge of gaming ... BIA remained a bureaucratic land where the only chiefs are buttoned-down lobbyists, raking in millions from tribes whose casinos are virtually franchises to print influence-peddling largesse.</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Smith was troubled early ... his<b> office was lobbied on behalf of two tribes by Diane Allbaugh, the wife of Joe Allbaugh, </b>head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the 2000 national campaign manager for Bush. </span>Diane Allbaugh, who worked at a firm headed by former Republican National Committee chair Haley Barbour, appeared on behalf of a Louisiana casino developer under contract with the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians and the <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Paucatuck Eastern Pequots, a Connecticut tribe then tied to Donald Trump. </span>McCaleb urged Smith to take her calls, explaining that he and Joe Allbaugh were old Oklahoma friends and that Allbaugh had "helped convince the White House" to install him at BIA.</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">... lobbyist who concerned Smith more than any other ... he'd been on the transition working group for Interior, staffing the agency. The dark force of Indian gaming, retained as a hidden consultant by tribes and developers across the country, was <b>Roger Stone,</b> a veteran of eight Republican presidential campaigns and star of the Miami/Dade recount shutdown. <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Scott Reed is often his up-front lobbyist face.</span></font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">... Reed began leaning on Smith in late January 2002. Smith even got a note supporting the Stone faction from the Republican leader of the California state senate, Jim Brulte. <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Stone had recommended the retention of a consulting firm owned by Brulte's former chief of staff, Tom Ross, and Ross wrote the memo summarizing the Buena Vista case that Brulte enclosed. Later in 2002, Stone would host a fundraiser for Brulte at his 40 Central Park South apartment and take Brulte to visit Stone's longtime client <b>Donald Trump. </b></span>The Brulte intervention sent a particularly <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">strong message to Smith because he'd attended a 2001 Palm Springs meeting involving <b>Karl Rove</b> and a dozen tribes, where Brulte was introduced as "the administration's main man in California—especially for Indian matters."</span> .</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Donald Trump, Roger Stone, Jack Abramoff, Gaming Gaming and Scalping the Tribes.</b></font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How is it that two consumate Republican insiders, both purported specialists in illegal</font></div>
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">funding of campaigns, one a political dirty trickster who stays behind the scenes and</font></div>
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the other a felonious convict linked to the White House political office, each manage</font></div>
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to garner tens of millions of dollars from Indian tribes in the gaming rackets? By</font></div>
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">working both sides at once, </span>of course. And, how is it that one gets convicted and goes</font></div>
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to jail while the other keeps getting paid? Who is scalping whom for how much, who has</font></div>
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">lost their scalp, who still has theirs, and will Donald Trump's hair survive the scandals?</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With all the attention to Abramoff defrauding the Tribes, why isn't there more attention on</font></div>
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">who else is involved in all of gaming's political machinations and influence peddling?</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Who has lucrative contracts to receive a percentage of the gross from Indian casinos, and</font></div>
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">how did they obtain it? Where is all that money going? How much ends up in the coffers of</font></div>
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">politicos like Sen. John McCain, and why? Who else is scalping the Tribes?</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And how much of the scalping goes to legal and illegal campaign contributions?</font></div>
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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Questions to be answered.</font></div>
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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> That's the most striking characteristic of<b> Abramoff </b>and his crew of ex-student leaders; nearly thirty years out of college, no longer young at all, the whole bunch of them are still Dean Wormer's sneaky little shits, high-fiving one another for executing the brilliant theft and pre-dawn public hanging of the rival college's stuffed-bear mascot. That whole adolescent vibe permeates the confiscated Abramoff e-mails, the best example of which being this exchange between<b> Jack and his "evil elf" aide Michael Scanlon regarding their lobbying fees for the Coushatta Indian tribe:</b></font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Scanlon: Coushatta is an absolute cake walk. Your cut on the project as proposed is at least 800k.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Abramoff: How can I say this strongly enough: YOU IZ DA MAN</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Again, these assholes affirm every stereotype about campus conservatives. They don't spend enough time being kids when they're supposed to, so they do it when they're balding, middle-aged men with handles and back hair - using Washington and Congress as their own personal sandbox.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> They figured out how to beat everything. Everything about the Abramoff story suggests that at some point, he and his buddies Norquist, Reed and DeLay took a long, hard look at the American system, war-gamed it and came up with a master plan to strike hard at its weakest points. In the end, almost all of the Abramoff scams revolved around the vulnerability of the national legislature to outside manipulation. Once Abramoff and his cabal figured out how to beat Congress, everything else fell into place.</font>
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</font></p><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dt style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA)</font></dt></dl><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2003, Abramoff gave <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pombo" title="Richard Pombo" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none;">Richard Pombo's</a> (R-CA) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_action_committee" title="Political action committee" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none;">PAC</a> $5,000. Abramoff also gave $2,000, the maximum allowed, to Pombo's congressional campaign committee that same year.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On January 8, 2006, the <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Times" title="Los Angeles Times" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none;">Los Angeles Times</a></i> reported that "Pombo helped one of Abramoff's clients, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mashpee_Indians&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Mashpee Indians (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none;">Mashpee Indians</a> in Massachusetts, gain official recognition as a tribe; the congressman received contributions from the lobbyist and the tribe in that instance</span>."<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-banker8jan08,0,1764103.story?coll=la-home-headlines&track=morenews" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: url("data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVklEQVR4Xn3PgQkAMQhDUXfqTu7kTtkpd5RA8AInfArtQ2iRXFWT2QedAfttj2FsPIOE1eCOlEuoWWjgzYaB/IkeGOrxXhqB+uA9Bfcm0lAZuh+YIeAD+cAqSz4kCMUAAAAASUVORK5CYII="); background-position: 100% 50%;">[16]</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></p>