Number of Days Oregon's Governor
Ted Kulongoski
has been violating his oath
to uphold the Oregon Constitution:

07/04/08 - Florida Supreme Court Rules against Governor - The Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Gov. Charlie Crist overstepped his authority when he negotiated a deal last year that let the Seminole Tribe of Florida install slot machines and offer table games at its seven Florida casinos. The court said Crist could not allow the tribe to conduct types of gambling that are now illegal in the rest of the state. Although slot machines have been approved by voters in some counties, state law prohibits other types of gambling such as blackjack. "The governor has no authority to change or amend state law," wrote Justice Raoul Cantero. Also see: Supreme Court Opinion. PACT Editor's Note: This case is particularly interesting for Oregon residents because Oregon's State Constitution prohibits casinos in Oregon, yet the Governor signed compacts similar to the Florida case.

06/13/08 - PACT to proceed with legal challenge - “PACT simply wants the governor to answer a very simple question — how is it that he keeps signing compacts to site casinos in a state whose constitution clearly says ‘no casinos’?” said Kelly Clark, lead lawyer, in a news release from O’Donnell, Clark and Crew, LLP, the firm representing PACT. “Now, the state and the governor will have to give a defense to an action we believe is indefensible under the constitution.”

06/12/06 - PACT wins approval to challenge governor - Clark said federal law on Indian gaming does not require states to violate their own laws. He cited Utah as an example, which has no casinos because the state prohibits them. "Now the governor has to say why he has the right to authorize casinos, even on tribal land," Clark said. He added the ruling could affect other casinos, including Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation plans to build a casino in the Columbia Gorge at Cascade Locks, already approved by Kulongoski.

06/12/08 - Oregon Court of Appeals issues decision - The Oregon Court of Appeals yesterday delivered a setback to tribal casinos statewide, and to Governor Kulongoski for signing the compact for the casino in Florence.

A unanimous court ruled that the People Against a Casino Town (PACT), a group of Florence citizens opposed to the Florence, Oregon casino, were entitled to go forward with their suit against the Governor that seeks to determine whether the he has the ability to enter into these compacts in light of the Oregon Constitution's prohibition on casinos.

"This is a great victory for PACT," said Kelly Clark, the lead lawyer for the group. "These citizens have for four years now held barbecues and bake sales to support this litigation; meanwhile the state and the tribes have tried every trick in the book to keep this question away from a hearing on the merits. PACT simply wants the Governor to answer a very simple question—how is it that he keeps signing compacts to site casinos in a state whose constitution clearly says 'no casinos?' Now, the state and the Governor will have to give a defense to an action we believe is indefensible under the constitution."
(Opinion: http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/A124001.htm)

5/7/08 - Oregon casino initiative delay welcomed - Two Lake Oswego businessmen confirmed on Friday something that has been obvious to political observers for several weeks now: They will not proceed with an initiative drive this year to establish Oregon’s first non-tribal casino at the old Multnomah Kennel Club in Wood Village. Oregon already is saturated with gambling opportunities and there is little to be gained – and a lot to be lost – by continuing to expand gambling in this state.

3/18/08 - Suicide at Oregon Casino - Though you probably won't find the information anywhere in the regular media, a small local newspaper - near the bottom of page 3 - recently reported on a suicide at the Three Rivers Casino in Florence.

03/08/08 - Oregon - $460,000 in taxes lost to casinos - A special law allows the OLCC to sell alcohol to casinos at a discount of about 95% of what is charged to non-casino restaurants and bars. PACT's analysis of 2007 data shows that the State of Oregon lost $460,644 in 2007 net revenues (taxes) due to this legal loophole.

03/07/08 - First hearing held at casino in Warm Springs - A handful testified against the casino. Mary Repar of Stevenson, Wash., treasurer of the No Casino Committee, compared the Gorge to a beautiful woman. ''A pretty woman attracts a lot of lovers who make midnight promises,'' she said. ''They say they will respect her in the morning. But Mother Earth is saying no.'' Speaking for himself, spokesman Philip Harju of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, which plans a casino in southwest Washington, supported the Warm Springs proposal. ''We want the BIA to understand that there were mills all up and down the gorge, with wigwam burners going 24 hours a day,'' Harju said. ''The mills dumped a lot of stuff in the river. So if the Friends of the Gorge, or whatever front group they're using, claims the Warm Springs are going to hurt the Gorge, what a crock.'' The hearing was the first of five to be held through March 17 to determine whether the tribe will be allowed to build a new casino in Cascade Locks, Ore., on the Columbia River.

03/04/08 - City to negotiate for casino security - The City of Florence may enter negotiations with the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians to provide police services to the Three Rivers Casino. In a report to the City Council, Police Chief Maury Sanders says he was approached by the Tribes' police chief about the possibility of providing the services in exchange for the Tribes funding two full-time sworn police officers. Also see: Most civil laws don't apply at reservation casinos.

02/20/08 - Recession will expose State's gambling habit - A lottery-dependent Oregon budget insidiously weighted down by the silent impacts of its tax-immune, social-obligation-free tribal casinos has as much chance of beating the recession odds as the blue-haired lady pumping quarters into the slot machine has of beating the house odds.

01/17/08 - Slot Revenues - What's the take? Between $227 and $403 per machine, per day. Casino ahead of the game - The daily per-machine revenue is the average amount of money left in a slot machine at the end of a day after winners have been paid. It's a universal statistic in the gambling industry for how well a casino performs.

01/11/08 - Columbia Gorge still threatened with casino - Cascade Locks government leaders learned last weekend that the Draft Environmental Impact Statement outlining issues related to the siting of a tribal casino/resort within the city will soon be released for public review. The DEIS is expected to be published in the Federal Register within the next several weeks, followed by five public hearings. The announcement from the Interior keeps alive the long-standing proposal by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to build a 500,000 square foot casino on 25 acres within Cascade Locks’ industrial park.

01/08/08 - PACT - Oral Arguments at Court of Appeals - It might be as soon as four months, or even as long as 10 months before the Court of Appeals issued an opinion.

01/03/08 - U.S. Dept. of Interior issues new off-reservation casino guidelines. The DOI currently has pending 30 applications to take off-reservation land into trust to allow the construction of new casinos.

12/11/07 - Pentagon slots - The Army operates more than 3,000 slot machines on overseas bases, and manages the Marine Corps’ and some of the Navy’s and Air Force’s slot machine operations. The Air Force also runs its own gambling programs. The military currently has slot machines in Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan and Korea, but the Department of Defense did not provide the total number. On U.S. bases, the Army runs bingo programs, which though modest are twice as profitable as slot machines. The Army is able to produce an annual profit of at least $7 million on revenue of about $45 million, according to several reports.

While the military argues it is in dire need of the approximately $130 million generated each year from gambling to keep its troops happy and enlisted, critics charge that it is preying on its own and fostering an addiction it does little to prevent or treat.

“The military buries the problem,” Catanzaro told The Hill. "Whenever you talk about gambling, the military gets absolutely paranoid. What it comes down to is an issue of money."

Meanwhile, (Rep. Lincoln Davis) Davis, who does not serve on any committee with jurisdiction over the military, is in the early stages of garnering support for his legislation in both the House and Senate. He would like to name the legislation in the memory of Aaron Walsh, a decorated Apache pilot who last year, after he left the military in 2005, killed himself because of his gambling addiction, which started on a U.S. base in Germany and worsened once he deployed to South Korea, according to several media reports.

10/15/07 - Casinos fall short of expectations to curb poverty - Fourteen years and hundreds of millions of dollars later, tribal casinos in Tucson have not met federal and state requirements to lift American Indians out of poverty and reduce their dependence on taxpayer money.

10/15/07 - Report raises doubts about casino spinoff claims - A survey of casinos in other states was raising serious doubts about the high expectations gambling supporters have voiced about the economic spinoff from casinos. A wide-ranging survey by New York Times reporter Gary Rivlin, published Sept. 22, showed that the American Indian tribes with casinos in Connecticut and other states have invested little in the states where they are located. Indeed, after a few failures, such as the ferry-building business in which Foxwoods’ Mashantucket Pequots invested, the report found, the tribes are sticking to casinos, “scouring the nation” for new gambling opportunities.

10/04/07 - Florida Attorney General: The statistics are sobering - In communities that permit Class III casino gambling, such as Las Vegas-style slot machines, blackjack card games and even roulette or craps, the crime rate is nearly twice the national average. Additionally, statistics show that illegal gambling is significantly more prevalent in states that have opened the door to legalized gambling. A recent study found more than two-thirds of compulsive gamblers had engaged in criminal activity, including violent crimes, because of a gambling problem. (Bill McCollum, Florida Attorney General, 10/4/07)

7/26/07 - New study paints grim outlook for casino towns
A new report paints a potentially troubling picture of life in Philadelphia after two casinos open up for business. The report says crime could increase and the casinos could end up costing more money than they bring in. (Report: 2007-Five-Year Plan Staff Report)

7/1/07 - Oregon teens at risk from gambling - According to the state Department of Human Services, one in ten teens is at risk for developing a gambling problem. And one in every 25 is a problem gambler.

6/28/07 - New Oregon law requires vote before casino siting - A new law, signed by the governor on June 28, requires that any casino wanting to locate inside city limits must be first approved by a vote of the city residents. There is specific language which excludes Indian casinos, which are the only casinos in Oregon so far, from the voting requirement.

6/26/07 - Is your town next? See 41 pending off-reservation casino applications.

01/31/07 - Oregon Land Use Laundering - Land use laundering: the ploy used by local governments to facilitate casino expansion without accounting for the impacts on land planning as usually is required by zoning and other land use processes.

12/28/06 - Oregon casino not safe - It is a five-story casino-hotel served by a tiny fire district that doesn't have enough firefighters, or a ladder truck that can reach above two floors. Gov. Ted Kulongoski and his staff missed an opportunity earlier this year to address fire safety concerns when they renegotiated the state's casino compact with the Grand Ronde tribes. The only fire safety language in the compact, which sets terms under which the casino can operate, is a single sentence requiring the tribes to install effective fire sprinkler systems, Zaitz reported. Local and state fire officials weren't even asked to comment on the compact.

11/14/06 - "Government as Brothel: What's Your Pleasure, Honey?"
"So, Governor listen up. I am not yet an old man, and I plan on being a thorn in your side, or that of your successor, for many years to come. And the people of PACT are made of pure steel. So, no, we won't go away. Not because of delay or obfuscation or Keystone cop routines or not - this is the most outrageous of all - the outlandish charge that anyone with the unmitigated temerity to raise these issues is racist. We are not going away. Not until someone in a black robe gives us an answer to our Very Simple Question." Remarks on Public Gambling, ONU National Conference on Federal Policy towards Tribal Gaming, Washington, D.C., November 14, 2006, by Kelly Clark, Esquire.

09/25/06 - Gambling with a child's life - The (Australian) State Government has ordered a review of toy poker machines after it was revealed children as young as four are playing life-like slot games. An investigation by The Daily Telegraph has discovered toddlers are at risk of developing dangerous gambling habits by playing with toy poker machines. The replica slots are available in toyshops and supermarkets, and encourage children to feed fake money into the machines.

09/02/06 - Oregon decision kills casino sewer deal - A new land board ruling has derailed sewer plans for the Three Rivers Casino. The Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians have decided to build their own wastewater treatment plant rather than face the delays and uncertainty of trying to hook up to city sewer lines following a decision last week by the state Land Use Board of Appeals.

8/24/06 - Good News for the Gorge - That Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski would jeopardize the unique scenic area bordering our two states is disappointing. He did so by granting the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs permission to proceed with planning a huge casino and resort at Cascade Locks, far from its Central Oregon reservation. Without the governor's OK, there would be no threat of a casino in the scenic area no worries about such a large increase in traffic, pollution and harm to endangered species. Gov. John Kitzhaber, who served before Kulongoski, rightly refused to let such a monstrosity of human development in the gorge.

08/10/06 - What are other states doing about casinos? See the ever-growing list of groups fighting casinos across the nation at the USPACT web page.

6/16/06 - Children as young as 11 years old addicted to gambling - "They (the children) talk about personal problems, depression, and always being penniless. Their gambling addiction isolates them, and when they call us they do it secretly, so that their parents shouldn't know," said Thore Paulsen, daily manager of the hotline. Paulsen said that these children were very evasive when asked where they find the money to support their compulsion. Also see: Addicting our Children

04/02/06 - How casino tribe jumped into bed with the mob - The gambling money flowed so freely that one or more members of an organized crime family showed up one day with $300,000 in a duffel bag to spend on races, according to a Treasury Department document. After the FBI's initial reluctance to investigate, the scheme eventually resulted in an 88-count indictment and 17 defendants in a New York federal court. They are accused in a $200 million illegal gambling and money laundering ring. Allegations include extortion and race fixing through horse doping. Most have pleaded guilty or are scheduled to do so this week. March 24, the U.S. Treasury Department announced the tribe had agreed to pay a $1 million fine in six monthly installments for negligence uncovered through "Seabiscuit." Gordon Warrior, the tribe's vice president, said Anthony Street told him he negotiated the fine down from $65 million.

03/22/06 - Hourly wages in Indian casinos lag behind hospitality industry - Wages in Indian gaming organizations are 7% below average wages for the same group of hourly paid jobs for full service hotels. Average starting rates were even lower, at 10% below.

Our sign is located on the main highway in Florence.

12/14/05 - Study: Casino and hotel impact on town of 1,050 people could be $13.4 million. A nine-month study of a casino's potential impacts on Plymouth's infrastructure came to a rough end number last Thursday when a consultant said the toll on the city of 1,050 people could run as high as $13.4 million.