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Gambling threatens to overwhelm
Then the Abramoff scandal
ripened into glorious rot, the lobbyist pleading guilty to defrauding
Native American tribes that paid him and a partner $63 million in fees
and kickbacks to hustle their "gaming" interests on Capitol Hill.
"Abramoff is just one little tiny sucker on a tentacle of a really huge
octopus," Johnson said,
a beast that corrupts congressmen and constitutions alike.
"This is pandemic corruption. Why are people so lazy about their public
safeguards these days?"
Gambling threatens to overwhelm
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Oregonian
Portland, Oregon
Jack Abramoff came along -- and Alexis Johnson came back -- at just the
right time.
I was wavering on this gambling stuff. I was wondering if the Internet
hasn't so transformed the landscape as to render objections to casinos
-- in the state's every nook and cranny -- obsolete.
I was asking if it wasn't time for the state to cash in on gambling
profits that usually end up in the pockets of lobbyists, resurrected
Native American tribes and off-shore Internet poker sites.
Then the Abramoff scandal ripened into glorious rot, the lobbyist
pleading guilty to defrauding Native American tribes that paid him and
a partner $63 million in fees and kickbacks to hustle their "gaming"
interests on Capitol Hill.
Then I called Johnson, the Arizona lawyer who has been sounding the
alarm on tribal gambling, and helping various Oregon communities fight
casino sitings, for the past 10 years. Was I also caving on
prostitution, he asked.
"Abramoff is just one little tiny sucker on a tentacle of a really huge
octopus," Johnson said, a beast that corrupts congressmen and
constitutions alike. "This is pandemic corruption. Why are people so
lazy about their public safeguards these days?"
Vigilance hasn't always been so out of fashion. There was a time when
Vegas was Vegas and Oregon was not. Back in 1988, then-Gov. Neil
Goldschmidt collided head-on with the campaign to introduce video poker
to a state where casinos were outlawed by the constitution.
"They have tried to sucker the lottery into signing up for this deal on
the theory that it represents more money," Goldschmidt wrote in a memo.
"What it represents to me is the smell of organized crime. . . . I want
to warn these people in advance that if they want to be on the other
side of this one, they had better be ready for a blood bath. I may be
prepared to hang anybody out to dry. I don't want to see us whored
anymore for this kind of money."
The results of that blood bath? At the dawn of 2006, Native American
gambling is a $19 billion industry and it's increasingly difficult to
find an I-5 exit ramp between Seattle and Sacramento that doesn't lead
to a tribal casino.
Video poker terminals keep hundreds of Oregon bars and aimless sandwich
shops in business. The Legislature is addicted to poker receipts to
meet its annual budget. Global Internet poker revenues top $2 billion
annually, virtually all of it untaxed.
And when residents
of Florence sued to stop another tribal casino from
sprouting on the coast, U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken ruled (a) they
had no standing to object to increased gambling activity in town; and
(b) the Oregon Constitution prohibits gambling establishments, not
gaming activities, and that document is superfluous when it "interferes
or is incompatible with federal or tribal interests."
Kelly Clark, the lawyer representing those Florence residents, said the
attitude of the law*, the
governor and Oregon's attorney general
"seems to be, 'Shut up. Don't rock the boat. We have a deal here where
bucketloads of money are coming in. The tribes are doing well. The fix
is in.' "
Gambling grows, Johnson argues, through small steps designed to erode
moral objections: "First it's church-based charity bingo, then Indian
gambling, then class II gambling. We roll from green felt in church
basements to Chinese-owned casinos on alleged Indian ground in
Connecticut."
We roll from one governor declaring war on gambling interests in 1988
to Chip Lazenby, Gov. John Kitzhaber's legal counsel, declaring 10
years later, "We're fused
at the hip with the tribes on this gambling
stuff."
The folks making millions on these deals, Abramoff and the rest, almost
had me convinced. Further thought is required, in the harsh light of
the bribes, the addictions and the sovereign nations, not to mention
the disconcerting fact that Neil Goldschmidt is lecturing us on
morality and I'm finding him oddly persuasive.
Steve Duin: 503-221-8597; Steveduin@aol.com; 1320 S.W.
Broadway, Portland, OR 97201
http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/1136604339146290.xml?oregonian?ylccsd&coll=7
*Web Editor's note: PACT
attorney, Kelly Clark informed us that information contained in the
Oregonian article needed clarification.
Mr. Clark stated that what he actually said was that the attitude of
the LAW, the governor and Oregon's attorney general was that the fix
was in.
Mr. Clark stated that, in his view, Judge Aiken seemed to be very
troubled by the increasing reliance of our state on the gambling
problem. He added, "I made a distinction between the law and the
court: the
first has been corrupted by the gambling addiction, the judge/court
reluctantly had to follow the law. An important distinction, at
least as far as I am concerned."
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