Blue Corn Comics -- Stereotype of the Month Entry

Stereotype of the Month Entry
(1/26/06)

Examiner Editorial — When this Wolf howls, better listen up

It's not the first time a warning by veteran Congressman Frank Wolf, R-Va., has fallen on deaf ears. Back when Bill Clinton was still president, Wolf was the first to alert fellow members of Congress to the danger posed by a little-known Saudi religious fanatic named Osama bin Laden, but nobody listened. Nor did his House colleagues take much notice when this longtime champion of human rights noted that bin Laden — who lived in Sudan from 1992 to 96 — became a partner in a business venture with the genocidal Sudanese government. ("Wouldn't it be horrible if American money generated through gum arabic sales helped to finance bin Laden's next attack?" Wolf prophetically asked in September 2000 — exactly a year before Sept. 11.)

Two years ago, Wolf's own party members again failed to take heed when the author of legislation establishing the National Gambling Impact Commission asked the FBI and the Justice Department to investigate potential political corruption involving Indian-owned casinos.

It wasn't until K Street lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to three gambling-related felony counts earlier this month — and threatened to take some big names in the Republican Party down with him — that GOP leaders in Congress finally snapped to attention.

In a Jan. 12 letter, Wolf asked the White House to impose a moratorium on recognizing new tribes or opening any more tribal casinos (there are now more than 405 tribal gambling operations in 30 states) pending an investigation of abuses in the totally unregulated industry that include:

- Reservation shopping. Tribes set up instant "reservations" — sometimes in places their members have never historically lived — so they can build casinos near more populated urban areas.

- Selective enrollment: Federal law specifies that casino profits must be used to help entire tribes become self-sufficient, but some tribes kick out legitimate members (for example, a chief's granddaughter lived in poverty in a two-room trailer in California while nearby, 100 other tribe members split $100 million in annual casino earnings) while other questionable "tribes" are formed solely to cash in on the action.

- Exclusive benefits: Just 2 percent of the nation's 1.8 million American and Alaskan Indians collect 50 percent of all casino profits, mostly members of two tribes in eastern Connecticut that operate the largest casino in the world. Meanwhile, the per capita income of two-thirds of all other Indians averages less than $8,000 per year.

- Money laundering: The McCain-Feingold campaign finance law contains an enormous "tribal loophole" that exempts Indian tribes from any reporting requirements whatsoever, making them perfect targets for money laundering.

- Political corruption: "Lobbyists, legislators and inside-the-Beltway lawyers are the real stakeholders in Indian gambling," Arizona-based lawyer Alexis Johnson declared in a Jan. 5 Wall Street Journal article by Fergus Bordewich. "This is the new smallpox blanket."

Like bacon and eggs, "gambling and corruption go together," Wolf told The Examiner, adding that he has still gotten no reply from the White House. But GOP leaders should know by now that when this Wolf howls, it's time to listen up.

>> Back when Bill Clinton was still president, Wolf was the first to alert fellow members of Congress to the danger posed by a little-known Saudi religious fanatic named Osama bin Laden, but nobody listened. <<

The Clinton administration hunted for bin Laden, unsuccessfully, from 1996 to 1998. It's not Congress's responsibility to hunt terrorists, so it's no big deal if Wolf warned his fellow members. Anyway, if Congress didn't pay attention, it wasn't Clinton's fault.

>> Two years ago, Wolf's own party members again failed to take heed when the author of legislation establishing the National Gambling Impact Commission asked the FBI and the Justice Department to investigate potential political corruption involving Indian-owned casinos. <<

They probably didn't take heed because there was no political corruption to investigate.

>> In a Jan. 12 letter, Wolf asked the White House to impose a moratorium on recognizing new tribes or opening any more tribal casinos (there are now more than 405 tribal gambling operations in 30 states) pending an investigation of abuses in the totally unregulated industry that include: <<

That the industry is totally unregulated is totally false. See The Facts About Indian Gaming—Corruption for details.

>> — Reservation shopping. Tribes set up instant "reservations" — sometimes in places their members have never historically lived — so they can build casinos near more populated urban areas. <<

There are only a handful of off-reservation casinos. None of them came about instantly. All of them came about through legitimate means. None were an abuse of the system or a sign of corruption.

Again, see The Facts About Indian Gaming—Corruption for details.

>> — Selective enrollment: Federal law specifies that casino profits must be used to help entire tribes become self-sufficient, but some tribes kick out legitimate members <<

Whether the people disenrolled are "legitimate members" is debatable. The casino profits continue to help the entire tribe—the enrolled members, that is—so there's no issue here. No federal law is being violated.

>> other questionable "tribes" are formed solely to cash in on the action. <<

If they go through the federal recognition process and get recognized, they aren't "questionable." The process rewards only tribes with an established history, not tribes "formed solely to cash in on the action."

>> — Exclusive benefits: Just 2 percent of the nation's 1.8 million American and Alaskan Indians collect 50 percent of all casino profits <<

For the umpteenth time, Indian gaming is an optional program that many tribes have chosen NOT to pursue. Those that don't pursue it don't benefit from it.

>> — Money laundering: The McCain-Feingold campaign finance law contains an enormous "tribal loophole" that exempts Indian tribes from any reporting requirements whatsoever, making them perfect targets for money laundering. <<

Since tribes are organizations rather than individuals, the law treats them as such. The so-called tribal loophole is actually a legitimate exception that applies to other organizations as well as tribes. And Wolf is mixing up two things in an attempt to discredit Indians. Money laundering through casinos is a legitimate concern, although it generally hasn't happened on reservations. Money laundering through campaign contributions isn't an issue to anyone.

>> — Political corruption: "Lobbyists, legislators and inside-the-Beltway lawyers are the real stakeholders in Indian gambling," Arizona-based lawyer Alexis Johnson declared in a Jan. 5 Wall Street Journal article by Fergus Bordewich. "This is the new smallpox blanket." <<

The Wall Street Journal is as biased against Indian gaming as Wolf is. Its opinion on the subject is almost worthless. See The Critics of Indian Gaming—and Why They're Wrong for more information.

>> Like bacon and eggs, "gambling and corruption go together," Wolf told The Examiner, adding that he has still gotten no reply from the White House. <<

Really. Then why hasn't Wolf targeted Las Vegas or Atlantic City? Why is he targeting only Indians? It seems his agenda is anti-Indian, not anti-casino.

>> But GOP leaders should know by now that when this Wolf howls, it's time to listen up. <<

GOP leaders such as McCain are smarter than Wolf and the DC Examiner's editorial writers, apparently. When they hear Wolf crying about Indian gaming, they know he's "crying wolf" again.

Related links
The facts about Indian gaming

* More opinions *

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