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Tribe files lawsuit, wants to build casino in Beloit

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Also by Richie Rathsack:

Doyle creates new administrative post (November 29, 2007)
Proposed legislation aims at addressing police abuse of power (November 28, 2007)
State justice's hearing commences (November 20, 2007)
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Bill would protect doctors who volunteer (November 12, 2007)

by Richie Rathsack

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The St. Croix Chippewa Indian Tribe filed a lawsuit against the Office of Interior Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Friday for exceeding their authority over the changing of Indian gaming laws.

The suit says Secretary of OIA Dirk Kempthorne and Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Carl Artman have changed the rules regarding the procedure for Indian Nations to build off-reservation casinos.

The Chippewa Tribes, at the request of local government, want to build a large resort and casino in the Beloit area, according to Beloit casino project spokesman Joe Hunt.

The tribes have been going through the procedural process for the past seven years.

"We felt that, unless we took this act, that many of the off-reservation applications would be denied by the Secretary of Interior based on a rules change, not because they were good or bad," Hunt said. "They made us follow all these rules and now they are changing the entire approval process. He can't change the rules because it is law."

The suit states the Bad River Band of Chippewa along with the St. Croix Tribe have spent nearly $2 million trying to meet the criteria for approval of the project set up by the Indian Gaming Regulation Act and the BIA.

"A law designed to help Indians forced Indians to spend money they didn't have to spend," Hunt said.

According to former UW professor and current Phoenix School of Law associate professor Steven Gonzales, the IGRA was set up to promote gaming by Indian Nations.

"It was thought that it would encourage less assistance from the federal government," Gonzales said. "Ironically, it was non-Indians who were promoting this in the late '80s."

Hunt said there are two procedures that have to be followed in order to build an off-reservation casino. The first step is to make sure the tribe would benefit.

"This law was enacted to give Native Americans the opportunity to pursue gaming on and off the reservations, and if the tribe was going to do this, it wasn't the management but the tribes that were going to benefit," Hunt said.

The other part of the procedure is to make sure the casino would not be detrimental to the community and environment around the area, Hunt added.

The second step is to send the application to the regional office of the BIA in St. Paul, Minn., for review. It is then sent to the main office in Washington, D.C. with a recommendation.

From there, the governor of the state would decide upon it. According to Hunt, since Kempthorne has been secretary, applications have never reached Gov. Jim Doyle.

"The regional office said, 'Yep, you've done it.' The Washington, D.C. office said 'OK.' Then things just stopped moving at the bureau," Hunt said. "As recently as two weeks ago the tribes reached the conclusion that they were not only not inclined to process the applications, but were changing the rules to deny them."

Gonzales said an Indian Nation can sue the federal government if they feel the OIA is not doing its job of representing the affairs of Indians.

"Indian nations can sue the BIA and allege that either the rule is unlawful or that they are applying the rule in an unlawful manner, or both. Sometimes what is really going on is one side or the other is stalling, or they have no incentive to move it along for political reasons," Gonzales said. "There is a duty on the BIA to follow their own rules. If they don't, there is the possibility that the court will order them to do so."

OIA policy does not allow them to comment on open litigation, said the department's spokesperson Nedra Darling.

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Anonymous (December 11, 2007 @ 10:18am):

The state should allow others to build casinos. I don't understand why the Indians should have a monopoly.

Anonymous (December 12, 2007 @ 1:34pm):

"Indian" casinos deal with a outrageous rules, regulations and paybacks to the state when operating casinos. The remaining money earned by casinos helps put money back into the tribes to become self-sufficient (not to mention money back into local communities and the State of Wisconsin). I used to hear years ago, that "Indians" merely took hand outs from the government. Well, once "Indians" made attempts to become self-sufficient, the government stepped in and took control. Where's the logic and fairness here?

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