At a recent meeting attended by more than 100 members of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the tribal council voted 4-0 to remove James E. Billie as chairman. The council acted on a recall petition filed by tribal members alleging issues with policies and procedures by the chairman.
The removal of Billie follows the process spelled out in the Constitution of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, adopted in 1957. The tribe will conduct a special election to elect a new chairman within 30 days.
Billie, 72, was elected chairman in 1979 after returning from Vietnam. He was impeached in 2001 due to financial issues, but was re-elected in 2011. In 2012 he suffered a stroke and has walked with a cane since. He also won re-election in 2015. Throughout Billie’s career, he presided over the phenomenal expansion of the tribe’s gambling empire.
He was chairman when the Seminoles opened a bingo hall in Hollywood, Florida, now known as Seminole Classic Casino, that attracted increasingly larger crowds and doled out increasingly larger payouts, up to tens of thousands of dollars. Other Native American casinos across the U.S. quickly copied the successful high-stakes bingo model, following the Supreme Court’s ruling that tribal sovereignty exempted them from civil laws. In Florida, bingo is legal but civil laws require low stakes.
Billie helped develop the tribe’s seven properties, which generated $2 billion in revenue to date. “I made it my business to bring money, lots of money, into the Seminole Tribe and its citizens,” he said.
A colorful character throughout his life, Billie wrestled alligators as a youth. Guests at Seminole casinos are greeted by large photos of Billie. About 10 years ago, Billie befriended Donald Trump and served as a judge at Trump’s beauty contests and played in a band that entertained at a Trump party. He named an alligator on the tribe’s Big Cypress reservation “Trump” when the now-Presidential candidate visited the reservation to urge Billie to form a casino partnership.
Billie frequently mentioned his 22-year stint as chairman from 1979-2001 was the “longest tenure of any elected leader in the Western Hemisphere, other than Fidel Castro.” Former Argosy president Steve Norton has described Billie as “A very personable and entertaining man.”
