The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, April 29, voted to move S.152, the Keep the Promise Act of 2015 to the floor of the Senate for a vote. No vote has yet been scheduled on the bill that would prevent the opening of an Indian casino in Glendale, Arizona.
The bill is undistinguishable from legislation introduced Rep. Trent Franks, also of Arizona.
If adopted by the Senate and House I would prevent the Tohono O’odham Nation from opening its casino on the outskirts of Glendale, Arizona until the Arizona tribal gaming compact expires in 2027.
Arizona Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake sponsored the bill. Former Indian Affairs Committee Chairman and current Vice Chairman Jon Tester was highly critical of the bill, likening its passage to previous treaties between the U.S. government and Indian tribes that the government has violated over the years.
He noted that it would unilaterally amend the 1986 land settlement. Nation Chairman Ned Norris Jr. agreed, adding “We wholeheartedly agree with Senator Tester and commend him for his leadership. This legislation hearkens back to an era of broken treaties and false promises. After the Nation has consistently followed the law, it is shameful for the Senate to consider breaking the federal government’s word, and placing taxpayers on the hook for this special interest earmark. If this legislation passes, all tribes should question whether Congress can be trusted to keep its word in land and water rights settlements.”
However, one of the tribe’s gaming competitors, Governor Stephen Roe Lewis of the Gila River Indian Community hailed the vote: “Members of the United States Senate sent a strong message of support for not allowing one tribe to break the promise of balanced tribal gaming agreed to by all Arizona tribes and the state’s voters. Today’s vote in the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs creates additional momentum for the Keep The Promise Act as it moves toward a final passage by Congress.”
The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community President Delbert Ray Sr. issued a similar statement. . “Enactment of this bill will reaffirm the gaming policy approved by Arizona voters in 2002, that there will be no additional casinos in the Phoenix metropolitan area. We commend the bipartisan leadership of the Arizona Congressional delegation in working towards swift passage of the Act.”
Both tribes assert that when the tribal state gaming compact of 2002 was adopted by the voters it was with the understanding that no new casinos would be built in the Phoenix area. Their position is that the Tohonos negotiated with that understanding but never intended to honor their word.
In 1986 Congress passed the Gila Bend Indian Reservation Lands Replacement Act to compensate the tribe for its land being inundated by an Army Corps of Engineers’ dam project. The legislation stipulated that the Nation could acquire new lands in Maricopa County to replace the land lost on its original Gila Bend Reservation and that the land would be considered reservation land.
The tribe used money from that settlement to buy the land that is adjacent to the city of Glendale. So far every lawsuit brought against the casino by the state of Arizona, the city of Glendale and tribes opposed to the project have failed.
The casino is rising from the floor of the desert and could open by the end of the year—unless, of course, the Senate and House adopt the law and President Obama doesn’t veto it.
Senator McCain is getting some intense criticism from those who feel that his action harkens back to the influence-peddling days of disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who spend millions of dollars trying to prevent tribes from building casinos that competed with those of his clients.
One critic, Melanie Sloan, pointing out that McCain, author of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, was one of Abramoff’s fiercest critics, opined that the senator’s support depends on whether or not friends of his are involved, and added, Perhaps the lesson in this instance is one that Abramoff knew all too well: If the Tohono hopes to build a casino, it should hire a friend of Senator McCain.”
