The public relations tactics employed by Washington’s Cowlitz Indian Tribe to discourage other tribes from building competing casinos in nearby Oregon are coming under criticism.
According to a report in the Oregonian, since 2016 the tribe paid millions of dollars to a consulting firm to discourage other tribes from competing; one year before the tribe opened its ilani Casino Resort in La Center, Washington in 2017. Reaping an estimated $300 million a year (the actual profits of tribal casinos are not released publicly) and able to draw on the nearby Portland market, discouraging competition was seen as necessary to self-preservation.
At the strong urging of an influential member of the tribe, the late David Barnett, the tribe hired the consultants Matthew Rossman and Bruce Studer whose company R&S Strategy had been known for trying to bring a commercial casino to the state. The Cowlitz tribe paid R&S up to $50,000 a month, with the main purpose to fight competition by the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon.
The report uncovered the wording of the agreement that the tribe reached with R&S where the consultants agreed to protect the Cowlitz from competition and to refrain from trying to develop a non-tribal casino.
Recently the tribe severed relations with the firm. Barnett died in May of this year. Although he worked tirelessly to advance the Cowlitz tribe’s gaming interests, he had come under scrutiny for possibly being too personally involved in those interests. Tribal attorneys warned about this and also accused Barnett of threatening critics in the tribe with lawsuits, physical intimidation and the possibility of being ejected from the tribe.
The attorneys from the law firm of Quarles & Brady in 2021 wrote: “To be clear, there is no evidence that Barnett committed any federal criminal offenses. However, the alleged facts surrounding his dealings with R&S, his dual roles on tribal council and in development projects, and the federal funding the tribe receives raises serious concerns that warrant further investigation or disclosure to federal authorities.”
The Oregonian wasn’t able to obtain comments about the situation from the tribe, but records it obtained indicated that tribal leaders were highly concerned about how much money they were paying the firm and what they were getting for the money.
The paper did obtain this statement from the Cowlitz: “The tribe has a duty to review and evaluate its contracts when issues are raised,” adding “Following that review, a decision was made to end the contractual agreement with R&S.”
One critic of the arrangement was a former tribal manager Orlando Moreno, who when he was hired to work for the tribe in 2020, objected to the tribe’s relationship with R&S. But he was especially aggrieved by the idea of one tribe covertly trying to undermine other tribes. “We have an unwritten agreement,” he told the Oregonian. “At the end of the day, we’re all Indian Country. We support each other.”
The report notes that in Oregon the gaming and political landscape is changing. Some tribes are challenging the policy of Oregon governors that tribes can only operate one casino per reservation.
And tribal rivalries can run both ways. The Grand Ronde tribe, which operates the Spirit Mountain Casino & Lodge, opposed the ilani project from its beginning in 2010. In that year the Grand Ronde appealed to the Department of the Interior to try to block the casino.
