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FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2003

The leaders of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs urged the Bush administration to approve a controversial compact between the Forest County Potawatomi Tribe and the state of Wisconsin, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports.

The tribe asked Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.) and Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) for help because the Department of Interior was about to reject the agreement, an Inouye aide said. But Secretary Gale Norton ended up neither approving or rejecting it.

In a letter to the tribe, acting assistant secretary Aurene Martin said there were concerns about the legality of authorizing new Class III machines. She cited two ongoing lawsuits that challenge whether the compact violates a state ban on certain Class III games.

The Potawatomi Tribe argued that it was merely "amending" an earlier compact that was approved before the ban took place. Other tribes in the state took the same approach and submitted "amended" compacts for approval by Interior.

Additionally, the Potawatomi Tribe made an 11th-hour change to eliminate an exclusivity provision of the compact.

Get the Story:
Gambling compact barely approved (The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel 5/2)

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