"In its long quest for equal treatment in Lansing on gaming, the Kalamazoo-area Gun Lake Tribe, smallest of the state’s 12 federally-recognized tribes, has faced opposing firepower from some top guns of the Michigan GOP.

Among them: presumptive gubernatorial nominee Dick DeVos — who earlier signed on as an opponent but is not currently trumpeting the issue — and assorted GOP congressmen and senatorial hopefuls.

Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, wavering as she tends to do on some controversial issues, reserves judgment on whether she’ll sign a legislatively-approved Gun Lake compact for a casino that Republican Gov. John Engler (citing a personal conflict because some of his buddies were pushing it) declined to sign as he had for the other tribes.

Facts are, as Granholm and ex-Engler administration officials say privately, under terms of federal recognition and gaming regulations, the horse is out of the barn; one way or another Gun Lakers will have a casino; and it makes sense for the state to negotiate a compact that produces revenue for the state and communities surrounding the casino as casinos do, big time."

Get the Story:
George Weeks: Tribe deserves equal treatment (The Escanaba Daily Press 3/22)