Opinion: Sen. McCain a former friend to tribes

Saturday, April 15, 2006  

"Some lawmakers have concluded that tribes must be punished for spending big money to get their voices heard in Washington, D.C. Sen. John McCain, a former friend to Indian tribes, has now introduced legislation to wrest control of Indian gaming away from tribal governments and into the hands of the National Indian Gaming Commission.

When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed in 1988, neither the tribes nor Congress imagined the phenomenal success it would become. (If Congress had, it is quite likely that the act never would have passed in the first place.) Most people assumed that the tribal ''casinos'' would be smoke-filled pole barns offering high-stakes bingo and not much else. Tribes proved them wrong, developing highly successful and sophisticated gaming operations that now serve as the primary engines for economic growth in rural communities throughout the United States. That has made some people very upset.

When some politicians began blaming the tribes for the Abramoff scandal, their ''blame the victim'' message struck fertile ground among the chronic Indian-bashers who seized the opportunity to declare righteously that ''someone has to get these tribes under control.'' Soon after, McCain introduced Senate Bill 2078, an amendment to IGRA that has enraged tribal leaders and become the rallying cry for every Indian-hater in the country."

Get the Story:
John McCarthy: 'Blame the victim' mind-set is basis for McCain's bill (Indian Country Today 4/14)