Column: Florida's senseless war against tribes

Tuesday, January 23, 2007  

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger just bet $509 million on California's Indian casinos.

Schwarzenegger's state budget proposal includes $509 million in income from compacts the governor negotiated with five of the state's Indian tribes.

California's Democrat-controlled Legislature complained about a deal allowing the tribes to install 22,500 Vegas-style slot machines. But without the Indian gaming revenue, the state budget comes out a half-billion bucks in the red. The Republican governor stacked $509 million worth of poker chips on the table and dared the Legislature to call his bluff.

It's audacious, maybe, but Florida could use a little of the Terminator's audacity.

Instead, Florida has negotiated with the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes like Donald Trump dealing with his apprentices. Sixteen years of talks between the tribes and anti-gambling governors Lawton Chiles and Jeb Bush have yielded acrimony, litigation and no bucks. Other states make deals. Florida muddles.

''Isn't it interesting that the state that gave birth to Indian gaming still doesn't have a compact?' said Michael Lombardi, chairman of the Augustine Band of Mission Tribes gambling commission at Coachella, Calif., and a consultant who has worked for 22 tribes across the nation. Lombardi accused Florida of a 'racist refusal to recognize Indian sovereignty.'

''Right now,'' he said, 'Florida is considered the most anti-Indian state in the union.'"

Get the Story:
Fred Grimm: Casino wars with Seminoles make no sense (The Miami Herald 1/23)
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