Column: Republicans cheer Seminole lawsuit

Monday, November 26, 2007  

"From the time the Seminoles first opened bingo halls in 1979, the state has been negotiating and litigating over their gambling operations. And yet, nowhere in the state constitution is anything authorizing the governor to work out compacts with Native American tribes. Nothing says he can't, either. And ambiguities like that are why we have lawyers.

Gov. Jeb Bush took more of a passive-aggressive approach to the tribe's proposals -- negotiating only to the degree that the federal government mandated, and maybe not quite that.

But everything changed after 2004 when voters approved local-option slot machines for Broward County. Under federal law, if a state allows casino games, then it must allow Indian tribes the same games.

Under a federally-imposed deadline, Gov. Crist got a resoundingly just-OK deal for the state that would give Florida a cut of Seminole gaming.

So here's the worse-case scenario for the lawsuit opposing that deal: The compact gets voided by the courts. The feds then allow expanded slot machines in Seminole casinos with no taxation or oversight by the state. Then Florida, stuck with casinos anyway, gets in the video lottery business and allows casinos all over the place.

Yet why are many Republicans cheering on this suit? Because it fights casino gambling.

Am I missing something here?"

Get the Story:
Mark Lane: Seminoles and slots, continued (The Daytona Beach News-Journal 11/25)