Column: Vegas crowd blocks Michigan casino

Monday, November 26, 2007  

"HR 2176, the bill to approve the land-claim settlement between the state of Michigan and Bay Mills, was offered by U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, whose district includes the contested land. It was co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, whose district includes the property to be put in trust as part of the settlement. The arrangement has the support of former Michigan Gov. John Engler and Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Who was responsible for pressuring House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., into pulling the bill and thereby preventing it from being voted out of committee - let alone an up-or-down vote by the House and Senate? Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. The Senate majority leader pressured House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to pull the plug.

What has our government become when a senator 2,000 miles away can reach down into the belly of a House subcommittee and kill a bill that would provide staggering benefits for Port Huron? After six years, Bay Mills has yet to be permitted a vote -even by a subcommittee of either branch of Congress. That's absolutely astonishing to any American who still believes in the precepts of American democracy - "one man, one vote."

Who's benefiting from this obvious attempt to block competition for Detroit's good old boys? Along with Reid's Nevada crowd (including Detroit's MGM Grand Casino, with its record $55 million earnings in October), is the newly-crowned "Most Dangerous City in the Nation" - Detroit.

Think the battle for the Port Huron casino is over? I think not!"

Get the Story:
Cliff Schrader: Democratic process is lost in decisions made at national level (The Port Huron Times-Herald 11/23)