Opinion
Conservative: Tribal sovereignty a 'loophole'


"The whole [tribal casino] scam has attracted an unappetizing crowd of lobbyists with highly dubious connections to the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, which has let this obscene situation develop right under its nose. Neither the Clinton nor the Bush administration has been inclined to do anything serious about it. According to Steorts' article, one lawyer, a relative of White House chief of staff Andrew Card, was paid $645,000 by a small group called the Eastern Pequots, who managed to become big enough to qualify as a "tribe" under BIA rules by merging with another group called the Paucatuck Eastern Pequots. (They both live in Connecticut, whose governor and Legislature are dead-set against casinos of any type, but have no power to stop the newly merged tribe.)

Thanks to the loophole of "limited sovereignty," the nation's Indian tribes are going into the casino business wholesale, financed by greedy white investors and their attendant lawyers and lobbyists, who are far less interested in the welfare of Native American children than they are in the stunning profits that can be made by catering to people in casinos built on Indian land."

Get the Story:
William Rusher: The Indian casino racket (World Net Daily 8/4)