Who would have thought that CAGE (Citizens Against Gambling Expansion) would be getting their funding from Indian Tribes?
That’s just one of many revelations from CAPITOL PUNISHMENT.
Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, whose group supposedly objected to gambling on moral grounds, was being paid millions by one Indian tribe to support a “grassroots” campaign to condemn gambling because another tribe threatened to open a casino that would have been competitive. If there ever was a lesson learned about “following the money” this was it. But Abramoff was clever enough to make that difficult. Thankfully, the Atlanta Constitution uncovered the connection in time to spoil Reed’s run for Governor of Georgia in 2006. He lost by 12 percentage points.
Abramoff was a master at using hard-working, supposedly highly principled groups and individuals to achieve his goals. He managed to enlist Grover Norquist and his Americans for Tax Reform to prevent a proposed 30 percent federal tax on Indian gambling, since Grover was against new tax, anywhere on anybody. And he got most Republican candidates and office holders to sign his no-new-taxes pledge. So, there’s no Federal tax on Indian gambling which is now estimated to yield $26.5 Billion a year. (No independent reporting auditing required here.) And no tax revenue even to pay for the social costs some social researchers say amount to $3 for every $1 of gambling.
Everybody knows by now, we’re broke—the country, the states, the counties, the cities. People who keep track of such things say that 45 of the 50 states are anticipating significant shortfalls in the coming year. Until a recent revised projection, Minnesota was facing a $5 billion state budget deficit. That exceeded even the more-talked-about $3.6 billion gap Wisconsin faces! There may now be a breather for the current biennium, but economic forecasts still project a hefty $2.6 billion shortfall for Minnesota's next biennium.
It is no secret that with gambling comes a host of costly negatives, starting with attraction for the mob, and all forms of both on and off-reservation corruption. Not to mention the social costs. It is now known that four years after a casino opens, bankruptcy rates, violent crime, auto thefts and larceny are up 10 percent in areas with a casino.
You might notice an increase in the number of pawnshops near casinos or read an occasional article about an employee with a gambling addiction who has embezzled thousands from an employer. What is harder to see is the increase in crime, bankruptcies, lost jobs, divorces and suicides. Yes, there are great social costs to gambling.
In a 2001 landmark Supreme Court case case, Chickasaw Nation v. United States, the Supreme Court held that tribes liable for state taxes on gambling operations under statute §§ 2701–2721. So the questions Minnesotans should be asking are, “Why are we getting no tax revenue from Indian gambling when our state is so strapped for money?” “And why do the Indians have a monopoly on the activity?”
And maybe one more question “Is it because the politicians are getting too much money from the tribes to not impose a tax?” Maybe Abramoff has a couple of things to teach us all about lobbyists and politicians. His lobbying firm managed to extract at least $45 million from just a couple of tribes in just three years.
