Indian Gaming > Editorial: Casino gambling corrupts politicians

March 16, 2005

Editorial: Casino gambling corrupts politicians

"There are many good arguments to be made against casino gambling, but one that isn't made often enough is the way it compromises politicians. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is the latest example, but members of both major political parties are susceptible and will continue to be as long as governments look to gambling as a source of easy money.

The ethics issues keep piling up for Mr. DeLay, the latest being the disclosure by The Washington Post that gambling lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has ties with a number of Indian gambling casinos and is being investigated by the Justice Department for allegedly bilking some of them, financed a golfing junket to Scotland by Mr. DeLay.

Sometimes the connection between gambling interests and elected officials is not illegal but smells bad. On the last day of the Clinton administration, Michael J. Anderson, the assistant secretary of the interior for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, gave tribal status to a group of Nipmuc Indians, whose property straddles southeastern Massachusetts and northeastern Connecticut, even though federal researchers had recommended rejection. This gave the Nipmucs the legal right to pursue a casino. Mr. Anderson then took a job as a lobbyist for the Indian casino industry."

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Editorial: 'Your winnings, sir' (The Berkshire Eagle 3/16)