Casino Stalker | Legislation | Litigation

Tohono O'odham Nation defends bid for off-reservation casino

Friday, October 7, 2011

The Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona headed into a Capitol Hill hearing this week on the defensive but found some support for its off-reservation casino.

Nearly all of the witnesses invited by the House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs testified in favor of H.R.2938, a bill that blocks the proposed casino. But the Obama administration and Bob Barrett, who serves as mayor of Peoria, came out against the measure.

"Let us be clear from the outset about what H.R. 2938 really is: job-killing special interest legislation designed to protect existing Indian gaming operations and those who benefit from those operations," Barrett said in his written testimony, referring to tribal opponents whose revenues would be affected by the West Valley Resort.

The Obama administration also said the bill breaks a promise to the tribe. In 1986, Congress enacted the Gila Bend Indian Reservation Lands Replacement Act to replace a reservation that was flooded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The tribe so far has won rulings in federal court to use 135 acres for a casino. Opponents have taken the case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Get the Story:
Mayor goes to Washington to oppose Franks’ bill (The Peoria Times 10/7)

Committee Notice:
Subcommittee on Indians and Alaska Native Affairs Legislative Hearing on H.R. 2938 (October 4, 2011)