"Congratulations to editorial cartoonist Steve Lindstrom for his May 31 cartoon in the News Tribune depicting the city of Duluth’s struggle to maintain its casino contract with the Fond du Lac tribe. The cartoon correctly demonstrated that the U.S. Department of Interior is anything but a neutral party in any negotiations between the city and the tribe.

Doesn’t the Interior Department administer Federal Indian Policy? Doesn’t it oversee the Bureau of Indian affairs? And isn’t the deputy secretary of the Interior a card-carrying Native American? No biases there.

The city and the tribe, both legal entities, entered into a contract by which a tribal-run casino could operate within the city. The agreement was completed prior to the 1988 Indian Gambling Regulatory Act, or IGRA. Could it be that the original act restricted casinos to reservation lands? Of course it did."

Get the Story:
Dennis Fink: Tribal casinos hold a stacked deck (The Duluth News Tribune 6/16)

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Fond du Lac Band wins another round in gaming feud with city (5/24)