November 30, 2005

Last modified November 30, 2005 - 12:09 am

Associated Press

CHEYENNE - Wyoming filed notice in federal court Tuesday that it won't ask the courts to force the Northern Arapaho Tribe to enter new negotiations for a gambling compact.

But Arapaho tribal officials said Tuesday they were still upset that Gov. Dave Freudenthal is now pressing U.S. Secretary of Interior Gale Norton to require the tribe to pay the state $900,000 under the terms of a proposed compact the state rejected a few years ago.

Former Gov. Jim Geringer rejected the tribe's offer to pay the money in 2002, when he refused the tribe's "last, best offer" for a compact that would have allowed gambling on tribal lands with state oversight.

After the state rejected the offer, the tribe pressed a federal lawsuit against the state arguing that Wyoming had failed to negotiate in good faith. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals this summer ruled in favor of the tribe, ordering that the tribe was entitled to full casino gambling to be regulated by the federal government, not the state.

State wants talks ordered

Attorney General Pat Crank last month asked U.S. Magistrate William C. Beaman to give the state until Nov. 30 to file a request asking the court to order the tribe back into negotiations with the state to try to reach a compact.

Crank's request prompted tribal officials to criticize the state, saying state officials had spurned past tribal offers to negotiate a compact and shouldn't get another chance now that the state had lost in court.

But on Tuesday, Crank filed papers with Beaman suggesting that the judge enter an order in the case saying that the secretary of interior alone will have jurisdiction and supervision of casino gambling on the tribal lands. Crank didn't request that the judge order the tribe into any new compact negotiations.

"We took the time to carefully look at what kind of order the court should enter," Crank said Tuesday.

Interior secretary hasn't replied

Crank said in his filing with the court that the Department of Interior in September released proposed procedures governing the tribe's gambling operations. Crank said that the new federal procedures failed to include the requirement that the tribe pay the state of $900,000 over the first two years of casino operations, which had been included in the tribe's "last, best offer" in 2002.

He said Freudenthal had written to Norton on Nov. 17 concerning the issue of the payment but that the governor hadn't yet received a reply.

In his letter to Norton, Freudenthal wrote that federal law requires the Department of Interior to adopt procedures for gambling operations "which are consistent with the proposed compact selected by the mediator."

"Obviously, the counties surrounding the reservation are concerned about the loss of this $900,000 designed to minimize the impact of operation of the gambling operation on localresources," Freudenthal stated.

Crank said Tuesday that it will be up to Norton to decide whether she will require that the tribe make the payment to the state. "That's entirely in her hands," Crank said.

Members of the Northern Arapaho Business Council said Tuesday they're outraged that Freudenthal had written to Norton asking about possible tribal payment to the state.

"It appears that the state is in a desperation mode right now, grasping for anything they can get their hands on," said Rick Brannan, chairman of the Northern Arapaho Business Council. "We have given them many opportunities to sit at the table with the tribe, and they've refused to negotiate in good faith. This is just another prime example of the approach they've taken with us: very adversarial."

Melanie Gambler, chairwoman of the Northern Arapaho Gaming Agency, said Tuesday there's no way the tribe will pay the state. She said the tribe operates one casino and is developing another.

"The Northern Arapaho Tribe is the first tribe to be authorized self-regulation of class-three (full casino) gambling activities," Gambler said. She said it would continue to do so without any state involvement.