A month ago, I briefly mentioned a visit I’d made to some medical marijuana patients near Tacoma who went through an arrest ordeal that was so over-the-top I felt compelled to follow up. Brad and Kristie Choate are a married couple who live in the Spanaway area. Brad, who is in his late 20s, lost his leg in a diving accident and Kristie, who is in her mid 40s, is partially disabled with a number of serious ailments. After I met with them and recorded an interview, I was told by a patient advocate not to write anything until they put something up online themselves. On Wednesday this week, that happened, as Kristie recounts what happened:
Search Results for: ’
Podcasting Liberally – July 8th Edition
The episode begins with an air of disappointment and disgust as the panel anticipates today’s Senate FISA/Telco-immunity bill vote. The topic changes mid-stream to Plum Creek and the raping of the Montana environment. From there, they take up rural land use issues in Washington. The panel revisits the assisted suicide death with dignity initiative, and then switches tracks to a discussion of light rail. Next they reveal the secrets behind the not secret ballot currently in use in some Washington state counties.
This week Goldy was joined by HorsesAss’ and EFFin’ Unsound’s Carl Ballard and HorsesAss’ (and now Slog’s) blogger Will, Seattle P-I columnist Joel Connelly, DailyKos uber-blogger Joan McCarter (mcjoan), and Mr. Tim White.
The show is 61:31, and is available here as an MP3:
[audio:http://www.podcastingliberally.com/podcasts/podcasting_liberally_july_8_2008.mp3][Recorded live at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Special thanks to creators Gavin and Richard for hosting the site.]
Bin Laden wins!
In a 1998 interview, Osama bin Laden — the terrorist organizer of 9/11 who still roams free — listed as one of his many grievances against the U.S. that Americans “have stolen $36 trillion from Muslims” by purchasing oil from Persian Gulf countries at low prices. The real price of a barrel of oil should be $144, bin Laden demanded.
Ten years ago today, the price of a barrel of oil was just $11. Heading into this holiday weekend, the price of a barrel of oil rested at $144 — a thirteen-fold increase.
One month after 9/11, the New York Times wrote of possible “nightmare” scenarios that would deliver bin Laden’s goal. Neela Banerjee warned that among the “misguided decisions” that would put oil supplies at risk would be “that the United States attacks Iraq.”
I’m guessing Osama is sending a big bouquet of flowers to George W. Bush, without whom none of this would be possible.
Podcasting Liberally – July First Edition
In this episode, Goldy and friends offer condolences to congressional candidate Darcy Burner over the loss of her house (and cat) earlier in the day. Next they dive into a multi-threaded discussion of the Washington state gubernatorial rematch, surrogate attack dogs, fake scandals and all. The podcast ends with a brief (roughly…seven word) tribute to the late George Carlin.
Goldy was joined by Seattle P-I columnist Joel Connelly, Seattle’s blogging pioneer N in Seattle, HorsesAss and EFFin’ Unsound’s Carl Ballard and HorsesAss’ former blogger emeritus Will.
The show is 51:19, and is available here as an MP3.
[audio:http://www.podcastingliberally.com/podcasts/podcasting_liberally_july_1_2008.mp3][Recorded live at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Special thanks to creators Gavin and Richard for hosting the site.]
Because aging a cheap wine gives you…vinegar
In 2004, Washington state witnessed the closest gubernatorial election in history, as then Attorney General Christine Gregoire defeated then real estate broker salesman Dino Rossi by 129 votes (later changed to 133 by a court).
A year and some later (April, 2006), the now defunct East Side King County Journal asked about Rossi What’s his shelf life?:
The charismatic and smooth conservative came within a whisker of winning the governor’s mansion in 2004 and is widely expected to seek a rematch with Democrat Chris Gregoire in 2008. Will it be “Dino Who?” by then?
In politics, it is said that a year is an eternity. So what does that make Rossi’s four-year hiatus with no political office or bully pulpit while Gregoire relentlessly dominates news cycles week after week?
It was an interesting time to ask the question. At the time, Rossi was leading Gregoire by 51% to 38% in a Strategic Vision poll asking about the 2008 election. In fact, Rossi had led Gregoire by more than 50% to Gregoire’s less than 40% in the five other polls taken after the election contest and before April 2006.
The Republicans resoundingly lost the legal battle in the election contest of 2005, but they won the PR battle. Governor Gregoire began her first term polling as less popular than the loser of the election. After a highly contentious, close election, followed by a multi-million dollar Republican dis-information campaign (a.k.a. the election contest), Gregoire’s approval–disapproval spread started out strongly negative, and remained in negative territory for her first year in office. Then, after a 6 months period of nearly even approval (Jan 2006 until June 2006), Gregoire emerged from negative approval-disapproval territory.
Starting from a very bad position, Gov. Gregoire genuinely won over the electorate.
But what about Rossi? When he launched his 2008 gubernatorial campaign (umm…for the second time), Rossi routinely quipped:
“Last time I started with a 12 percent name identity statewide. Most everybody thought Dino Rossi was some kind of wine at that point. A cheap wine at that,” Rossi said….
But name recognition isn’t enough. On the public’s perceptional palette, had Rossi matured into a vintage wine? Or had Rossi’s cheap wine turned to vinegar?
In 2005, Pollster Stuart Elway pointed out:
“’We wuz robbed’ won’t be a strong campaign theme, and Dino will have to present a credible challenge to an incumbent this time. It won’t be like he’s a challenger coming from out of nowhere, but my question is how he stays on the radar screen when he doesn’t hold any office.”
Elway’s concerns were prophetic. Rossi was never able to remain an important player in Washington politics. (Hell…he wasn’t much of a player in Washington state Republican politics, either.) For example, Rossi refused to take a stance in Initiative 912 that would have repealed a state gas tax increase. Neither has Rossi grown in the interim. His campaign stump speech has evolved minimally since 2004. And, at least early in the campaign, Rossi was still running on the “We Wuz Robbed” platform.
The inevitable result is that Rossi has squandered his position of great strength from 2005 and 2006. Just look at the polling. Here is a compilation of every publicly-released head-to-head Gregoire–Rossi poll for the 2008 election:
(Note: different pollsters probe undecided voters to very different degrees. To make the numbers comparable, I have normalized the results so that the Gregoire% + Rossi% sum to 100%.)
After leading in the first 15 polls in a row (through November 2006), Rossi has lost all but one of the most recent 15 polls. A running average puts Rossi about 7% below Gregoire. At this time during the 2006 election cycle, senatorial candidate Mike McGavick, running against an incumbent Sen. Maria Cantwell, had just peaked at 9% below Cantwell. In other words, beginning with a huge advantage in 2005, it looks like Rossi’s residual advantage of the 2004 election (and contest) has shrunk to, roughly, a 2% advantage over McGavick’s unimpressive performance.
The electorate just isn’t taking a liking to the Rossi-brand whine. (Perhaps Rossi shouldn’t be building a campaign on sour grapes.)
(Cross-posted at Hominid Views.)
Dino Rossi opposes right to privacy
In the comment threads, HA reader Phil K posts the contents of two emails he received as a fan and online ticket purchaser of the Everett AquaSox. The first is an invitation to a $100 per person “special fundraiser” for Republican Grand Old Party Party candidate for governor, Dino Rossi. The second is a red-faced email from AquaSox majority owners Peter A. and Peter E. Carfagna, apologizing for violating their fans personal privacy:
We recently learned that our personal privacy policy was compromised in an attempt to solicit your support for a partisan political fundraiser.
In that regard, on behalf of our family ownership group, we would like to express our sincere apologies.
Although we did not authorize this communication nor were we aware of it in advance, we have justifiably received numerous complaints from you expressing your displeasure. We take full responsibility and again beg your pardon.
How did this violation happen? Postman reports that “Dino Rossi’s campaign misused the mailing list of the minor league baseball team.” And how did Rossi’s campaign get ahold of the list? Well, Dino Rossi is a minority owner.
Rossi campaign spokeswoman Jill Strait blames the whole affair on Rossi’s Snohomish County Finance Chair, Tom Hoban, who’s also a minority owner, and claims that Rossi “was unaware that the list had been requested or used” (you know, for an event he’s scheduled to appear at in less than a week), telegraphing the kind of buck stops elsewhere management style we might expect from a Rossi administration.
For their part, the Carfagnas appear sincerely contrite, promising to take immediate steps to ensure an incident like this never happens again.
We take your personal privacy seriously. We will remain vigilant in protecting your email address from solicitors and vendors…
… and Republicans.
Hmm… I’m guessing the Seattle Times is going to want to editorialize on this latest campaign scandal… not!
Statement from Darcy
Darcy Burner issued the following statement on the fire that destroyed her Ames Lake home:
“As many of you may be aware, early this morning my home was destroyed by a fire. It appears to have been caused by a faulty lamp in my son’s room. Unfortunately, our home and all of the possessions in it are a total loss, but I am so grateful that my family and I escaped safely. We may have lost our home and our possessions, but for the most part they can be replaced, and I feel like a true tragedy was narrowly avoided today. Please rest assured that while we have been a bit shaken by what happened, Mike, Henry and I are all okay.
“Particularly, I am grateful to the wonderful men and women of the Redmond and Kirkland Fire Departments, and the investigators from the King County Fire Investigation Unit. Their rapid response and incredible professionalism brought the fire under control and kept it from spreading to our neighbors’ homes. And these brave first responders even miraculously rescued my son’s puppy, who we initially thought had perished in the flames. Sadly, our cat, Charlotte, did not survive the fire.
“I am also deeply grateful for the expressions of support from friends, supporters and others who have called to express their condolences and offer their generous and heartfelt assistance. I am so moved by all of the offers of a place to stay, or clothes to wear, or all of the other offers of help that have poured in throughout the day. While we are fine for now, your kind expressions of support and concern have helped to sustain me through what has been a long and difficult day.
“For those who would like to do something to express their support, let me suggest making a contribution to your local humane society or animal shelter in memory of Charlotte, or to the Washington State Council of Firefighters Benevolent Fund.
“Thank you all for being there for us in my family’s time of need. It means so much to us.”
I’ve added in the links, but feel free to choose your own charities that fit the spirit of the request.
60 Day Limits Released
The preliminary 60-day supply limits for medical marijuana patients in Washington have been released:
Patients authorized to possess or grow marijuana for medical reasons under Washington law would be limited to 24 ounces of harvested marijuana, plus six mature plants and 18 immature plants, according to an official draft rule filed by the state Department of Health today.
The filing of the draft rule starts a rule-making process and a public-comment period. A hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 25 in Tumwater, Thurston County.
As I mentioned below, this is lower than earlier numbers proposed by the DOH, but it’s also higher than the 3 ounces that law enforcement considered “reasonable.” Why these numbers? Probably because they’re exactly the same as what Oregon allows.
Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, the prime sponsor of the bill tasking the State Department of Health to set the limits, has released a statement:
We have a responsibility to stay true to the values of compassion and empathy that are at the basis of this law, which was passed by voters in 1998. While I appreciate the Department of Health’s efforts to address this complex issue, I am concerned that today’s proposed rule is more restrictive than what had been previously discussed and may be unclear regarding a physician’s role in making a recommendation for a patient’s use of medical marijuana. Since the rule is not yet final, I encourage all stakeholders to continue providing written input and participate in the upcoming public hearing on August 25 to ensure a full consideration of their concerns.
25% of voters don’t know what “GOP” means; Kate Riley to apologize?
Mankind has witnessed a number of horrors in recent decades—the Rwandan genocide… the ongoing tragedy in Darfur… DOE’s stormwater regulations—but none, according to Seattle Times editorialist Kate Riley a few weeks back, matched that of a state Democratic Party press release criticizing Dino Rossi for deliberately attempting to hide his Republican affiliation:
Oh, horrors! Stop the presses. Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi is trying to “rebrand” himself as a member of the Grand Old Party. How sinister.
The real horror here is the state Democratic party’s attempt, in a press release today, to invent a scandal out of nothing — and, worse, the premise for their argument is founded on an apparent belief that voters are too ignorant to know that “GOP” and “Republican” are the same thing….
Really, Kate? Well, I hate to say “I told you so”… so I’ll just let Postman say it for me:
Dino Rossi’s rebranding effort may pay off with voters who say they don’t know what it means when a candidate declares himself a member of the “GOP Party.” […] A recent poll by Stuart Elway says that about 25 percent of respondents didn’t know what GOP meant.
Elway asked respondents which party they thought a candidate who “prefers GOP Party” is associated with. 15% didn’t know, 7% said Democratic and 3% other. And of that 25% who didn’t know or got it wrong, 27% identified themselves as Independents and 26% as Democrats. Only 18% of Republicans were confused.
This came as no surprise to Postman, who adds:
That’s where the greatest benefit of rebranding could come for a Republican trying to buck a 24-year gubernatorial losing streak for the party.
And you can trust Postman on this, because he’s one of those credible corporate media bloggers.
Anybody who knows anything about initiatives knows that a good ballot title can mean a couple extra points at the polls, and no doubt Rossi took advantage of the new top-two primary to jigger the ballot to his advantage. You can’t really blame Rossi, I guess, for this calculated deception—he is a politician after all—but neither can you blame the Democrats for their efforts to educate voters by pointing it out.
It is at the very least ironic then, that Riley, a member of an editorial board that has argued persuasively for government openness, should so vehemently defend Rossi’s deliberate obfuscation, while hyperbolically attacking a Democratic press release on the subject. But as I wrote at the time…
[T]hat’s the sort of “I’m rubber, you’re glue” partisanship we’ve come to expect from an amen editorialist who applauded Dave Reichert’s sexist dismissal of Harvard grad Darcy Burner as a ditzy blond, while condemning Burner as the reincarnation of Karl Rove.
No doubt I can be just as much a partisan propagandist as Riley and her colleagues on the Times ed board. The difference is, I admit it.
Limits
Earlier this morning, Postman wrote:
I was talking to a smart friend over the weekend who bemoaned the oh-so-careful approach Gov. Chris Gregoire is taking to governing. He’s a supporter. But he worries that out of fear of alienating someone, somewhere, Gregoire has traded activism for near-paralysis.
The topic of that post had nothing to do with drug policy, but with the deadline for having the State Department of Health establish the 60-day supply limits for medical marijuana patients coming up tomorrow, I find myself in the same boat as Postman’s unnamed friend – if not even more critical of the Governor.
As of my typing this, I still have no idea what the released limits will be. Earlier this year, it was revealed that preliminary numbers of 35 ounces and a 100 sq ft growing area caused the Governor to get more involved in the process and demand more feedback from law enforcement and medical professionals. Many patients and advocates within the medical marijuana community saw this as an attempt by the Governor to derail the process in support of the state’s law enforcement union, while the Governor’s dishonesty about why the process was derailed didn’t exactly convince people that she was acting in good faith.
At the follow-up meeting (which the DOH attempted to keep closed to the public, but failed), the two parties who the Governor claimed were underrepresented in the initial round of workshops were in attendance. The law enforcement officials again iterated that the decision should be left up the medical professionals, and the one medical professional who showed up said that 35 ounces might be too low of a limit for some patients who ingest it within food. Law enforcement officials also asserted that the limit shouldn’t be so high that criminals could hide behind it, but believing that someone with a small growing area in their basement could launch a massive criminal enterprise is more than a little absurd, considering that marijuana is already the most lucrative cash crop in the state of Washington.
The released limits tomorrow (if they’re even released) will go a long way towards showing whether or not Governor Gregoire is someone who can put politics and special interests aside and do what’s right for the citizens of this state.
Earlier this month, I visited a partially disabled medical marijuana patient in Tacoma who spent over a week in jail this winter. She was kept from receiving the special liquid meals she requires for nearly the entire time. In her mid-40s, she was a former nurse who told me she was staunchly anti-drug before discovering that marijuana worked best for her illnesses. She and her husband then became active in helping other registered patients learn how to grow for themselves.
Stories like that one are common. The list of other patients being hauled into court across the state has been growing. At Drinking Liberally and other events, I occasionally talk to people close to the Governor, and they rarely seem to understand that this is more than just a number. It could be the difference that causes someone to lose their house, their livelihood, or what’s left of their health, should they be sent to jail without adequate medical needs being met. Hopefully, the Governor herself doesn’t suffer from her own paralysis on this one.
Seattle Times… what the fuck?!
Um… are they drunk or something? Really…?
Cheers for a South King County woman who beat a convicted child molester with a baseball bat, underscoring the revulsion society feels toward those who hurt children.
But emotions take a back seat to the laws upholding a civil society. The woman faces assault charges. This is appropriate.
Yeah, because nothing upholds civil society more than an unprovoked vigilante beating.
A Pierce County woman welcomed a Level 3 sex offender to her neighborhood by wailing on him with an aluminum baseball bat, authorities said Wednesday.
Tammy Lee Gibson beat William Allen Baldwin badly enough Monday that he was taken to a hospital for treatment of a possibly broken arm, according to court documents.
[…] Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said the attack occurred shortly after deputies posted fliers in Gibson’s neighborhood announcing that Baldwin had moved there.
What exactly is civil about a society in which the editorial page of the largest and most influential newspaper in the state cheers on vigilante justice? And if Gibson had killed Baldwin (as she’s told the media she would like to do), would the Times cheer on his family after a retaliatory beating? Wouldn’t that appropriately underscore the society’s revulsion toward murder?
I know it’s difficult for the editors of the Times to keep two conflicting thoughts in their head at once, but they’re downright dangerous when they try to get them down on paper. I can understand being empathetic toward Gibson, even genuinely sympathetic… but to cheer her on in the lede of an editorial? That’s simply irresponsible, whatever muddle of self-contradictory justification follows.
However empowered it may make one feel, there is nothing to cheer about vigilante justice; it is a dangerous, dangerous path that can only lead to tragedy, and which can never be confined to one “revulsion” or another. One man’s sex offender is another man’s terrorist, and when left in the hands of the rabble (or the editorialists) rather than the courts, the definition of what constitutes a punishable crime quickly blurs.
UPDATE:
In the comment thread, Richard Pope points out the that the Times’ heroine has a longer criminal record than her victim.
Washington’s media owes Gov. Gregoire an apology
I thought I’d done my job yesterday straightening out the confusion over the Spokane gaming compact, and who did or did not “hit the jackpot,” but then somebody forwarded me Ted Van Dyk’s confused and hyperbolic post on Crosscut, and I realized our state’s solemn guardians of the public interest required a little more hand holding.
Van Dyk was “shocked” by the initial newspaper reports, which I suppose shouldn’t come as such a surprise considering how misinformed he is; it isn’t hard to be “shocked” by things one knows nothing about. My instinct is to snarkily fisk Van Dyk’s post, ripping it to shreds line by line, but while that might be joyfully cathartic, I’ve decided a more informative approach would be to simply reprint the heart of my lengthy post from February of 2007, in which I sought to understand and explain the Spokane compact at a level of detail no other commentator has yet attempted. Sure, I could just provide a link, as I did yesterday, but our press corps has proven so lazy on this subject already, I just can’t trust them to bother to take the effort to click through.
To understand the compact and its potential impact one must first understand the basic legal principles governing tribal gaming. Federal law states that tribes may engage in the same gambling activities already legal in the state, and that if requested by a recognized tribe, the state must negotiate a governing compact in good faith. Furthermore, unless otherwise waived, each individual tribe retains favored nation status, meaning they have the right to reopen compacts and negotiate the same terms and conditions granted any other tribe in the state.
The existing tribal compacts grant each tribe an allocation of 675 slot machines each, and with one exception (we’ll get to that later) a maximum of two casinos. As has been widely reported the proposed Spokane compact authorizes the tribe to operate up to 4,700 slot machines at as many as five locations. This would appear to set the stage for a massive expansion of tribal gaming as the other tribes reopened their compacts to demand the same deal: more casinos, more slots, more gambling.
Well… not exactly.
While each tribe is allocated the right to own 675 slot machines, some are authorized to operate as many as 2000 at a single facility using machines leased from smaller tribes that do not operate casinos of their own. In fact the number of casinos and machines authorized in the Spokane compact is actually quite similar to the terms of the compact granted the Colville tribe, which is authorized to operate 4,800 machines at as many as six locations.
So why can’t the other tribes use their favored nation status to demand a similar number of casinos and authorized slot machines? Because they can’t meet the same conditions.
Both the Spokanes and the Colvilles have sprawling reservations, and their compacts stipulate that their casinos be located at least twenty-five miles apart. Fitzsimmons implied that no other tribe can meet that stipulation, and thus no other tribe can demand the same deal. (Though looking at the map, I wonder about the Yakimas.)
Where the Spokane compact does depart from previous compacts is the fact that it grants an allocation of 900 slot machines, not 675. The 27 other recognized tribes can reopen their compacts to obtain the same 900 machine allocation, potentially increasing the total number of tribal slot machines statewide by about a third, from 18,225 to 25,200. In fact, that’s the whole point.
See, most of the existing allocation is already spoken for, so by coming to the table late, the Spokanes would otherwise be unable to lease additional slot machines to fill their casinos. They already operate about 500 Las Vegas style slots (illegally), but there is little the state can do to remove them, so there would be no incentive for the Spokanes to agree to a compact that doesn’t give them the opportunity to expand their operations. It’s not the extra 225-machine allocation that makes the deal work for the Spokanes, its the thousands of additional machines that will now be available for them to lease.
In addition to the increased allocation, the Spokanes have negotiated a number of other new goodies into their compact. Currently, slot machines are limited to a maximum $5 bet, but the Spokanes would be allowed to raise this betting limit to $20 on as many as 15-percent of their machines. Existing compacts require that players use coupons or cards to initiate play, but the Spokane compact for the first time permits using US coins and currency. And finally, the Spokanes have negotiated higher betting limits (essentially, none) at five gaming tables in one facility during a specified time period of up to 120 days each year.
Like the higher 900-machine allocation, the other tribes would have the right to reopen their compacts to obtain the same terms.
But… only if they agree to the same conditions. Like other compacts the Spokanes have agreed to pay 2-percent of net receipts into a local mitigation fund, and to contribute another 1-percent to charity. But the Spokanes have also agreed to contribute 0.13-percent to problem gambling treatment and prevention programs (the same contribution now required of commercial card rooms,) and have the option of either contributing an additional 0.13-percent to smoking cessation programs or make all of its facilities smoke free.
So… what does all this mean?
When it comes to the number of facilities and authorized machines, the Spokanes demanded the same sort of deal negotiated by the Colvilles. Given the Spokanes’ favored nation status, the state really couldn’t do anything about that. But this authorization would be totally worthless to the Spokanes without a larger universe of slot machines from which to lease, so while nothing requires the state to bump up the allocation from 675 to 900, there’s a certain irrefutable logic to doing so.
And you can be sure that the 27 other tribes will most definitely reopen their compacts to obtain the higher allocation, even if it means agreeing to the new problem gambling and smoking cessation contributions. Slot machines are the lifeblood of the gambling industry, accounting for the overwhelming majority of casino profits. This is money in the bank.
What the state gets from this is an end to the Spokanes’ illegal operations, relatively uniform compact terms across all 28 tribes — and assuming all the tribes seek the same deal — about $2.6 million a year in additional funding for problem gambling treatment and prevention programs.
This is what Gov. Gregoire gave the Spokanes: in number of locations and slot machines per location, essentially the same deal enjoyed by the Colvilles… as she was required to do by federal law. And anybody who understands the economics of the gaming industry will tell you that it’s all about the slot machines, which account for the vast majority of casino profits.
Van Dyk and others talk about the 22 states that have negotiated revenue-sharing into their compacts, but leaving aside a discussion of whether or not this is good policy (it isn’t), that horse left the barn long before Gregoire became governor. The state has absolutely no power to reopen compacts unilaterally, and Washington’s tribes have no incentive to give up a portion of their profits without receiving substantial concessions in return. And indeed, this is exactly what the rejected 2005 compact would have done: establish revenue-sharing in exchange for a dramatic expansion of gambling statewide.
How dramatic? Instead of a maximum of 2000 slot machines per location the Spokanes had negotiated 4000, and instead of a 675 or 900 slot machine allocation the Spokanes had secured a staggering 7,500! And that’s in addition to zero betting limits, casino credit, 24-hour operations, off-reservation casinos and more. Now that’s what I call “hitting the jackpot.”
Again, like the issue of revenue-sharing, there is a legitimate public policy debate to be had over the pros and cons of permitting such a dramatic expansion of gambling, but there is no question that in rejecting the 2005 compact—one which would have increased the number of permitted slot machines more than tenfold—Gov. Gregoire acted consistently with the will of voters, who just a year before had overwhelmingly rejected an initiative that would have merely doubled the number slot machines statewide… as they did similar slot machine initiatives twice before. Washington voters simply don’t want to turn our state into Nevada, not even in exchange for $140 million a year in shared revenue, and that’s why Gov. Gregoire wisely rejected the 2005 compact.
I’ve actually read the two compacts and the federal statutes, as well as numerous scholarly and government studies on the economics and impact of casino gaming, and I suggest that Ted Van Dyk, Chris McGann and other media know-it-alls either do the same and prove me wrong on the facts… or publicly apologize to Gov. Gregoire for misrepresenting her record and unfairly attacking her ethics.
Drinking Liberally Double Feature
It’s a Drinking Liberally double feature for me tonight as the Columbia City chapter meets from 6PM to 8PM at the Columbia City Theater, 4916 Rainier AVE S. (next door to Tutta Bella’s), followed by the Seattle chapter which meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM onward at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Stop on by for some hoppy beer and hopped up conversation.
Not in Seattle? Liberals will also be drinking tonight in the Tri-Cities. A full listing of Washington’s thirteen Drinking Liberally chapters is available here.
Voters roll snake eyes in media coverage of Spokane gambling compact
It’s been a hectic week or so for me, and one of the issues that’s fallen through the cracks has been the manufactured controversy over Tribal contributions to Gov. Chris Gregoire and the state Democratic Party in the wake of last year’s Spokane Tribe gambling compact. Writing in the Seattle P-I, reporter Chris McGann kicked off the recent brouhaha with a lede I would have sworn was penned by WSRP communications director Patrick Bell, if not for its coherence (and the lack of tell-tale food stains).
OLYMPIA — Gov. Chris Gregoire is benefiting from more than $650,000 in campaign contributions from Indian tribes that hit the jackpot in 2005 when she killed a gambling compact potentially worth more than $140 million a year to the state.
Yes, there are a few reporters who actually have a comprehensive understanding of Washington’s gambling industry and the state and federal statutes that govern it… but McGann clearly ain’t one of them. Indeed, apart from the TNT’s Peter Callaghan, no journalist has written more extensively or authoritatively on state gambling issues than, well, me, and so when I tell you that the spin that has dominated recent media coverage of this story is total bullshit, I do so backed up by a four-year history of writing on this subject that is both credible and dare I say, bipartisan in its criticism of both political parties.
I’ll address the issue of campaign contributions in a follow-up post, but in implying that the tribes “hit the jackpot” when Gov. Gregoire rejected the initial Spokane compact, McGann displayed zero understanding of the statutes governing the process, the political machinations surrounding negotiations, and the details of the compact itself. In fact, far from hitting the jackpot, Gregoire’s rejection of the 2005 compact was a huge blow to the ambitions of the entire tribal gaming industry, and an unexpected victory for those of us working to curb gambling expansion statewide.
Let’s be clear… the 2005 compact was the deal the Spokanes negotiated—these were the terms they wanted—and while it would have shared revenue with the state, it would have set in motion a massive expansion of gambling that would forever reshape the face of Washington. In exchange for revenue sharing the state gave up huge concessions, including 24-hour operations, no betting limits, casino credit, and an off-reservation casino. But as I wrote at the time:
… the most dramatic and dangerous concession was granting the Spokane Tribe rights to 7,500 slot machines… as many as 4000 at a single location. Under previous compacts, each tribe was limited to directly owning only 675 slot machines; via leasing agreements with other tribes, as many as 1500 could be placed at a single location. Spokane’s 7,500 slots would be a huge increase over the 18,000 slots currently in operation statewide.
And that was just the beginning. Under federal law, any terms we offered the Spokanes must also be made available to the other 27 recognized tribes, eventually leading to an exponential expansion of slot machines, and the creation of Las Vegas style casinos throughout the state, on and off reservation. The 2005 compact would have led to both a public health and a political disaster, and as I have done throughout my reporting on this subject, I never shied away from warning the governor about the potential consequences.
Whatever the intent, this is a slap in the face of voters who just last year, overwhelmingly rejected Initiative 892 and its flood of slot machines… and if the governor signs this compact, hurling us down a one way road towards unfettered casino gambling, there will be a price to pay at the polls.
Washington state is already suffering from an epidemic of problem gambling, with all the inherent social and financial costs… and the last thing we need is for our state and local governments to become addicted to gambling too. This compact would set a dangerous precedent that would be impossible to overturn. It is bad for families, and it is bad for the smaller, rural tribes who would be shut out of leasing agreements. It is bad for Washington state.
And we need to let Governor Gregoire know that if she signs this compact, it will be bad for her too.
Revenue sharing bad for Washington state? Don’t just take my word for it, listen to State Sen. Margarita Prentice (whose opponent, by the way, I support in the primary) echoing my analysis nearly three years later:
Tribal gaming is almost a billion-dollar industry in our state — all of it untaxed. Revenue sharing with the tribes could represent a potential new source of income for the state worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
But in the end, revenue sharing is just a bad idea.
If the governor had approved the Spokanes’ compact as initially proposed, Pandora’s Box would have been thrown wide open. All other tribes would immediately insist on the same deal — including more allotted slot machines and the ability the operate casinos off their reservations.
There are currently around 17,000 slot machines in operation on tribal lands in our state. Can you imagine if all 28 tribes were suddenly allowed to operate 7,500 machines each instead of the current allotment of 675? The effect would be the most unprecedented explosion of gambling in our state’s history — when the public already has said time and again that enough is enough.
Plus, it would be very difficult for the state to regulate the gambling activities of the tribes when it’s also their financial partner.
To imply, as recent press coverage has, that tribal contributions to the Democrats are in any way a payoff for the governor’s rejection of the 2005 compact, is at best a gross misreading of the events, and at worst a deliberate distortion of the facts. The tribes were a signature away from an opportunity to earn billions of dollars in additional revenue, but as Sen. Prentice confirms, there was widespread bipartisan consensus at the time that the state should not get itself hooked on revenue sharing, and that the final Spokane compact should ultimately limit the potential for further gambling expansion, while restricting casinos to reservation lands. And that is what Gov. Gregoire ultimately (if imperfectly) achieved.
I say imperfect, because I am one of the few who publicly urged the governor to reject the 2007 compact as well, although its concessions ultimately proved far less damaging or inexcusable than the press coverage initially suggested. In January of 2007 I called the revised compact a “suckers bet,” warning that…
State Republicans sense the enormous political opportunity this proposed compact gives them, and they don’t even have to resort to lies, hate-mongering and obfuscations to make their point. So hot is the WSRP on this issue that they even made it a primary focus of a recent conference call with journalists and (mostly) right-wing bloggers.
I was so disturbed by the proposed compact that I actually invited Rep. Bruce Chandler (R-Granger) onto 710-KIRO and gave the ranking Republican on the House State Government and Tribal Affairs Committee some prime airtime in which to trash the governor. In fact, I wrote and spoke out so forcefully against the the compact that Gov. Gregoire’s Chief of Staff Tom Fitzsimmons called me up to explain the terms, answer my questions, and correct some of my misunderstandings. The result…? Perhaps the most lucid and detailed exposition on the Spokane compact you will find anywhere online or in print, a must read for anybody who honestly cares about knowing what this compact does and does not do. My conclusion:
When it comes to the number of facilities and authorized machines, the Spokanes demanded the same sort of deal negotiated by the Colvilles. Given the Spokanes’ favored nation status, the state really couldn’t do anything about that. But this authorization would be totally worthless to the Spokanes without a larger universe of slot machines from which to lease, so while nothing requires the state to bump up the allocation from 675 to 900, there’s a certain irrefutable logic to doing so.
[…] What the state gets from this is an end to the Spokanes’ illegal operations, relatively uniform compact terms across all 28 tribes — and assuming all the tribes seek the same deal — about $2.6 million a year in additional funding for problem gambling treatment and prevention programs.
I still urged the governor to reject the deal because I felt the state held the stronger hand, and could have negotiated a similar compact that did not include concessions like cash-fed slot machines and higher betting limits, but in the context of what might have happened, these complaints constitute a minor quibble. It was the 2005 compact that would have been a “jackpot” for tribal gaming interests, not its rejection. And given the mess she inherited, Gov. Gregoire has done about the best she could in keeping a lid on further gambling expansion.
As Sen. Prentice concludes:
The governor fixed a broken situation she inherited. She wisely rejected the agreement reached between the Gambling Commission and the Spokanes and sent both parties back to the drawing board.
[…] Any questions now being raised about the governor’s leadership role — after two legislative sessions with nary a peep, and right before the gubernatorial election — are not motivated by policy. They’re motivated by politics.
And any suggestion that tribal interests are rewarding the governor for her rejection of the lucrative 2005 Spokane compact, simply runs counter to both logic, and the facts.
Gregoire goes national in fight against Rossi/BIAW attacks
Gov. Chris Gregoire is up on Daily Kos again with another diary, this time exposing to a national audience cozy relationship between Dino Rossi and his Orca-killing buddies at the BIAW: “Obama and all Democrats face attacks from all directions.”
Each election year, we see more ads from these groups, generally negative attacks, and I have a feeling that 2008 is going to set records. It’s a safe bet that John McCain’s campaign, unable to compete with Sen. Barack Obama’s broad, grassroots support, will receive millions in support from 527 groups in this election.
In Washington state, my Republican opponent has already given the green light to his special interest friends. The Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW) is the most powerful special interest lobby in Washington. Despite their benign name, the BIAW’s tactics and policies are anything but.
The BIAW’s values don’t match up with the voters of Washington. As you can see here, here, and here, local bloggers agree. The BIAW has opposed cleaning up toxics in the Puget Sound, opposed fighting global warming and even opposed protecting orca whales. My opponent voted with them 99% of the time while he was a State Senator.
This special interest lobby is my opponent’s biggest backer, and has already spent spent $500,000 on radio attack ads that distort my record, and challenge my integrity as a governor and a mother – and it’s only June.
Please read the whole thing and take the time to recommend Gov. Gregoire’s diary; the longer we keep this in the recommended list, the louder her message.
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