Campaign gifts draw focus to gaming pact

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire has received more than $650,000 in campaign contributions from American Indian tribes in the state since 2004.

The money came from about a dozen tribes that benefited when, in 2005, Gregoire killed a gambling compact potentially worth more than $140 million a year to the state. The bulk of the tribal campaign contributions came from tribes opposed to that original compact, including the Swinomish and Tulalip.

Gregoire’s spokesman, Pearse Edwards, said the governor backed away from the 2005 agreement that included revenue sharing with the state in an attempt to keep gambling from expanding too quickly and after listening to concerns from a wide range of groups, including other tribes.

The final compact negotiated by Gregoire included a provision that allowed other tribes to expand casino operations without revenue sharing. Twenty-seven of the state’s 29 federally recognized tribes – 21 operate casinos – signed on to the provision.

This provision makes Washington state unlike the 22 other states that collect millions from revenue-sharing agreements for tribal gambling, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Friday.

Gambling experts say the state’s arrangement is ethically problematic but not illegal.

“It’s a payoff,” said University of Nevada-Las Vegas professor William Thompson, who has been studying tribal gambling since 1988. “She shouldn’t take any campaign money, nor should her political party, and it smells too quid pro quo for my liking.”

Even some Democrats in the Legislature question the deal.

“Why would you give someone a monopoly without taking a cut?” asked Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle.

“There is no quid pro quo,” Edwards said. “This is a free country and if someone wants to make a donation to any party, to any group, they are free to do so. The governor and the tribes have the relationship they have because of the mutual respect they have for each other.”

The Tulalip and Swinomish did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

State tribes have directly given Gregoire $49,000 since 2004. But they have pumped more than $600,000 in campaign contributions into the state Democratic Party since 2004, which in turn contributed to Gregoire’s campaign.

For example, on Oct. 11, 2004, the Swinomish gave $50,000 to the party, the Tulalip gave $220,000. On Oct. 18, the party gave $300,000 to Gregoire’s campaign. Earlier this year, on April 8, the two tribes gave a combined $250,000; that same day, the party gave the campaign $300,000.

Tribes have also contributed to Republican candidates but at a tiny fraction of the level they have given to Democrats.

Tom McCabe, executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Washington, which has contributed heavily to Gregoire’s Republican challenger, Dino Rossi, said the incentive is obvious.

“Politically, they can’t afford to have her lose,” McCabe said.

In 2005, the state Gambling Commission and the Spokane Tribe reached an agreement that would have allowed more than 7,000 video gambling machines and a six-tiered revenue-sharing structure. After some tribes complained, Gregoire asked the Gambling Commission to renegotiate; the renegotiated deal without revenue sharing allowed only 4,700 machines.

If the original compact had been approved, other tribes would be entitled to similar levels of expansion under the same terms.

Depending on the number of tribes participating, the state could have received from $40 million to more than $140 million per year.