Geringer disputes tribe’s claim about gambling

Mead Gruver

Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2000 | 9:45 a.m.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - A Northern Arapaho Tribe lawsuit is a "mad scramble" to force casino-style gambling on the Wind River Reservation before Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt leaves office, Gov. Jim Geringer said.

The tribe filed suit Nov. 21, claiming state officials have not negotiated in good faith to expand gambling on the reservation with slot machines and games like blackjack and poker.

Geringer said Tuesday the state has maintained negotiations with the tribe.

"In fact, one of the first things we have always agreed upon is it's best to negotiate face-to-face rather than through the newspaper," he said. "Yet that's the approach they have now taken along with going to court."

Under a 1988 law, if negotiations between tribes and states over gambling break down, tribes can sue and a federal mediator can be appointed to determine what kinds of gaming tribes may offer.

But Geringer said Wyoming does not have unlimited authority to negotiate under the Indian Gaming Reform Act.

"If anything more is desired, it has to be by change to the law, which hasn't occurred in Wyoming. So I can't give what I don't have the legal right to give, yet that's what they're asking for," he said.

Geringer feels the lawsuit is "a heck of a gamble" in itself. A court is unlikely to find the state should have negotiated in good faith, he said, and the tribe is unlikely to convince the interior secretary of the same thing.

"We have all kinds of documentation that will be presented in court that we have and always would be," he said.

Geringer has long opposed gambling on the reservation, citing an unsuccessful 1994 ballot initiative. He said Tuesday that large-scale gambling would hurt the reservation because there are no gamblers other than those who live there.

"We're talking about Riverton, Wyo., smack in the middle of Wyoming. It's not on the interstate like New Mexico. You go on the interstate on New Mexico and Arizona and see casinos that cater to the driving public, huge parking areas of trucks. That's not going to happen in Wyoming," he said.

"It will draw from the Main Street businesses, basically the discretionary money that people already have that they're spending on other activities in the state, whether it be winter sports, or summer hiking or hunting or fishing or going to the movies or buying discretionary things for their family."

Geringer also pointed to gambling addiction, which he said affects 2 percent of the gambling public. In Wyoming that would be about 10,000 people, "more than we've ever had on welfare."

Also during his weekly press conference Tuesday, Geringer spoke about a decision by the Legislature's Management Council earlier in the day to support changing the constitution to limit the governor's veto power.

Geringer said it is time to forget the idea and move on.

Under the proposal, constitutional amendments would need to pass by a two-thirds vote in both the state Senate and House of Representatives and by a majority vote of the people. The governor would be bypassed and would not be able to veto the amendment.

The issue arose when the governor vetoed a proposed amendment that would have limited his line-item veto power. When an override vote failed, lawmakers tried to circumvent the governor by filing the amendment directly with the secretary of state.

A state Supreme Court ruling in August affirmed the governor's veto power over proposed amendments.

"This has been batted back and forth so many times, I have to ask again, is this worth it? Because you end up hurting the credibility of your own institution, in this case is the Legislature," Geringer said.