Gaming commission pulls plug on Class II Regulations

The National Indian Gaming Commission announced Feb. 9 that controversial new regulations on Class II gaming, announced last year, will be withdrawn.

At the prodding of the Justice Department, the regulations sought to redefine the line between Class II games, such as bingo and pull-tabs, and Class III slot machines. The commission contended that technological advances in gaming machines have blurred the line.

Tribes have responded that the commission’s plans to slow down the pace of Class II action would decrease the revenue stream from Class II machines, in part by reducing the number of plays per machine and in part by driving clients to more entertaining venues. A study commissioned by NIGC substantially seconded tribal fears of economic setbacks under the proposed new regulations.

”We remain committed to bringing consideration of these important issues to an early conclusion,” said NIGC Chairman Phil Hogen in a statement on the NIGC Web site, ”but as it is likely that our finished product would depart in several areas from that published in the Federal Register in 2006, we are withdrawing those earlier proposals. We are busily working on revisions. If and when we finish those … new drafts would be published as proposed regulations and further comment would be solicited before they are finalized.”

Lethal bird flu in England hasn’t shown up on Interior’s radar

Tests have confirmed the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu among turkeys in England, but British officials downplayed the risk to humans. Though H5N1 has infected 271 people since 2003, according to the World Health Organization, an influenza specialist with the British Health Protection Agency told The Washington Post that no evidence indicates H5N1 has adapted to spread among humans. The Post quoted a U.N. official as saying the H5N1 virus is a disease of poultry, not humans. The disease originated in Asia, where most of the human infections have been reported. Migrating birds brought it to Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

Speculation centered on the prospect that a wild bird

carried H5N1 to the domesticated turkey farm, underscoring one of the fears that has generated worldwide monitoring of wild bird populations and their migratory flyways. The Interior Department monitors portions of the United States that are beneath migratory flyways. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said the monitoring programs are ongoing. No finding of the virus has been brought to his attention since detection of the virus in England, as it immediately would be if it were found, he said.

Johson convalescence continues steady progress

Sen. Tim Johnson’s recovery from a brain hemorrhage that incapacitated him on Dec. 13 of last year has taken a dramatic turn for the better, leading at least one of his physicians to mention a miracle. Johnson is speaking in full sentences, initiating conversations, reading newspapers and using a computer, according to updates from his office staff on Capitol Hill. Johnson’s sudden loss of speaking skills in an interview with reporters was the first sign of his condition.

The South Dakota Democrat counts many tribal citizens among his constituency. Both in the Senate, from his post on the Senate Indian Affairs

Committee, and during his earlier tenure in the House of Representatives, he has proved a regular ally of tribes and their issues.

His wife, Barbara Johnson, said many prayers are being answered as the senator’s condition continues to improve.

Campbell: Congressional agenda back on track after Abramoff detour

At a Capitol Hill breakfast co-sponsored by the National Congress of American Indians and The Hill newspaper, former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell said the congressional agenda of Indian country got ”sidetracked” over ”the last couple of years” – that is, during the 109th Congress of 2005 – ’06, dominated by revelations of criminal ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s abuse of tribal clients and their money.

”Things that are really important to us, like education and housing and nutrition and jobs and the whole agenda went that way [out the window] for us,” Campbell said, as quoted in The Hill.

But he added, ”That’s changing. … We’re on the move and we’re going to make sure we stay on the move.”

Other speakers at the breakfast were Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., current chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs; Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, senior Democrat on the committee; Jacqueline Johnson, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians; and lobbyist Wilson Pipestem of Ietan Consulting. Albert Eisele, editor-at-large of The Hill, moderated the discussion.

The Hill quoted Akaka on the prospect of working with Dorgan as the committee chair – ”We’ll have a great committee again.”

BIA Nominee presses on despite GOP holds

Carl Artman got a second hearing on his nomination to head the BIA Feb. 1, and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs again approved his nomination.

Now the nomination is before the full Senate, which must confirm the presidential appointee. But following the SCIA’s approval last September, the president’s own Republican Party declined to bring Artman to a vote. Senate rules permit any senator to place an anonymous hold on nominations. Last year Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., placed the hold on Artman’s nomination, according to a former Capitol Hill staff member still engaged in Indian affairs in Washington. The former staffer, speaking on background but not for attribution, added that several Republican senators are holding up the nomination this year.

Hearing testimony and questioning Feb. 1 brought up gaming issues as possible grounds for objection to Artman. As in September 2006, Artman said he will not involve himself in decisions concerning a land-into-trust application of his own tribe, the Oneida of Wisconsin.

Interior Department Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Artman said, ”has expressed his confidence in me to bring what he has described as an ambassadorial nature to the position of assistant secretary.” (The BIA is a division within Interior.)

Kempthorne, in an interview separate from the hearing, said Artman is meeting with senators and finding opportunities to answer their objections individually. Artman has the backing of Interior and the administration, he said.

Artman also has the strong backing of Indian country, as he did last year. Jacqueline Johnson, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, testified in his behalf Feb. 1.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., chairman of the SCIA, said he plans to ”hotline” the nomination for expedited passage. In an interview days after the hearing, he said he has spoken with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Senate Majority Leader, and found no objection to Artman among Senate Democrats.