EL PASO, Texas ? Battle lines are being drawn in Texas over the status of the Tigua Tribe of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo.
Texas courts ruled the Tigua tribe has no more rights than a sorority or fraternity and should therefore close its casino. A tribal spokesman said he sees it as a backlash from the 1998 gubernatorial campaign when the tribe contributed to then-Gov. George W. Bush’s opponent, Land Commissioner Garry Mauro.
‘This is unbelievable,’ Marc Schwartz said. ‘We have all the local government entities and the local chambers of commerce who have come out and have said don’t do this, don’t close the casino.
‘They actually retained me when George Bush went on the attack with them,’ Schwartz explained. ‘George Bush, when he was running for his second term and all this brouhaha started because of the contribution, actually equated them on the same level as drug dealers. Karen Hughes, senior advisor to the president was his press secretary. She was quoted as saying that this candidate, Garry Mauro, should have returned the money that the tribe gave him because this enterprise is as illegal ? as drug dealers. If he wouldn’t take money from drug dealers, why would he take it from Indians?’
The Speaking Rock Casino opened in 1993 with no state or local opposition, in a district with one of the highest unemployment and crime in the city of El Paso. The tribe had no housing, no health care and few employment opportunities. The casino changed all that and has been a success story for all those involved.
The tribe has virtually zero unemployment and the addition of the casino brought new businesses into the area along with more jobs for non-tribal members. The once decaying neighborhood received an economic shot in the arm and tourist attractions as well as new housing areas are springing up in the area near the casino.
‘The casino opened in 1993, operated, everything wide open, no arguments from the state,’ Schwartz said. ‘As a matter of fact the state’s position was they are a federal Indian reservation, what they do is their business. We have no desire to get into the casino business, we don’t want casino gaming in Texas. What they do is their business, no problem.’
The tribe is covered under the 1987 Pueblo Restoration Act, in which there was a statute for gaming that covers about a half a page and gives the tribes the rights to do what Texas does.
‘Whatever Texas can do, the tribes can do,’ Schwartz explained. ‘Whatever Texas prohibits the tribes can’t do.
‘There is a huge problem. Texas has a lottery; pari-mutuel horse racing; we have charitable raffles, we have raffles; we have private club exemptions; we have eight-liner machines. We have all kinds of things, but we also have a penal code that says no gambling.’
Following the 1998 gubernatorial race, the Tigua tribe felt the sting of what it considers ‘political payback,’ when the Bush administration in Texas went after the Speaking Rock Casino and the tribe’s sovereignty.
‘The tribe, best as we can tell, made a political contribution,’ Schwartz said. ‘George Bush was running for re-election as governor and the Democratic opponent was a land commissioner who had been very, very sensitive to Native American issues. They made a little contribution to him.
‘Now, everybody in the state knew, it was in the polls and everywhere else. The polls were 70-30 for a Bush victory. So what was the big deal? The tribe was just trying to say thanks to Mauro for his good deeds.
‘George Bush won and the attorney general filed a suit against the Tiguas to close the casino based on the penal codes that say we have no gambling.’
Schwartz and others believe that donation to Bush’s opponent was what started the whole fight to close the casino.
‘It has to be for this reason,’ he said. ‘There is another casino in Texas, run by the Kickapoo Tribe. They are told to go on, have fun. But we aren’t supposed to have gambling in Texas! But we have it.’
After being told that it was just politics by legislators from around the state, the tribe went to the state and asked for an exemption that would allow it to keep the casino open. The measure passed the state House of Representatives, then the Senate committees. This is where the momentum stalled.
‘The lieutenant governor, who opposed the lottery, and was not elected ? this is the lieutenant governor who was elevated from the Senate when George Bush left to become president, decided to block it and kept it from coming to the floor,’ Schwartz said. ‘So we didn’t’ get our bill passed, we figured it wasn’t a big deal. Hell, we’ve got a lottery; we’ve got everything else.
‘The attorney general very craftily slipped an argument in his case before the judge that says this Indian tribe is an association, because Texas doesn’t have Indian tribes. So we now have a judgment from a federal judge who is calling our tribe an association with no sovereign rights or privileges.’
Schwartz and other Tigua supporters said they now believe this judgment could open the door to states all over the nation making tribes into associations and stripping them of their sovereignty. They said that idea isn’t too far fetched considering the Texas administration that started it all is ensconced in the White House with the power to see that states could possibly hold power over tribes.
In essence, Schwartz said he believes the state has abrogated a treaty. ‘This has some huge ramifications! Texas does not have a mechanism to formally or informally recognize tribes and there is a reason for that. Texas, by acts of its Legislature appropriated all the Indian land in Texas by incorporating communities for the sole purpose of conveying titles to land to settlers in 1871. As soon as all the Indian land was taken, they dissolved all the incorporated land.
‘There have been legal scholars who have suggested that the reason that Texas has always wanted to not have a designation of federal Indian tribes or Indian tribes is because to do so would make them responsible for their actions of their Legislature. So we have this huge issue and now we have the state saying the tribe is an association. In the record, the attorney general said we had the same rights as a sorority or fraternity. That is in the record.’
All of this has come about in a state that has the largest lottery in the world, generating an estimated $1 billion per year.
The Tigua are asking a federal judge to reconsider his ruling that would shut down the Speaking Rock Casino, stating that ruling contained legal mistakes that may have prejudiced the decision. They said they hope for a new trial or an amendment to the current judgment.
‘We think it could change the judgment,’ Pueblo Gov. Albert Alvidrez said. ‘He stripped this tribe of the very rights citizens of the state of Texas have.’
Representatives of Texas Gov. Rick Perry were not available for comment regarding the situation.