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Wheel of Misfortune

Crist needs to find the stones to deal with the Seminoles

A A A Comments (2) By Bob Norman Thursday, Sep 27 2007

If the tribe balks and tries to install the machines without a compact, let it try its luck in a court case with the state that could play out for years. The Seminoles don't want that. A legal fight with Florida could complicate matters as the Seminoles branch out across the country and world with their recently purchased Hard Rock empire.

From there, you find the best way to get the table games into the Broward pari-mutuels and Seminole casinos. It's the next logical step, and it probably begins with a referendum. Hell, even Rubio should agree that the people ought to make that decision.

ROBERT SULLIVAN/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom

Charlie Crist needs to take table games off the table.

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Yet public opinion right now seems tilted toward rushing into a deal with the Seminoles and giving them everything they want. Adkins blames it on "scare tactics" spread by the tribe's high-powered lawyers, but that's no excuse for the local media.

The Sun-Sentinel, for instance, backs giving away the store to the tribe, and fast. Two weeks ago, it decried Rubio's promise that the Legislature wouldn't ratify a move by Crist to give the Seminoles the table games.

The title of the September 12 editorial says it all: "Time to get deal done with Tribe." The newspaper endorsed the proposed compact, arguing that the tribe will likely get the slots and table games whether we like it or not. It failed to mention that a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the State of Texas in a similar case last month.

One doesn't want to read too deeply into these things, especially to jump to a conclusion that the huge amount of advertising dollars the tribe gives the Sun-Sentinel for weekend inserts has anything to do with the paper's point of view. No, that would be totally unfair, so I won't even mention it.

The truth is that reasonable people can disagree on the issue, because the fear that taxpayers will lose out on all Seminole revenue is not ungrounded, even though it's far from a given.

And that's where Crist is negotiating from right now: from fear rather than power.

The good news is that Crist clearly wants to do the right thing. During that Rosh Hashanah dinner, Geller refrained from too much gambling talk. But when the issue came up, the senator said, "Governor, I still want to do whatever will generate the most tax dollars for the state."

"That's my goal too," the governor responded, according to Geller. "Let's figure out what will generate the most tax dollars and go forward."

In the long run, that isn't going to be accomplished by kowtowing to the Seminoles. The way to a sweet new year will come by rolling the dice. And by playing this game to win.

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simon says 09/27/2007 5:34:00 PM

FINALLY,a columnist not OWNED by this Indian Conglamerate!!! Thank you for telling the facts! These indians arent poor,and if any of them are,they need to go check out the CHIEFS house!! LOL...If you want some fun reading,check out the current draft the governor is lookin at,its available onlie,somewhere. Some key things that make for interesting reading are sections part XII where it says if they make less than 1.35 billion,state gets nothing, and in another section it says 85% ANNUAL AVERAGE slot payout...basic math can be a hinderance...100% on saturday night,75% hold on monday morning...you get the picture...Oh, and one more section,under MISCELLANEOUS I think,it says that if a hurricane hits Florida,and like everyone other business in Florida will be interupted, well for them it means they dont have to pay what they agree to pay FLorida...LOL how nice for them. I guess in the next 20 years,they will own this state. If they get this compact that is.
DanO 09/26/2007 11:58:00 PM

Wow, where to begin to point out the mis or disinformation in that piece. I'll skip over the nonsense about Crist and Geller's breaking bread. Let's keep this overriding concern in mind. "Federal law generally allows Indian tribes to offer all the games that are legal in the states in which they operate." OK, so it's agreed the Seminoles are entitled to have Class III slots and not pay a dime to Florida under Federal law. So, we're operating from the standpoint that the Seminoles have 7 casinos all over the state from which FL will get nothing. People in Tampa aren't going to come to Broward to play the slots. Nor will people in the Naples/Ft. Myers area. "...Broward racinos, which already pay an outrageous tax rate..." Compared to what? Other states have a license fee per slot machine that dwarfs what the state could be getting. In Connecticut the tribes pay 25 percent to the state. In Fiscal Year 2005-2006 Conn. collected more than $425 million from the two casinos there. The potential is much greater in FL for revenue with the populations and tourists in just Hollywood and Tampa. The 100 million figure in the compact draft is a minimum. "They are demanding not only the Vegas-style slots but also the table games, which are currently illegal in the state." Federal law requires them to get some kind of exclusivity on something in order to have a compact. Since the state can't give them exclusivity on slots, table games are all that is left. So the parimutuals would be put out of business. Boo hoo. They should have been allowed to go out of business. It was totally wrong headed to give them the goose that lays the golden egg in this amendment. The amendment should have legalized slots and let the state put it out to bid. Who cares if nobody wants to go watch dog or horse races anymore? (That's a rhetorical question.) Nobody is bailing out the typewriter companies. "They want a gambling mecca here." Please. The vote was razor thin and only for slots. Not a "gambline mecca" in Broward. If people in Tampa knew they were voting to give the Seminoles slots I bet the vote would have gone the other way. "It's just not fair � or American � to hand out monopolies." What do you think has been given to the parimutuals? Can MGM Mirage come to FL and open a slots parlor? No. Can anyone except the Sarasota Kennel Club offer high states poker in Sarasota? No. It is a monopoly for one undeserving industry that even continues to squeeze the greyhound owners and now even has got the state to allow them to offer high states poker with no racing. So, tell me again why we gave the parimutuals this gift if they're not going to maintain the business that everyone was crying would disappear? "He needs to take the table games out of the deal with the Seminoles and negotiate a fair fee for allowing the slot machines only." And exactly what would the Indians be getting that they're not already entitled to in return? You want to ignore the reality you clearly stated above. You want your cake and want to eat it, too. "It failed to mention that a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the State of Texas in a similar case last month." You fail to mention that ruling isn't binding in this district and the courts in THIS district have already ruled that Florida must negotiate a compact with the tribe. Once again, ignoring reality. "...the fear that taxpayers will lose out on all Seminole revenue is not ungrounded..." is the reason for the negotiations! C'mon, give the fallacious arguments a rest already. "Let's figure out what will generate the most tax dollars and go forward." At least Charlie Crist knows the facts and the issues. "The way to a sweet new year will come by rolling the dice." How sweet will it be when the dice come up craps? Why gamble with a possible 1/2 billion dollars a year the state could receive from the Seminoles?