Bid to block Glendale-area casino project fails in House

Rejection of HR 308 came with the Tohono O’odham Nation’s Desert Diamond Casino just over a month away from opening and dealt a blow to rival Valley tribes operating EastValley casinos who are concerned the new WestValley venue will cut into their revenues.

“David beat Goliath again. The special interests spent $17 million trying to rush this harmful (resolution) through, but in the end it came down to the facts. The more that members of Congress examine this legislation, the more they recognize how harmful it is for Arizona workers, the Nation, and tribes across the U.S,” said Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Edward D. Manuel in a prepared statement following Monday’s vote.

The resolution, known as the Keep The Promise Act, was considered as part of the House’s Rules Suspension Calendar, meaning it could be approved without debate but would require approval of two thirds of those members present and voting. Measures considered under normal House rules need only a simple majority to pass.

The Keep the Promise Act received 263 votes in favor; 146 against, leaving it a few percentage points short of the required number to pass. However, the 146 opponents was almost double the number who voted against it when it passed the House in 2012 but failed to win support in the Senate. The resolution also won House approval – by voice vote -- in 2014 but the measure died without getting out of the Senate as well.

Casino opponents may not bring the resolution back under normal rules because they may want to avoid debate that would bring more members to the project’s side, offered Adam Sarvana, communications director for the House Natural Resources Committee, which earlier approved the measure.

Rep. Trent Franks, R-8th Dist., who represents the area where the casino is going up and who sponsored the resolution, expressed disappointment after the latest vote. The tribe, seeking replacement by Washington of land lost due to flooding from a federal dam project decades ago, purchased the parcel near Glendale under another name before disclosing its intentions in 2009. The parcel was taken into trust by the Interior Department on the tribe’s behalf July 3, 2014. Franks has said the Tohono O’odham circumvented the intent of a 2002 voter-approved initiative limiting the number and location of Indian casinos in the Valley. Federal courts have disagreed, ruling several times in favor of the Tohono O’odham. In a one ruling, U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell stated U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell threw out claims by the state and two MaricopaCounty tribes that construction of the casino on the site violates Proposition 202.

Campbell said the full text of the law "contains no such limitation.''

HR 308 would have prohibited gambling on the site off 91st and Northern avenues until 2027, when an agreement between Arizona and its Indian tribes over location and number of gaming venues expires.

A lawsuit between the state and the Tohono O’odham over the classification of gaming at the new casino is still pending. But the tribe, without approval of federal legislation, is free to open the casino as a Class II facility. Obtaining state clearance to operate as a Class III venue would automatically funnel a portion of the revenues to the state of Arizona. As a Class II site, there is no such requirement.

The suit over classification, which will not prevent the casino from opening, is expected to be settled within six months, according to Tohono O’odham officials.

Meanwhile, Glendale stands to receive a $1.4 million annual windfall from the project through an agreement with the Tohono O’odham on gambling revenues. Vice Mayor Ian Hugh said expressed gratitude over Monday’s vote, adding support among residents for the project remains high.

“I was very glad it failed. That’s all I hear, is, ‘when is it going to open?’ There will be jobs and revenues going directly to Glendale.”

Although the resolution succeeded in previous years, its opponents were armed this time with a nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis stating that keeping the casino from opening could cost the economy up to $1 billion in revenues and jobs. The immediate effect would have involved idling 1,800 construction workers.

Ariz. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-3rd Dist., who fought HR 308, said it was a misguided attempt by outside interests who hoped to use Congress to block tribal gaming competition, “never an offer my colleagues and I should take up,” Grijalva said in a statement. “It’s time to drop this special interest giveaway once and for all and move on to real business.”