This from Steve Wiegand, playing it straight...
Embarrassed by the “misplacing” of four California Indian casino compacts that resulted in the deals being approved without being reviewed, federal Interior Department officials said today they are taking steps to see “we don’t ever have a repeat of this.”
The compacts, which are the targets of referendums (Props. 94-97) on the Feb. 5 ballot, were sent to the department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs in early September. But they then disappeared for 80 days, well after a federally mandated 45-day review period had lapsed. That meant the bureau had no choice but to automatically approve them, without review.
The incident has the potential to become far more important than just a run-of-the-mill bureaucratic bungle if California voters reject any of the compacts. That’s because the tribes involved might claim the federal government’s approval trumps voter wishes.
Department spokeswoman Tina Kreisher said Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has asked the department’s inspector general’s office to review the BIA’s conclusion that “these documents were inadvertently and not deliberately misplaced, and that sufficient corrective measures are being taken.”
In addition, BIA head Carl Artman has directed staff to draft a new regulation laying out specific procedures for submitting compacts for approval, and is preparing a letter to the governors of all states with Indian casinos as well as all casino tribes giving them a heads up to that effect.
“In the meantime,” the draft says, “please note: Any compact or compact amendment must be submitted to the Office of Indian Gaming at the following address…”.
Kreisher said the 45-day process would be triggered when the compact arrives at the address.
“We hope that we don’t ever have a repeat of this,” she said.
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