Yesterday at a press conference the leader of the Tohono O'odham Nation, Ned Norris Jr. vowed his tribe would continue to fight the massive assault by the right wingers (my words) to stop the building of the Desert Diamond Casino. Building is well under way in Glendale after reaching agreement with the city council there. The financially strapped community came to terms earlier this year. During that time period the Nation had been battling through the federal courts, winning at every juncture. On the other side has been a slew of local political hacks trying to protect the interests of the existing tribes right to hold on to their monopoly. Unfortunately that means if any of us living in the West Valley want to play a bit, we need jump in our cars and drive a minimum of a half hour to an hour. There's at last a half dozen casino's in and around the Scottsdale area. Now the boys who helped shape that monopoly are fighting to keep it intact. The big question for me is: How much are those elected officials being paid (via political contributions) or have been paid over the years? In 2006 Jack Abramhoff and one of his partners was sent off to prison in Texas for buying votes to secure gaming rights for tribes. Is this just more of the same or all the political shills for the Easy Valley casino's just doing it to protect us oldsters in the West Valley from losing our pension checks?
The recent events surrounding the Desert Diamond Resort Casino also prompted me yesterday to write a Letter to the Editor to our two local papers. Here it is in case you don't get the papers: Recent events reported in the newspapers and TV have me wondering if we in the West Valley are getting the shaft by a few of our elected officials. In particular I am referring to Senators McCain and Flake, our new governor and especially Representative Trent Franks. Before I go further I should state that I have been a registered Republican all my life. I don't gamble because I am not a good loser. The other day a few of us went to a breakfast put on by the Arizona Highways folks. One of the speakers was the head of tourism for Arizona. She was talking about how important tourism and tourism dollars are to the Arizona economy. She talked about the Grand Canyon, Sedona and then started talking about tourism here in the valley. She stated how much her shop and our elected officials support tourism here in the “West” valley. It started me thinking what do we have here in the west valley that brings in tourism dollars. Well, we have a couple of spring training ball parks and we have the University of Phoenix Football Stadium. We've had two Super Bowls at UP Stadium and the events last for a week or more. I wonder where all those people go to spend their money?? Where are all the 5-star hotel resorts, the upscale restaurants, the hotel resort casinos and the nightlife? They are all in the East Valley. Apparently that's where all the money and political clout is centered. Now comes along an Indian tribe that wants to build a multimillion casino resort hotel complex near the UP Stadium on land the Tribe owns. This casino resort would bring in lots of tourism dollars, provide jobs for hundreds of people and most importantly attract new business to the area. The politicians say “No, no, no...you can't have a hotel resort casino in the West Valley because it would violate Proposition 202”. Really? Or, is the real answer the East Valley with all their money and political connection don't want to share the important tourism dollars? Last question is “Have any of the politicians taken a poll to find out what the majority of residents in the West Valley want?”.
I just saw a stat (admittedly biased) but claimed 70% of the West Valley supports having a casino on this side of town. Make's you wonder who those politicians are listening to eh Jim? Don't look for Debbie or Rick to say a word on this topic bud; if they support their constituents they anger their party leadership. Then we'd see who matters the most. Great letter BTW. Sadly too many people think there's Scottsdale/East Valley and everywhere else is second class. Simple truth is there's just a bunch of politicians with no class.
Wouldn't it be great if West Valley residents would boycott the East/South Valley casinos by not taking the daily buses departing from West Valley locations??
It.s been very quiet E. The last news was McCain was trying to stop it at the Federal level, because the state efforts had failed. The boys have taken so much money from the tribes with casino's in the East Valley they need to prove they were worth the investment by doing everything they can. When the smoke clears I think it will open, but the politicians will have made the Tohono O'odham Nation pay through the nose by jumping through as many legal hoops as they can. It's politics at its worst and why many of us are so tired of what has happened to this country. Pretend we matter and then do what the big money interests want. So very, very sad.
