The most important Washington lawsuit you never heard of...

[CarbonHunter]

I'm wondering how they built all the casinos without any culverts? They are part of the population & infrastructure of the area.

They built them without permits so there not to code and no permit fees or inspections take place. If they want an equal voice at the table maybe they should start by paying an equal share of the tax burden.

[Skillet]

The tribes will need to be careful with how far they push this.  It's all well and good for the public when it is culverts.  Wait until this shuts down commercial fishing in Alaska, causes the feds to have to tear down dams, seriously hinders development, etc.  There will be a lot of political pressure from folks with even more money than the tribes to address the treaties.  If they aren't careful, the tribes might very well kill the golden goose.

I think it will always be a game of incremental increase of influence with the tribes.  They are well aware of the risks of pushing the wrong group of power brokers.  I don't see them overstepping to the point they could force renegotiation of the treaty.

They could seriously impact my fishery in AK if they managed to obtain a seat as a soveriegn nation at the PSC, but even then I don't see them shutting down non-king fisheries.  The AK Commercial fishing industry is far from a unified voting block when it comes to kings - my fleet could be sold down the river pretty cheaply, methinks.

 

[WSU]

There are some big money, non-king fisheries that kill lots and lots of kings.  They'll have to be careful how they proceed.  And I agree, I'm sure they are aware of the land mines.

[jackmaster]

The best counter to this is not the courts IMO. Threaten to legalize casino gambling would get the tribes attention. The State Democratic party is heavily influenced by all the tribal casino money though so not likely to happen IMO.

you take away their power if everyone else can have casinos, tribes lose their money and lose their power over politicians !!! We had our chance a few years ago and people voted it down, time to get it on the ballot again !!