If Washington State (Barely) Governor, Christine Gregoire, thought that obscene amount of campaign dollars from the Indian tribes wouldn’t get noticed after the sweetheart deal she worked out for them.
Lucky for her, she only has to fear the incompetent/lazy Washington State Republicans
Leading Republicans in the Legislature called Monday for an investigation into the compact Gov. Chris Gregoire negotiated with Washington’s tribes that allowed for expanded casino gambling but did not include revenue sharing with the state worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
After a report in Friday’s Seattle P-I raised questions about details of the compact and campaign contributions to Democrats and Gregoire from the tribes, Republicans said they have concerns “both with regard to lack of legislative oversight and the appearance of a conflict between the governor’s role as both chief negotiator and campaign benefactor.”
Now, the Democrats who run the legislature with their rock-solid majority don’t HAVE to do a damn thing. They can say that they’re willing to take to Governor’s word that nothing inappropriate went on or is going on, and leave it at that.
Hopefully, with this being an election year, that is exactly what they’ll do.
Here are the questions the Rebpubs want answered
Why, while intervening in negotiations, did the governor turn away hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue sharing when her own Gambling Commission and the Spokane Tribe had already reached agreement on such a plan?
What were the communications between the governor and staff and the Spokane Tribe between 2005 and 2006 that led to the elimination of revenue sharing?
Which tribes, if any, requested that the governor’s office step in to strike revenue sharing from the tribal compact?
Were there promises of campaign support, or other inducements, made by the tribes to any representatives of the governor, including party officials, in exchange for the governor’s action to drop state revenue sharing, while expanding the authorization for slots, higher stakes wagering and off-reservation gaming sites?
What was the state’s estimate of annual revenue that would have come to the state had Gregoire approved the original Gambling Commission compact with the Spokane Tribe, which included revenue sharing?
She lost the Washington State taxpayer a currently known potential of $140 Million and nets her campaign coffers a smooth $650,000.
Quid pro do-si-do?
Oh, and clicking through a list of the the local leftosphere nets a big goose-egg for coverage of this. Same goes for the Seattle Times.
Silence.