*Note: Rose Law Group represents the AZ House and Senate leadership in their legal fight to stop the casino project.
The Tohono O’odham Nation last year spent at least $1.2 million lobbying lawmakers in hopes of adding a Glendale-area casino to its three others outside the Valley, a study shows.
The Gila River Indian Community, which operates three casinos of its own, spent nearly $2.6 million, in part to maintain a restriction that could block the Tohono casino.
Among tribes nationwide, the two easily spent the most on casino lobbying, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog. The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, which operates two casinos and opposes a competitor near Glendale, also spent $275,000 lobbying, in part, on gaming issues last year.
The proposed casino has been in dispute since the Tohono tribe first signaled it intended to use annexed land for gaming. That decision was upheld in 2010 by the U.S. Interior Department but has drawn lawsuits and proposed legislation on Capitol Hill since then.
Last year, the Tohono tribe was primarily interested in a House bill it opposed that would have effectively blocked its efforts to conduct gaming activities on 54 acres it owns near Glendale. The bill easily passed the House in June but languished in the Senate. It was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., and supported by other House Republicans from Arizona. U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz., voted for it but his two Democratic colleagues from Arizona voted against it.
With the beginning of a new Congress, the House would have to consider a new bill for the measure to become law.
Information from The Arizona Republic
Also: Supporters of tribal-land freeway tout economic benefits for tribe
