![Diane Enos, President of Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, is flanked by Congressman Trent Franks, then-State Sen. Jack Harper (R-Dist. 4), then-State Rep. Jerry Weiers R-Dist. 12), State Rep. Steve Montenegro (R-Dist. 12), several other tribal representatives in support of the introduction of House Bill 2938 to Congress. The bill would block the Tohono O'odham Nation from opening an off-reservation casino adjacent to Glendale. / 2011 Photo by Bette Sharpe/Glendale Daily Planet](https://s4745.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Casino.jpg)
By Diane Enos, Gregory Mendoza, Sherry Counts, Arlen P. Quetawki, Sherry Cordova and Clinton M. Pattea | The Arizona Republic
New federal legislation introduced by Arizona congressional Reps. Trent Franks, Ed Pastor and Ann Kirkpatrick that would keep compacts intact deserves a fair look.
The complexity of the issue has been captured by The Arizona Republic in its editorials and in recent news articles that have delved into the history of the voter-approved Proposition 202 to shed light on how a proposed casino in Glendale has much broader implications.
Arizonans who in 2002 voted “yes” on Proposition 202 did so based on the 17 Arizona tribes’ promise that Indian casinos would be kept out of neighborhoods and, as penned by then-Gov. Jane Dee Hull, “Voting ‘yes’ on Proposition 202 ensures that no new casinos will be built in the Phoenix metropolitan area and only one in the Tucson area for at least 23 years.”
(Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents leadership of the Arizona House and Senate in lawsuit against the Glendale casino.)