Slot machine title race in homestretch
The Coeur d’Alene Tribe stands accused of harassment, thuggery, bullying, bribes and felonious election fraud.
“We are not amused,” responded Tyrel Stevenson, the tribe’s legislative director, in what could only be described as a hissing understatement.
“There are courts in Idaho to address defamation. We are not without tools.”
This incredible attack on the tribe, along with Stevenson’s angry reaction, has grown rather suddenly out of what seemed — for three and a half months — like a fairly quiet political process.
Then suddenly, these shocking accusations surfaced as the Boise-based group Save Idaho Horse Racing turned up the heat in its final-week attempt to get an initiative on the November ballot.
Monday is the deadline to file 56,000-plus verified signatures.
The initiative would ask Idaho voters to approve video-style gaming in any facility that hosts eight days of live horse racing per year.
In theory, that could mean several tracks around the state, but the real push is the brainchild of Treasure Valley Racing, which hopes to put 2,500 machines in Les Bois, its currently shuttered horse venue just outside Boise.
There are millions of dollars at stake at Les Bois, but the Coeur d’Alene Tribe also sees the possibility of nearby competition to its successful casino near Worley.
Greyhound Park in Post Falls, under a long-term grandfather clause, would not need live racing to add the video gaming.
It’s worth noting that the set-up envisioned by Save Idaho Horse Racing was legal from 2013 to 2015.
Legislators, however, were shown a machine displaying what’s called Historic Horse Racing (HHR), and then discovered that the slot-type games actually installed had nothing to do with horse racing.
The Legislature banned the video terminals in 2015.
“This same group lied to lawmakers in 2013 and now they’re back, lying to the public,” Stevenson said. “It says right on their website that these would be HHR machines using pari-mutuel wagering, and that’s just not so.”
At this point, it’s impossible to prove Stevenson’s claim conclusively — although large facilities devoted solely to HHR betting are very rare, and nowhere near as profitable.
MEANWHILE, an ugly torrent of accusations has come flowing out of Boise as the deadline approaches.
Signature-hunters from a national company called Fieldworks have been scrambling to reach the initiative goal, while similar employees of the tribe’s political action committee have followed the same trail — explaining to voters why they shouldn’t sign the petition.
Save Idaho Horse Racing officials now claim the tribe’s crew have harassed signature-seekers, threatened them and left them feeling frightened — and that police and prosecutors have been alerted.
However, not a single tribal employee has been charged or cited for anything.
In another salvo, Save Idaho Horse Racing has fired off press releases that show a blank contract that suggests the tribe’s PAC (North Idaho Voter Project) is paying opposition workers to leave.
Depending on an oddly written 1933 statute, that might — or might not — run afoul of the law.
“We believe that wording is intended for the signature seekers, not the other way around,” Stevenson said. “But in any case, we’ve never signed any contract.”
The tribe’s explanations haven’t satisfied Bruce Newcomb, chairman of the Save Idaho Racing Campaign.
Newcomb raged somewhere near defamatory stage when he said: “The casino interests are so desperate … that they’re resorting to bullying tactics that grow more aggressive, and more thuggish, even committing felonies.”
Whew.
Imagine the insults if this initiative reaches the ballot.
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Steve Cameron is a columnist for The Press.
Email: scameron@cdapress.com.
Twitter: @BrandNewDayCDA