By James Call
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-894753.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – Governor Charlie Crist invited key lawmakers and officials from the Seminole Tribe to a news conference Tuesday to announce, once again, a gambling deal. It's the third time Crist and the Seminoles agreed to a compact, but the first one backed by leading lawmakers. The deal will provide the state $1.5-billion dollars over the next five years.
Senate and House leaders and lawyers from the Governor's Office and the Seminole Tribe met behind closed doors Friday and came to a tentative understanding. That agreement was being distributed to lawmakers Tuesday. Representative Bill Galvano has been working the issue since Crist and Seminoles announced their first compact in November 2007. Galvano said the Legislature and Tribe built upon the work done by the Governor and the Seminoles in the previous agreements.
"We have an understanding between the state and the tribe as to how operations will be conducted in the tribal facilities and then what the state's role is with regard to the Seminole tribe, while at the same time we have been able to establish a real respect for the sovereignty that they enjoy as a sovereign nation."
Galvano said the agreement resolves a controversy that has been festering for the last two decades. The Tribe had been unable to get either Governors Chiles or Bush to discuss gambling. The latest agreement gives the Seminoles exclusive rights to banked card games like blackjack, baccarat, and chemin de fer at five of their seven casinos. In return, the Tribe pays the state $150-million a year for two years and a minimum of $223-million for three years after. Chief Mitchell Cyprus traveled to the Governor's conference room Tuesday to, in so many words, breathe a sigh of relief.
"I see why Obama has a tough time passing his health bill. It's similar to that for me. It's been a long journey, many governors, but it has to be the right time and the right place. Charlie Crist, the governor has been working with us since 07. I know he's been attacked and been thrown arrows at, but hey, we pulled through."
Lawmakers must sign off on the compact. If they do, they get an extra $435-million to close a $3.2-billion shortfall for next year's budget. Governor Crist said the agreement bodes well for the future of Florida.
"That's really the point. The point is the children of Florida, and education in our state, and being able to have at our disposal hundreds of millions of dollars, particularly for education, at a time we need it so significantly."
The Governor quickly added that it is up to the Legislature to determine how the state spends money, but it is his hope that the money finds its way to the classroom.
The deal was reached during the Easter holiday break and has lawmakers scrambling to find what is in the proposal. Tuesday morning, a pari-mutuel lobbyist told the Senate Democratic Caucus that it has nothing for North Florida pari-mutuels. He asked Senators to search the deal for what is in it for race tracks and jai alai frontons outside of South Florida. One of Richard Gentry's clients is a Hamilton County jai alai fronton, which he says, after a phosphate mine closes later this year, will be the county's largest employer, but it's struggling.
"It is the lifeblood at this point, or will be by the end of the year, of that county, and that's an example of the kind of thing that we are trying to save. Most of the pari-mutuels in North Florida are family-owned facilities, and for that reason we would like very much to try and save them and hope that you all can help."
Representative Galvano disagrees with Gentry's description of the proposal, and Broward County Representative James Waldman said there is a pari-mutuel equity bill in the works and the agreement does provide more opportunities for all pari-mutuels.
"They were given increase limits for no limit poker, extra hours to operate, reduction in license fees, the opportunity, if the Legislature acts, to get 350 instant racing, historic racing, or video lottery terminals. They also benefit more by the fact that there is a lot of hope out there now because what happens is in five years the deal goes away with the Seminoles for the card games unless the Legislature acts."
Galvano calls the five year sunset on card games a chance for the state to catch its breath and decide how things are working out. The Seminole Tribal Council will review the proposal Wednesday. A House Committee will take it up Thursday, and a Senate gambling proposal will be on the floor Thursday. But Tuesday morning, lawmakers were waiting for copies of the agreement to see what exactly is in it.