By WILLIAM McCALL
The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Opponents of a tribal casino in Florence have won court approval to challenge Gov. Ted Kulongoski over whether the governor’s office can authorize casinos.
The Oregon Court of Appeals has ruled that a citizens group called People Against a Casino Town, or PACT, can challenge the approval for the Three Rivers Casino the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians opened in 2004.
The unanimous ruling on Wednesday was decided mostly on procedural grounds, sending it back to Lane County Circuit Judge Karsten Rasmussen for new hearings in a legal battle that has lasted more than a decade.
Three earlier challenges were rejected. A federal judge dismissed an initial lawsuit in 2003 that challenged U.S. Interior Department authority to allow gambling on tribal property. Two other lawsuits, one in federal court and the other in Lane County, also were dismissed over the following six months.
A spokeswoman for the Oregon attorney general’s office said the latest ruling was under review.
The lawyer for PACT, Kelly Clark, says it gives opponents a chance to confront Gov. Ted Kulongoski over whether his office has the authority to enter a compact with tribes when the Oregon Constitution prohibits casinos.
"What the Court of Appeals said is that the citizens of Oregon have the right to hold their governor accountable and the tribes don’t have the right to stop that challenge," Clark said.
In an opinion by Judge Rick Haselton, the appeals court said that without a challenge, PACT would not have a "plain, speedy and adequate remedy" because the Confederated Tribes have sovereign immunity from state courts, and they were part of the original compact reached with former Gov. John Kitzhaber to approve the casino.
The opinion also said there is a conflict that needs to be resolved because the Oregon Constitution says the "Legislative Assembly has no power to authorize, and shall prohibit, casinos from operation in the State of Oregon."
The law has generally been interpreted to mean that casinos should be placed only on tribal lands.
Stephanie Soden, spokeswoman for Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers, said the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act requires states to negotiate gaming compacts with tribes.
"And the state has followed that law since it passed," Soden said. "This ruling is a procedural decision and not a decision regarding the lawfulness of the gaming compact."
But Clark said federal law on Indian gaming does not require states to violate their own laws. He cited Utah as an example, which has no casinos because the state prohibits them.
"Now the governor has to say why he has the right to authorize casinos, even on tribal land," Clark said.
He added the ruling could affect other casinos, including Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation plans to build a casino in the Columbia Gorge at Cascade Locks, already approved by Kulongoski.
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