Boren, Cole torn between interests

What's a representative to do when his home state's financial interests conflict with those of an industry that contributed heavily to the congressman's campaigns?

That's the situation Dan Boren and Tom Cole face as federal regulators ponder new rules governing the lucrative Indian casino industry.

During a congressional field hearing on the issue in Oklahoma last week, Cole, R-Moore, called the proposal "not only destructive, but highly unjust.”

Boren, D-Muskogee, said before the hearing that he was open-minded. However, his questions to witnesses and comments during and after the hearing indicate he opposes the planned rules.

Their stances may put them at odds with state officials, who say the proposal would generate more money for Oklahoma's public education system.

Boren called the hearing of the Natural Resources Committee, held in Miami, OK. He and Cole, a Chickasaw Nation member, were the only House members to attend. Oklahoma's third member of that committee, Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Oklahoma City, sent a staffer.

The four-hour hearing involved the National Indian Gaming Commission's attempt to clarify the difference between Class II and Class III gambling.

Class III games are slot machines like those found in Las Vegas.

Class II involves games based on bingo. Or at least that's what the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 intended.

Since then, critics say, technology has allowed tribes and gambling machine makers to bypass the law's intent by crafting games that more closely resemble slot machines than bingo.

What are the consequences?

The difference has huge financial ramifications. Tribes give their respective states a cut to offer Class III gambling. Class II requires no such agreement.

In Oklahoma, tribes must pay the state 4 to 6 percent of their machine revenue from Class III games. The state is on track to make $62 million this year from those machines. That money is earmarked for education.

The Chickasaw, Cherokee and Choctaw tribes are by far the leaders in Oklahoma's gambling industry.

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