| If you're looking for racism, just take a gander at the comments thread on this story at the Billings Gazette. The story is a lengthy one and an interesting one to boot -- about who will regulate and tax gaming on the Flathead Reservation.
The story is a fairly old one in government -- people declaring "taxation without representation," others pointing out that they aren't proposing a radical change to the status quo, and a lot of problems that appear to be caused by a lack of communication. For some reason, a number of commenters seem to have taken this as a sign that Indians are bad people, which is how to many conversations devolve in Montana.
That said, I'm not completely clear on the smooth way out of the question. The tribal government wants an increased say in matters on the reservation -- something fair. Business owners are saying that they want to be regulated by a government they have a say in -- a somewhat fair argument, except that they already live under tribal jurisdiction in a number of ways. And everyone says they want the employees to not lose their jobs (although some business owners seem to prefer going out of business to being regulated by the tribe, something that screams mild bigotry to me).
The state, meanwhile, isn't saying anything.
This strikes me as a good-place for the Governor to show a little get-'er-done attitude. I know he's got a lot of other stuff on his plate, but there are a number of jobs here, there's relationships between a number of Montanans, and there's a good deal of revenue up for grabs. Surely, a way out can be found. |
