Monday, November 24, 2008

Stuart, bought and paid for by Barnett and the Cowlitz Tribe, works to sell us out for a casino.

By now, we should all know the story. The first shill for the Cowlitz was David Barnett.

Barnett had the advantage of being the Chief's (John Barnett) son. So, he became the "casino developer."

Now, the entire purpose of jamming a megacasino down our throats here in a community that doesn't want one is to first, enrich Barnett; second, enrich the Mohegan Tribe (Casino financiers) of Uncasville, CT and only peripherally to take care of Cowlitz Tribal Members, the vast majority of whom do not and never have lived anywhere close to Clark County.

Barnett is a bully. He has used threats and intimidation, belittlement and allegations of "racism" against most of the main opponents of this project; He has been the recipient of at least two restraining orders, one from a local woman running a casino opposition group, and one he was having an affair with in Seattle (He was married at the time). He has since been replaced by a mouthpiece lawyer, Phil Harju, who's escapades are discussed here:

Among other episodes by Mr. Barnett have been his three separate efforts to use his money to buy politicians that, first; once bought will remain bought; and second, will do everything they can to support his organized crime effort of ramming one of the largest casinos on the planet down our gullets whether this community wants one or not.

Barnett first used his money to corrupt our elections back in 2004. Late in that election, Barnett laundered something like $25,000 through a democrat-front group, heavily relied upon by our local fishwrapper and democrats, (Washington Conservation Voters) to attack a candidate for the state House at the last minute because he was a casino opponent.

Who benefited from Barnett and the tribe's corruption? Pam Brokaw. Brokaw lost... and Brokaw has again benefited from Barnett's corruption during our recent Commissioner's Race.... and again, appears to have lost.

Brokaw has a large number of political faults, not the least of which is her arrogance. Arrogance, of course, is one of the many things that goes before a fall.

She was telling anyone who would listen that she was going to kick Mielke's butt. The problem with that kind of talk is that when you keep telling people you're going to beat someone like a rented mule, they tend to think that you don't need their financial support.

So, all of a sudden, Mielke found some messages... messages that apparently resonated, since he was one of the few able to stem the Obama tide in an open seat. And Brokaw panics.

And the next thing you know, Brokaw admits meeting with Barnett. And all of a sudden, because time is running out and Brokaw can't be caught dead accepting cash directly from Barnett, Barnett stupidly uses one of his companies to drop $75,000 into the campaign (otherwise known as "nuking") in the last 5 days.

Only this time, he was caught and the Columbian ran with it, exposing the corruption of Brokaw and Barnett in time to make a difference.

Based on these figures and the thousands provided by a union PAC that would benefit from the construction of this megacasino and the almost $100,000 that Barnett has spent on Brokaw shows that we know what she is... anything else is just a matter of price.

But the other recipient of Barnett's largess was none other than Steve Stuart. Except in Stuart's race against Mielke, Barnett's corruption was more successful.

Barnett wised up a little more with Stuart's race. He again laundered money through an outside organization, but knowing that his money was political poison, he violated a dozen or so state/federal laws by bundling his cash through yet another leftist front group out of state, "Progressive Majority." (For so-called "independent expenditures" that were by no means "independent" as required by law) It was $100,000 in cold, hard, cash with one purpose in mind: to corrupt our election and buy himself a county commissioner. He was successful in both endeavors.

He went out of state because he knew that, at the time, out of state expenditures had a much looser standard for reporting. In fact, Barnett's cash wasn't revealed until late December after the election.

By then, it was too late. Barnett and Stuart had scammed the people of Clark County into electing Stuart over Mielke. Remembering this and knowing about it is an important element of perspective when reviewing Stuart's efforts to ram an MOU with this corrupt tribal administration BEFORE Mielke takes office.

Stuart denies that, of course. But Stuart has been bought and paid for. So, when you read this article in today's Columbian, keep all this in mind.


County-tribe casino deal in works
If new pact will have needed support from board is unknown
Sunday, November 23 10:23 p.m.
BY JEFFREY MIZE
COLUMBIAN STAFF WRITER
Clark County and the Cowlitz Indian Tribe are making progress toward replacing a casino agreement that was struck down two years ago.

“I can tell you that we are getting closer to getting things back to the public, which we had promised originally,” Commissioner Steve Stuart said last week. “What we bring and whether it will be satisfactory to anyone, I can’t tell.”

Stuart said the county does not yet have a draft proposal to replace the 2004 memorandum of understanding covering the tribe’s plans to build a casino complex west of La Center.

A state hearings board struck down that agreement because there wasn't enough public involvement.

The county doesn't want to fall into the same pit again. Earlier this year, commissioners had three hearings to take public testimony on what residents want to see in a new agreement.

Stuart said the county would report back to the public on county-tribe discussions before any draft agreement is completed.

But with Commissioner Betty Sue Morris, a Democrat who has been a commissioner for more than 12 years, retiring in early 2009, there might not be two votes to approve any new county-tribe deal.

Republican Tom Mielke holds a 197-vote lead over Democrat Pam Brokaw, based on the latest returns released Friday. The race is almost certainly heading to an automatic recount, but Brokaw likely will have trouble making up such a significant deficit.

Mielke generally has taken an anti-casino stance, so much so that Cowlitz casino developer David Barnett spent $59,000 on anti-Mielke mailers and $17,500 on automated phone messages in the campaign’s waning days. (I'm sure that Mize just "forgot" to mention that Barnett paid $100,000 for Stuart back in 2004, and that Stuart remains well-bought.)

Commissioner Marc Boldt, a Republican who won a second four-year term in this month’s election, always has opposed the casino project and has said he wouldn't have signed the 2004 deal if he had been in office.

Stuart said he understands that casino opponents will question if the county is trying to push an agreement through before Morris retires.

“They’re going to twist whatever we do to suit their own needs,” he said. “That’s their job. They’re the opposition. I don’t blame them for it.”
(Of course you don't - edit)

Tom Hunt, a spokesman for the anti-casino group Citizens Against Reservation Shopping, said he doesn't understand why commissioners would want a new memorandum of understanding, especially since they were so critical of a final environmental impact statement on the Cowlitz casino.

“The county’s was the tribe’s harshest critic,” he said. “And yet willy-nilly, they are willing to sit down and negotiate an MOU.”

The 2004 agreement requires the tribe to comply with county building and health codes, to build roads and intersections to keep traffic flowing, to pay for law enforcement and prosecution of misdemeanor crimes, and to compensate the county and other local governments for lost property taxes. It also required the tribe to establish an education and arts fund with 2 percent of net gambling revenues to support charitable activities in Clark County.

After the agreement was declared invalid, the tribe enacted a gaming ordinance that embraced those same provisions. The tribe also granted the county a limited waiver of tribal sovereignty, which allows the county to sue the tribe if it fails to live up to its commitments.

The federal government, through the final environmental impact statement, appears to have accepted the gaming ordinance as a substitute for the invalidated 2004 agreement. And that raises questions if the tribe has any reason to make concessions in hopes of signing a new deal.

Phil Harju, the Cowlitz Tribe’s vice chairman and spokesman, said the tribe always has been open to discussion on a government-to-government basis with the county. But he declined to discuss what the tribe would like to see in a replacement agreement.

“The tribe is not negotiating with the county in the newspaper,” Harju said.

Jeffrey Mize: 360-735-4542; jeff.mize@columbian.com.

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