Chief Greedovich

The chairman’s remarks, according to press reports, drew a tearful response from Big Lagoon chief Virgil Moorehead, who said he remembered the precasino days when, as a fellow Indian, Chairman Milanovich could be counted as a friend. Milanovich’s shamelessness was eclipsed only by his close ally, Vince Duro, vice chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. Duro insisted at the committee hearing that his opposition to the Barstow casinos was based solely on protecting tribal heritage, not his tribe’s gambling profits. His tribe’s casino, near San Bernardino, is about 50 miles from Barstow, and Duro said the rival casino’s proposed site lies in the historic migratory grounds of his ancestors. Don’t you love that? His sacred ancestors are okay with him running slot machines and poker games on their own reservation, but wouldn’t want any on their migratory trails. Especially if run by another tribe.

“I know the poverty that Los Coyotes sits in,” Duro said after the tribe’s elderly chief told of members who live without running water or electricity. “I feel for that. I have relatives on the Los Coyotes reservation. But I have to look my children in the eye and tell them I’ve done what’s right in opposing this.” In other words, what’s right is to guarantee your own kids’ inheritance and screw the rest of the chump Indians. Paulie Walnuts would be onboard with that reasoning.

I suppose the only moral redemption in this story has a multicultural tinge — that Indians can be as greedy and ruthless as anyone else, given the opportunity. That in reality, there’s never really enough garbage to go around. But on the more practical level, Milanovich’s performance this past week should remind us that the $20 billion a year Indian gaming industry is one of the great scams of the past two decades. And that it’s not just the Jack Abramoffs and the Richard Scanlons who need to be more closely scrutinized, but also those who were oh so willing to hire them. The state already made one grievous mistake in granting the Agua Caliente and other casino tribes platinum privileges based solely on racial criteria. The error is compounded if we let DNA stand in the way of holding accountable what is now one of the most powerful and arrogant of political lobbies.