Sam Hunt gambles to win tribal forgiveness



Sam Hunt (D-Olympia) gambles
on tribal forgiveness

In an obvious effort to restore himself to relevance with Washington State tribes, and as part of his penance to win forgiveness from the powerful tribal lobby, Representative Sam Hunt (D-Olympia) sponsored a bill.  This bill (HB 1295) is certain to expand the growing monopoly on tribal gambling at the expense of all others.  After getting the smack down and losing the tribal affairs aspect of his committee this session, Representative Hunt is working overtime to prove he is pure enough to get back in Tribal good graces.  His efforts to pass the bill may not succeed this session, but it may not be enough to restore perfect party purity.

It isn't hard to discover how Washington tribes
have bought the Democrat Party.

Sam Hunt blew the usual smokescreen for the House Government Accountability and Oversight Committee earlier in the session by claiming that the bill “…just trying to clarify that and strengthen the Legislature’s role in gambling and the expansion of gambling.”  He failed to remind them that the Legislature already has this authority.  He also failed to mention that this bill would only help doom non-tribal gambling by shifting the details of non-tribal gambling from the current commission to the clearly incompetent hands of the legislature.  While the tribes have been supporting this legislation all along, they are also wisely hiding in the shadows by taking no formal position on the bill.  This is good showmanship by the Tribes because the passage of this bill should be viewed as predictable payoff for the many millions of dollars in campaign donations they have delivered to (mostly) Democrat politicians and the Democrat Party.  This has probably helped influence the decision to leave Washington State by Gambling Commissioner Rick Day.  Day can see the deck is stacked against his employment relevance in Washington.

Dwight Pelz, High Priest of Democrat Party
Purity is watching Sam Hunt

Thanks to the massive campaign donations from Washington tribes, the bought-and-paid-for Democrat Party has been able to ensure that all tribal gambling is “revenue”free for the state.  Washington has the unique distinction of being the ONLY state that does not receive ANY revenue from tribal gambling.  Thanks to the Democrat Party, Washington State also been able to ensure they don’t collect gas tax from gas stations on tribal land.  This is another Washington State unique distinction.  The multi-million dollar tribal campaign donations to the Democrat Party have been a very effective and low cost bribe by the tribes.  Who can blame them for this?  This is how the game has been played in Olympia for many years now.  The tribes are just playing the game, upping the ante, and following (or changing) the rules as they exist.  The Washington State taxpayers lose, but if you are a Democrat, why would you care about the average citizen?  Just pile on another tax increase, and collect your tribal campaign dollars.  Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat. The tribes have bought a political party, and they are wise to keep ratcheting up their influence.

Dwight Pelz has been known to sacrifice
to maintain party purity

This is why Sam Hunt’s fall from tribal good graces is such a concern for him and has put his political future at risk.  No Democrat can survive long in Olympia if the tribes are opposed to their political advancement.  Representative Hunt may be able to restore himself to tribal good graces, but he will forever be tainted.  As we have seen with the High Priest of Democrat Party Purity Dwight Pelz, there are many in and out of the party who will be cracking the whip (or in Dwight Pelz’s situation – making the necessary sacrifices) to ensure the tribal cash keeps flowing to Democrat pockets.  The only gamble Representative Hunt is taking is whether he is doing enough penance to help.