****ACTION ALERT NAVAJO TRIBAL COMPACTS LIKELY TO BE VOTED ON IN FEW DAYS****
With five days left of the legislative session, the Navajo tribal gambling compacts have been largely stalled by budget negotiations. Stalled, but not discarded. It is very likely that the compacts will be voted on before the session ends.
There are many reasons for the compacts to be rejected, but there are two main reasons to oppose them. First, the compacts would allow the Navajos to construct three additional casinos around the state. Three more casinos means thousands of more slot machines in play. Slot machines are the most addictive form of legalized gambling available. Numerous studies in the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia confirm that about 45-60% of slot machine revenue comes from problem gamblers. What sort of public policy is it that convinces governments (state or tribal) to raise money for their programs by exploiting their own citizens. We don’t need thousands of more addiction machines in New Mexico.
The second major reason to reject the compacts is that the tribal casinos have very limited liability for injury or death that they could be complicit in. Citizens injured or killed by drunk drivers leaving a tribal casino have no ability to take the casino to state courts to sue for damages or death.
Please contact your State Representative first, and a day or so later, your State Senator. Ask that he/she vote against the compacts. You can discover who your legislators are by going to the legislative website here. You will see the box where you enter your address above the NM map. Type in your address, including street and city, and click “Search.” That will bring up a page with your Representative. You can do the same thing for your Senator by using the box below the address line and scroll down to Senate. Click on the name of the legislator and the website will be brought up with their contact information.
Phone calls are the most effective means to contact your legislator. Next are faxes, and last are emails. There is not enough time to send snail mail. The legislator’s capitol phone number is listed on the legislator information page. Call that number and ask the secretary to connect you to the legislator. You will probably be told that they are not available. If they are not available, give your message to the secretary, and tell them to pass the message to the legislator. Tell them that you live in their district. You will probably need to give them your address. Do not argue or debate with the legislator or the secretary. Be polite and respectful and deliver your message in a straight-forward way. You don’t have to prepare a long speech but give a simple message such as:
“Please vote against the Navajo gambling compacts. We don’t need additional casinos in the state.”
The legislature needs to hear that we don’t want gambling expansion in New Mexico. Please start calling by tomorrow, February 16.
Thank you for your efforts,
Dr. Guy C. Clark, chairman
Stop Predatory Gambling New Mexico
