Former Interior Official says Rep. Don Young frequently pushes matters that aren't in the public interest and fails

In a story published 12.10.08 about Rep. Don Young (R-AK) losing his leadership position as ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee, the Anchorage Daily News quotes Deborah Williams, a former Clinton Administration official who worked under Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt as saying:

"When Don Young sought to advance the public good in that position, it was a pleasure to work with him and he was very effective."

"But again and again, when he sought to advocate for legislation or interests that were not in the public interest ... he was thwarted and spent a lot of energy and political capital on issues that did not advance."

Williams' statement is perhaps exemplified by the numerous failed schemes Rep. Young helped advance throughout the last decade intended to grant approvals for Detroit casino syndicators to build a third Bay Mills Indian Community casino in Port Huron, MI, 300+ miles by automobile from the tribe's reservation on Michigan's Upper Peninsula -- plans nevertheless backed by several of Rep. Young's more significant Michigan-based campaign contributors including Mike & Marian Ilitch and their Detroit-based gaming and development partner Michael J. Malik, Sr.

Proponents of the Port Huron casino schemes say the project would be good for the local economy. Opponents say the plan sets a dangerous national precedent for the approval and subsequent widespread expansion of off-reservation gaming establishments nationwide; and that non-Indian casino syndicators are simply exploiting tribes and seeking to find "reservation-shopping" loopholes in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) so they can build, manage and profit from "off-reservation" Indian casinos located in more lucrative urban markets.