Time to clean up casino politics

Posted: November 26, 2003

by FRED JONES

Disproportionate
Influence

Recall voters also signaled the time has come to clean up
tribal casino politics and policies.

Fred Jones, a 10-year veteran legislative staffer, is an attorney practicing in the Sacramento area (civil litigation and lobbying). He represents several citizens’ organizations concerned about the rise of tribal casino influence in the Capitol.

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Having received more raw votes than Governor Gray Davis did in November 2002, and more votes than No on the recall, Governnor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger enters office with impressive political momentum and an overwhelming mandate for change ... but a change from what to what?

Arnold’s populist victory clearly marks the end of Davis’s “pay-to-play” policies that have led our state into fiscal insolvency. The Governator also enjoys the strong support of small businesses, the backbone of our state’s economy, who are strapped with spiking workers’ compensation rates, outrageous automobile taxes, and unparalleled electricity bills. But last month’s election also exposed the public’s growing frustration with the disproportionate influence of the newest and most powerful special interest group in California, tribal casinos.

The Indians overplayed their hand last month, contributing $11 million of the overall $80 million spent during the entire recall election. When they realized they couldn’t save Governor Davis — who abdicated all state oversight to the tribes — the casinos attempted to co-opt his successor. Although the public may not have been fully aware that the vast majority of this money came from seven gambling tribes with an aggregate total of about 2,000 members, California voters understood that tribal casino influence had become the ultimate narrow, special interest.

Capitol insiders agrees that in the “Third House” — Sacramento’s lobying community — tribal casinos rule. Tribes have suffered only one public policy defeat since Davis took office, losing on close Assembly votes this session and in past years on a John Burton measure that was such an over-the-top power grab that even their most ardent supporters blush at its mention. Put in its simplest form, Burton’s measure would have given Native Americans veto power over most public and private development projects throughout the state, under the guise of protecting any and all tribal sacred sites. The rub was that under this bill, tribal councils would be the sole judges deciding what constitutes a sacred site. Once so designated, the tribe would have absolute power over any development project within a five-mile radius.

During the recall campaign, Governor-elect Schwarzenegger grabbed what had been considered a political third rail, openly criticizing tribal money and influence. He is now, therefore, in a position to restore some balance in Indian gaming interests’ influence in Sacramento. He should follow the responsible lead of former Governor Pete Wilson who painstakingly deliberated with reasonable tribes in drafting gambling agreements that required Native Americans to seek the support of impacted communities.

Wilson’s mid-1990s “Pala Compacts” stood in stark contrast to the Davis-negotiated agreements reached under the March 2000 Primary election’s Prop 1A that permitted so-called “house-banked” gambling (in which customers play against the house — slot machines or black jack, for instance). This opened the flood-gates, inducing Las Vegas gambling interests to invest heavily in and make possible the large-scale casinos which California had largely kept out since the state was founded in 1850. Sixty Nevada-styled casinos have sprouted-up since, with 30 more waiting to be built in a neighborhood near you.

One may argue whether Indian gambling has delivered on its promise of alleviating Native American poverty without negatively affecting California communities. But it is indisputable that these economic monopolies have fostered a new level of political bullying.

Luckily for those concerned about the rise of unregulated casinos, voters emphatically rejected the tribes’ hand-picked candidate in the recall. The new governor has the stature and mandate to hold tribal gambling interests to the same standards all businesses must meet. He can renegotiate the Davis deals. Congress has given all governors authority to veto off-reservation tribal casino proposals and to require the Indians to respond to the concerns of community officials and citizens. Schwarzenegger should use that authority. Anything less would waste his political capital. It would be a failure to govern responsibly.

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