08-May-1998 Friday
California Indian tribes surpassed all expectations last week in submitting
more than 1 million signatures to qualify a tribal gaming initiative for
the November ballot.
Now the question is whether they will have the money and muscle to prevail
in what they are calling a defining struggle for self-sufficiency.
The tribes have only one source of funds -- casino revenues -- for the
legal and political battles they have been waging on various fronts for
seven years.
And those revenues soon may dwindle to a trickle, when U.S. attorneys
launch a threatened crackdown May 13.
"We're caught in a practical minefield here," said Nikki Symington,
spokeswoman for East County's Viejas Indian band.
Barring an unlikely last-minute intervention from Attorney General Janet
Reno, California's four U.S. attorneys are poised to enforce a federal law
requiring tribes to have agreements, called compacts, with states to
regulate casino gambling.
None of California's 39 gaming tribes has such a compact.
There is one out there now, a controversial one that most tribes don't want
but are under enormous pressure to accept.
The Pala compact
Last month the U.S. Interior Department approved the compact signed March 6
after 17 months of negotiations between Gov. Pete Wilson and North County's
Pala Indian band. The agreement calls for a new breed of video gambling
device that uses a lottery system rather than a slot-machine format.
Other tribes do not know whether this new machine will appeal to customers.
But more than that, they object to provisions of the Pala compact that they
say require them to surrender tribal sovereignty to new state and local
controls.
Mostly, tribes say, their status as individual governments would be
undermined by entering into an agreement they did not negotiate.
But it appears that is what they will have to do to keep the machines
running that generate most of their revenues.
U.S. attorneys -- who deferred enforcement while the compact was being
negotiated -- say any tribe that adopts the Pala accord can have up to a
year to convert from video slots to the new lottery machines as they become
available.
But tribes that reject the Pala model must shut down their machines while
pursuing alternative agreements with the governor.
"The state wants the tribes to commit economic suicide before it'll talk to
the corpse," said George Forman, attorney for East County's Sycuan Indian
band.
Tribes are putting all the resources and resolve they have into this battle
because, for them, it is about more than money. The disputed gambling that
is causing their legal woes has given California Indians their first
opportunity in more than a century to stand on their own.
"The economies and the cultural strength of these communities have become
tied to the success of the gaming," said UCLA professor Carole Goldberg,
who directs a joint program in law and American Indian studies.
San Diego County's gaming tribes -- Sycuan, Viejas and Barona -- oppose the
Pala compact but are pondering their options come May 13.
It is the same for tribes up and down the state.
"People are angry. People are absolutely frustrated," said Mark Macarro,
chairman of Riverside County's Pechanga Indian band. "As Indian tribes, we
were here before the Spanish, the Mexican and the American governments. We
intend to endure. The question is whether we're going to be able to
prosper."
The ballot initiative
With the U.S. attorneys' deadline looming, a tribal coalition launched the
ballot campaign last month as a last-ditch effort to save their casinos.
The initiative would supersede the Pala compact, legalizing the video slot
machines now in widespread but unauthorized use.
Consultants estimate it will cost at least $30 million to overcome
opposition from California horse racing and cardroom industries, as well as
opponents of tribal autonomy and gambling in general.
And the biggie: Nevada gaming interests are expected to invest heavily in
the opposition campaign.
"I think it will get very ugly," said Richard Temple, a Sacramento
political consultant whose clients include Barona and Viejas. "Their
reputation and image are going to be damaged. People are going to spend
millions of dollars painting them in the worst possible light."
Getting the measure to qualify for the ballot took major effort and money.
Sponsors were reported to have spent $10 million to gather more than 1
million signatures -- more than twice the required number -- in less than
four weeks.
Half of the signatures, 493,000, were returned in response to a mass
mailing to about 4 million voters.
"For the tribes to have pulled together, to have achieved this, is nothing
short of remarkable," said Waltona Manion, spokeswoman for the coalition of
45 gaming and nongaming tribes.
The political front
Former legislator Phillip Isenberg, now a consultant for tribes seeking to
expand legislative agendas beyond gambling, said California Indians were
all but unnoticed on the political and public radar screen 10 years ago.
"It is a delicious irony that the political system started to pay attention
to Indians and tribal matters only in the midst of this fight on gaming,"
he said.
The governor, however, does not appreciate the irony.
"It's a travesty, frankly, that the tribes are in a position to be using
ill-gotten gains to continue to perpetuate the violation of law," said
Wilson spokeswoman Lisa Kalustian. "It's a way of trying to buy off
communities, buy off the Legislature to enable them to continue doing what
they're doing."
But Temple, the Sacramento consultant, sees "a lot of heartfelt respect for
Indians, both from average citizens and legislators."
"It's so technical, what's a legal machine and what's not, the public
doesn't understand all the nuance," he said. "They understand the
fundamental idea that the Indians have had a raw deal and we should do
everything we possibly can to help them take care of themselves."
No matter what happens next week or beyond, the gambling wars have brought
California tribes to a point they've never reached before, said Viejas
spokeswoman Symington.
"The tribes learned a hell of a lot about politics," she said. "They
learned about how the system works, about lobbying, about media, public
relations and the law, and those areas will hold them well.
"It's been an education process they didn't want," she said, "but now
they're a little more equipped to run their governments. They're a little
more equipped to stand up for their rights."