If the anticipated agreement between Gov. Pete Wilson and a small San Diego
County tribe on Indian gambling is as heavy-handed as predicted, we don't
see how it would benefit the people of California.
A Union-Tribune story by staff writers Chet Barfield and James P. Sweeney
described a proposed compact between the governor and the Pala Band of
Mission Indians that would impose caps on the number of video gambling
machines statewide or even per tribe; mandate expensive changes in gambling
technology; inject state and local labor, land-use and environmental
regulations on gaming tribes; and then force all gaming tribes to abide by
the compact, even though they had no say in its negotiation.
Such a compact could seriously hurt casinos run by the Viejas, Sycuan and
Barona tribes. Those successful businesses are the largest employers in
East County, directly or indirectly providing about 4,000 jobs. Each year,
the three tribal casinos give nearly $5 million to local charities, pay
about $5.5 million in payroll taxes, buy $100 million in local goods and
services and produce about $100 million in revenue for their own members.
If the state drives them out of business through a Draconian compact, or
even forces them to scale back, it will be bad for all of San Diego County.
Nobody would win, and we're mystified why Gov. Wilson would want to pursue
such a destructive policy. The moral reasoning or governmental logic behind
harassing popular, successful businesses is incomprehensible.
Gov. Wilson would argue that video machines used in the three casinos are
illegal under state law. If so, the governor should have negotiated with
all Indian tribes on what kinds of gambling would be allowed.
In other states, compacts have dealt strictly with acceptable forms of
gambling, not how many machines would be allowed and attempts to reduce
Indian sovereignty.
If the current video gambling machines aren't legal under state law, the
compact should mandate a change to parimutuel machines, much as the state
did itself when it switched its Keno game to Hot Spot last year by making
it a parimutuel game. The compact could then give the tribes a certain
amount of time to switch to new video machines. That would be fair.
But, instead, the governor chose to negotiate with one small tribe that has
no gambling, and to lock out all other tribes from the negotiations. He
also plans to use the Pala agreement for statewide regulation of all tribal
gaming. Where's the logic in that? From all appearances, it's a setup for
failure.
If the compact sets a low limit on the number of video machines in tribal
casinos statewide, California's Indian tribes will wind up fighting among
themselves over allotments of machines. And state intrusions into Indian
sovereignty will certainly create strong resentment among tribes. Instead
of settling Indian gaming problems, a compact that overreaches will cause
more chaos.
The final compact with Pala must not be a back-door attempt by the governor
to clamp down hard on Indian gaming. The people of San Diego County and all
of California see Indian casinos as bona fide businesses that benefit and
entertain them. If the governor sees the casinos only as malefactors, he's
out of touch with the people of his state.