Thursday, August 6, 1998
8 More Tribes Join Wilson Deal on Casinos
Gambling: Two of the biggest operators, the Baronas and Sycuans in San Diego County,
break ranks with other Indians under judge's threat of equipment confiscation.
By TOM GORMAN, Times Staff Writer
Since March, when a small San Diego County Indian tribe reached a historic agreement with Gov. Pete Wilson that would allow the operation of a state-approved tribal casino, eight more tribes have come to terms with the governor.
Six of those tribes operate relatively small but prosperous casinos in
Central and Northern California and are generally less contentious than
their counterparts who have loudly denounced Wilson's conditions.
But two tribes in San Diego County, whose casinos are among the
largest in California, also have agreed to abide by Wilson's terms,
grudgingly breaking ranks with the more than two dozen other gambling
tribes that have pledged to duke it out with Wilson. The Barona Indians
near Lakeside signed the agreement July 22, and the Sycuan Indians near
El Cajon are about to do so, according to their attorney.
The San Diego tribes face perhaps the sternest federal judge in
California dealing with casino litigation. While other judges are
considering tribal lawsuits that have delayed federal agents from
confiscating slot machines deemed illegal by the state, U.S. District
Judge Marilyn Huff in San Diego recently warned the San Diego tribes that
their slot machines may be confiscated quickly if they don't sign a
compact with Wilson by Sept. 5.
"We were in a sticky situation," said Barona tribal spokesman Dave
Barron. "After meeting with the judge, we knew we had to get to the
table, or risk closure of our casino."
Similarly, the Sycuan tribal council has told Wilson's office that it
would sign the compact--although it hasn't yet done so. And a third San
Diego County tribe, the Viejas Indians, near Alpine, signed the
compact--but only after unilaterally deleting a key provision on workers
rights. Consequently, Wilson's staff does not consider that pact a done
deal.
Gambling tribes elsewhere, including several in Riverside and San
Bernardino counties, expressed disappointment at the deals.
"They've turned their backs on the other tribes," said Henry Duro,
chairman of the San Manuel tribe near San Bernardino. "They may have
thought that what they gave up [in concessions to Wilson] was small, but
for every inch they give up, it gets worse for the next tribe. But we all
have to do what we have to do, to stay alive."
Leaders of these gambling tribes vow to fight Wilson all the way to
the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. As well, they predict that the
agreements between the San Diego tribes and Wilson will not open the
floodgates to more compacts.
"Our resolve is stronger than ever," said Mark Macarro, chairman of
the Pechanga Indians near Temecula. "I really doubt anybody else is going
to fold."
Macarro is best known these days as the TV commercial spokesman for
Californians for Indian Self Reliance, promoters of Proposition 5 on the
November ballot. That ballot initiative would circumvent Wilson's
compacts by asking voters to directly approve Indian casino regulations
written by the tribes. Currently, terms must be negotiated with the
governor and ratified by the state Legislature.
If approved, the ballot measure would allow the continued use of slot
machines that are now deemed illegal by the state; Wilson's pacts call
for the Indians to operate video machines that mimic the state's Lottery
games.
As in San Diego, tribes in Riverside and San Bernardino counties face
a similar judicial threat: U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts in Los
Angeles has told Indian leaders that they have until Sept. 15 to sign
compacts, or risk having their slot machines turned off by federal
agents.
The Pala Indians in northern San Diego County, who currently don't
have a casino, were the first to initiate a compact with Wilson, striking
a model for the others to follow. The six smaller tribes that quickly
joined them in signing a compact have maintained that it was the right
thing to do, both for their tribes and for the state.
Although the more contentious tribes say their sovereignty means they
do not have to make concessions to a state governor, leaders of some
tribes see sovereignty as the ability to strike accords with other
governments.
"We have always believed that government-to-government negotiation is
the most productive and responsible way for tribes to practice
self-determination," said Paula Lorenzo, chairwoman of the Rumsey
Indians, and Vern Castro, chairman of the Table Mountain Indians, in a
position letter issued Monday.
The compacts with Wilson, they said, "recognize our unique sovereign
status and permit tribes to continue to advance economically, while
sharing reasonable regulatory authority over gaming activities with the
state."
The other upstate tribes that have signed the compact are the Jackson,
Trinidad, Mooretown and Big Sandy.
Federal law calls for Indian tribes and states to enter into compacts
defining what kind of gambling can occur in reservation casinos, and how
it should be regulated, as long as the gambling does not exceed the level
allowed by the state itself.
Among the terms negotiated between Wilson and the nine tribes so far:
* A tribe can operate 199 video gaming devices that run on a similar
principle as the state Lottery, in which gamblers bet against each other
instead of the house. A tribe could also buy the rights to machines
licensed to tribes that choose not to operate casinos--paying $5,000 per
machine per year to that tribe--in order to operate a maximum 975
machines. (The Barona tribe successfully negotiated to allow itself about
1,050 machines--the number it now operates.)
* Service employees, including food and housekeeping workers, would be
allowed to organize as a collective bargaining unit--and the tribal
government would have to remain neutral during that organizing effort.
* Casino employees would be protected by the state's workers'
compensation, unemployment insurance and disability insurance laws.
* A tribe would have to mitigate any off-reservation environmental
consequences of the casino, and be subjected to an advisory vote of local
citizens. Voter opposition to the casino could trigger a renegotiation of
the compact to resolve the contentious issues.
The compacts negotiated thus far must still be ratified by the
Legislature. In the face of strong lobbying by the opposing tribes, the
Legislature has thus far refused. If and when legislative ratification
occurs, the compacts must also be approved by the U.S. Department of
Interior.
The Viejas tribe balked at the compact provision calling for the
tribal government to remain neutral if its employees seek to organize.
"For us, that kind of gag order violates our 1st Amendment right to
exercise our free speech," said Viejas chairman Anthony Pico.
Attorney George Forman represents seven tribes that have refused to
sign the compact, in part because "the state of California has no
business dictating to sovereign tribal governments what its labor
policies should be, any more than the state of California has the power
to dictate to the state of Nevada what its labor policies should be.
Nothing [in the federal law] allows the state to inject nonregulatory
issues, such as labor relations, into a tribal-state compact."
Since Wilson is far from a political friend of organized labor, his
inclusion of the labor-friendly terms is seen by political observers in
Sacramento as a means to win Democratic support of the compacts when they
reach the Legislature for ratification.
Moreover, because of the inclusion of labor rights in the compact,
organized labor is strongly opposed to Proposition 5, which does not
include such protections.
Wilson's chief negotiator, Dan Kolkey, defends the labor terms of the
compacts as trade-offs that, on balance, serve the interests of the state
and the tribes.
Although workers would be allowed to organize, the compacts contain a
no-strike provision, allowing tribes to defer recognition of a union for
up to a year, and to defer negotiating with union leaders for two years,
Kolkey said.