Tim O'Leary
Less visible is a highly-organized, well-funded grassroots campaign that is blanketing Inland communities with billboards, banners, bumper stickers, street signs, lapel pins, T-shirts, information booths and full-page newspaper ads.
Prop. 5 workers hired by the Pechanga tribe have registered more than 2,000 voters and sent dozens of tribal members and casino workers to all corners of the state to speak at community events, church functions, civic group meetings, election forums and debates.
The Press-Enterprise
Televised images of Temecula's Pechanga Indians and other tribes pressing for passage of a statewide gaming initiative are imprinted in the minds of prime-time viewers throughout California.
"Our job is to deliver the vote," said Jill Sherman, a campaign coordinator for the Pechanga Band of Mission Indians. "We want the community to feel they're part of this effort. We have to win this with their help."
To do so, the Pechanga Indians have spent about $300,000 hiring two campaign coordinators, changing casino billboards to carry "Yes on 5" messages, sending speakers to functions and producing about 50,000 pieces of campaign literature that will be distributed or displayed to voters.
"Everywhere we go we're handing pamphlets and literature out of the trunks of our cars," said Pechanga coordinator Donna Barron. "This is true grass roots."
Efforts to defeat the measure may be less visible but equally effective, said Gina Stassi, a spokeswoman for the No on 5 campaign.
Prop. 5 foes lack the money to blanket regions with billboards, bumper stickers, lapel pins and T-shirts, she said. They instead are spreading their message through labor unions, church groups, chambers of commerce, school boards, political clubs, business groups and law enforcement associations that have close ties to their communities.
"These are statewide organizations that can carry the message to the local level," Stassi said.
Statewide campaign disclosure reports show Prop. 5 proponents have raised $61.5 million so far, more than double the $26.5 million collected by the measure's opponents.
Inland tribes have led in contributing to the Yes on 5 effort. The San Manuel Indians have donated or loaned $26.8 million, the Morongo Indians have contributed $10 million and the Pechanga, $9.6 million.
The Pechanga Indians have won praise for their aggressive campaign tactics from other Inland tribes and state Yes on 5 organizers. Some bands have embraced similar strategies.
"I think Pechanga has been a real leader in the effort," said Waltona Manion, a Morongo Indian representative active in the Prop. 5 issue. "They're deeply committed as are all the tribes."
She said Indians who work for casinos or rely on gaming revenues for health programs and reservation improvements see the Nov. 3 ballot measure as a life or death issue.
"It's a matter of both the heart and economic survival. They've been very involved," she said.
George Murillo, a member of the business committee of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, said he has participated in radio debates, met with business and student groups, pounded in street signs and even talked to President Clinton about the measure during a private gathering in San Diego last month.
The San Manuel band also has registered voters, put up posters at Ontario Mills mall and replaced billboard ads for casinos with Yes on 5 messages, Murillo said.
"We're doing as much as we can with the funds we have. We're trying to get the word out," he said.
Published 10/26/1998