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www.sfgate.comState Tribes Enlist Washington's Help in Gaming Dispute
Lobbying effort culminates in meeting with Reno
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Thursday, June 11, 1998
©1998 San Francisco ChronicleURL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/06/11/MN51216.DTL
Native Americans lost the great 19th century Indian Wars with the U.S. government. But weaponry and battle tactics have changed in late 20th century Washington, and this time around, the Indians may stand a better chance of winning.
Representatives of dozens of California Indian tribes concluded a major assault yesterday in their war with Governor Pete Wilson over casino gambling on Indian reservations.
More than 100 tribal leaders descended on Washington, lobbying members of Congress, holding press conferences and talking with newspaper editorial boards. They enlisted Washington spinmeister Lanny Davis, former special counsel to President Clinton, to represent them. And they hired a phalanx of Washington public relations firms that set up a computer- fortified ``war room'' in the Sequoia Room of the Capitol Hill Hyatt, stocked with a huge supply of Pepsi and lemon meringue pies.
The payoff was the tribes' first face-to-face meeting yesterday with Attorney General Janet Reno. But Reno refused to get involved in the fight, saying ``the government is not a party'' to the dispute.
Tribal representatives said they are nonetheless encouraged because Reno assured them that she would urge Wilson to negotiate a long-sought gaming agreement. Reno added that if the governor refused, the Indians could sue the state.
Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, states are required to negotiate casino gambling agreements with tribes.
Wilson signed a gaming compact with one Southern California tribe, the Pala band near San Diego, that would limit the number and type of slot machines it can use and has sought to apply it to all other tribes. The other tribes have refused to join the agreement, insisting that federal law requires Wilson to negotiate a broader deal with them.
But at a more basic level, the dispute also touches upon the Indians' status as sovereign nations created long ago by treaties with the U.S. government.
The Indians note that they got the worst end of those bargains, being largely consigned to destitution on reservations. But as separate nations, they retained their independence from state laws and regulations.
Now that they are getting rich on casinos -- some estimates put their annual revenues at $500 million -- the tribes complain that the government is trying again to strip them of their self-reliance.
The Wilson administration insisted yesterday's effort in Washington had zero effect.
``Frankly, the tribes are simply spinning faster than a merry-go- round,'' said Daniel Kolkey, Wilson's legal affairs secretary who negotiated the Pala compact. ``Nothing changed as a result of that meeting.''
Kolkey said Reno aides assured the Wilson administration that the federal government ``is going to continue to pursue its enforcement actions against those tribes that are violating federal law by engaging in illegal gaming operations.''
The issue is currently being litigated in federal and state courts. Last month, U.S. attorneys in California began proceedings to seize 14,000 gaming machines after the tribes failed to meet a Justice Department deadline to either sign a compact with the state or turn off the machines while negotiating a better agreement.
A series of hearings on the seizures is scheduled, the first on June 29 in Sacramento.
Davis declared the tribal meeting with Reno a victory.
Kolkey dismissed the claim as hype.
``The bottom line is the state hasn't changed its position, and the United States hasn't changed its position, and the state and the federal government are united in seeking to uphold the rule of law,'' he said. ``California is a non-casino state.''
California law permits ``lottery'' slot machines, where winners divide the pot of players' money. The Indian casino machines use a ``banking'' system as in Las Vegas and New Jersey, where players get a predetermined payout and the casino collects the rest.
Wilson has refused to negotiate with tribes using what he calls illegal machines. He sent a letter to the California congressional delegation saying, ``Stripped of their rhetoric, these tribes want to preserve their monopoly over unregulated and illegal gambling and therefore seek to persuade U.S. law enforcement to stop enforcing federal laws against those tribes who are violating it.''
Davis said tribes are not insisting on using illegal slots, but are making only the most ``modest'' request: that Wilson negotiate with them in good faith.
©1998 San Francisco Chronicle Page A9