EDITORIAL: Prop. 5 a good bet
for local tribes
Proposition 5 is one of the most hotly contested initiatives to hit the state
ballot in recent years.
It’s also the most expensive. Opposing sides — primarily local Native
American gaming tribes — had spent more than $58 million as of Oct. 5,
already eclipsing the previous record of $55 million spent on a no-fault insurance
initiative in 1988.
The stratospheric expenditures underline the importance of Proposition 5 to
the economic health of the state’s 42 gaming tribes, seven of which operate
here in the populated sectors of the Inland Empire.
Prop. 5 is about Indian sovereignty — the right of Native Americans to
decide what’s best for their own economic interests on what little land
they can still call their own.
Prop. 5 is also about gambling. The initiative has pitted Native American gambling
interests squarely against Nevada gaming interests. It also raises the specter
of unregulated gambling proliferating across the state.
But most of all, Prop. 5 is about Native American economic well-being. That’s
why every Inland Empire resident should support the local tribes by supporting
Proposition 5.
Anyone with a television can recite numerous reasons for supporting the tribal
position.
The tribes — especially the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, which operates
a large Highland casino — have poured more than $40 million into advertising
their Yes on 5 messages:
• Gaming has enabled many tribes to pull themselves out of decades of poverty
and welfare support.
• California Indian casinos have created tens of thousands of jobs, most
of them filled by Native Americans (5,420 jobs in the Inland Empire alone, according
to an August survey by The Business Press).
• Casino revenue has dramatically improved education, housing and the overall
quality of life on the reservation.
• It has enabled tribes to plan and fund new economic ventures.
Gaming tribes claim that the slot machines now found in most tribal casinos
have made all the difference. They’ve lured millions of gamblers each year
— more than 6 million visitors in the Inland Empire alone in 1997 —
who otherwise would be emptying their wallets in Laughlin or Las Vegas.
You can’t keep them at home with bingo. Nor, perhaps, with the untested
machines touted by Gov. Pete Wilson.
Proposition 5 would allow tribes to determine for themselves what will draw
many of California’s gamblers off Interstate 15 and into the local casinos.
It will protect the tribes from the whims of any particular governor —
such as Wilson’s hell-bent aversion to the current machines, even though,
as the gaming tribes note, they bear a close resemblance to machines used in
the state lottery.
Proposition 5 would undo the damage caused by the federal government’s
sidestepping of the entire tribal gaming question and tossing of the issue into
the laps of individual states.
Most of all, Prop. 5’s passage would ensure that all of California’s
— and the Inland Empire’s — gaming tribes will continue to thrive
on their own and continue to contribute to the economic vitality of the entire
region.
As a supporter of the local economy, The Business Press strongly recommends
a yes vote on Proposition 5.