Fifty years ago, the Kumeyaay Indians lived in abject poverty on tribal
lands in the scrubby foothills of eastern San Diego County. Today, casinos
on those reservations allow them to live in self-sufficiency.
The Viejas, Barona and Sycuan tribes operate businesses that are the
largest employers in East County. They give millions of dollars to local
charities and spend hundreds of millions of dollars purchasing goods and
services outside their reservations. They're excellent corporate citizens.
These three casinos have never posed a crime problem for the county.
Instead, they've been entertainment venues that thousands enjoy.
The state of California, however, has been against Indian casinos from the
start. Tribes' semi-autonomous status has always made state government
uneasy, because the Indians deal mainly with Washington, not Sacramento.
Tribal casinos grew up in a legal no-man's land between state and federal
law.
In 1988, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which provided
for a formal agreement, or compact, between states and Indian tribes for
certain casino-style gambling, mainly video machines. But Gov. Pete Wilson
refused to negotiate with tribes that had the machines, claiming they were
already breaking state law by installing video machines without a compact.
Finally, in 1996, Wilson began talks with the Pala Indians, a northern San
Diego County tribe that didn't have a casino but wanted one.
These protracted negotiations were patently unfair to other Indian tribes.
Wilson put a gag order on participants and refused to let other tribes take
an active role, then devised a compact that damages tribal sovereignty,
limits casinos' viability, pits tribe against tribe and even foists labor
contracts on the casinos. And then came the kicker: Wilson said all tribal
casinos had to agree to the Pala compact or shut down.
Indian tribes had a better idea -- Proposition 5. The Tribal Government
Gaming and Self-Sufficiency Act would basically allow tribes to continue
the gambling operations they now run.
If the state of California had negotiated with the Indians in good faith,
as other states did, this ballot initiative wouldn't be necessary. But now,
if Indians are to maintain their sovereignty and self-sufficiency,
Proposition 5 is the best way.
Contrary to allegations by opponents, Indian casinos won't spread off the
res-ervations under Proposition 5. And they won't begin games that aren't
currently offered, such as roulette, craps and traditional slot machines.
State officials would still have quite a bit of oversight over Indian
gaming, including full access to casinos' cash rooms and offices. Plus,
they could inspect any records or documents and review all licenses and
background checks of employees, investors and vendors.
Most of the millions of dollars spent to oppose Proposition 5 come from Las
Vegas casinos and California horse-racing tracks. As such, the opposition
is self-serving: It doesn't want Indians horning in on the action.
Throughout the history of our nation, government has broken faith with
Indians countless times through double-dealing, hostility,
untrustworthiness and repression. The people of California can change the
direction of our dubious history with Indians. For once, we can keep faith
with tribes by voting Yes on Proposition 5.