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Voters in California to Decide Legality of Casino Agreement
On October 5th, 2007, critics of the 30% expansion of tribal gaming began passing petition signatures for what could be the latest referendum fight over Indian owned casinos in California.
An organization fighting the agreement between well-to-do Indian tribes in Southern California and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger commented that they have collected enough petition signatures to let state voters decide if the gaming agreement should be dissolved or not.
The group also said that the rest of the signatures will be passed to the secretary of state's office as soon as possible. The agreements which were passed by the legislature on June, would allow the four Indian tribes to install as many as 17,000 slot machines.
The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in Palm Springs, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians in Cabazon, the Penchanga Band of Luiseno Indians in Temecula and the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation in San Diego would give a percentage of their profits to California.
But an organization composed of two other Indian tribes, the United Auburn Indian Community east of Sacramento, the Pala Band of Mission Indians in Riverside County, Unite HERE International Union and Terry Fancher, the partner of the parent organization of the Bay Meadows and Hollywood Park racing track owners alleged that the deals are not correct.
They said that the agreement will not give as much money to California as previously stated. The spokesperson for the coalition, Al Lundeen said that their coalition began passing 700,000 signatures to four referendum against the gaming compacts on the February 5th, 2008 presidential ballot.
A consultant for the four tribes, Roger Salazar commented that those people that are critical of the agreement have their own vested interests. Indian tribes operate more than 58,000 slot machines in California, where the Indian owned casino industry produced $7 billion in yearly profits last year.
Salazar commented that the petition drive by the Agua Caliente, Penchanga and Sycuan tribes get more than 100,000 signatures in favor of the gaming compacts.
The Indian tribes also sent staff to follow the signature gatherers of the critics and convinced about 15,000 people to not sign the petition. If the secretary of state approves the referendum, the four tribes will likely have to spend millions of dollars to convince voters.
Sunday, October 28 , 2007
Gerald Kernighan