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Biggest Increase in Gambling in U.S. History Quickly Passed by California Senate With Little Debate

By Frank D. Russo

The California State Senate, yesterday, with scant debate, and without the bills having received a proper hearing before a committee, passed six bills ratifying 5 compacts that would allow the largest (22,500 slot machine) expansion in California's history if not that of the nation at tribal casinos.

This is not a small matter. Two days ago, we featured an article by one of the opponents to these compacts, with the possible exception of the 99 slot machines granted to the Yurok Tribe, one of California's poorest. In that article, Cheryl Smith of Stand Up for California called this "the largest expansion of gambling in U.S. history." She said that: "Despite the fact that it’s a $60 billion package locked-in for 23 years, most Californians still know nothing about it."

There are serious issues involved in these compacts that have been rushed through the Senate. The involve the rights of "50,000 workers to address living wages, health care and job security for the next 23 years," according to Jack Gribbon, who represents the labor union organizing workers in the casino. Basic issues for those who come to work on these reservations such as receiving workers' compensation for injuries they sustain, the ability of anyone who has a dispute with the casinos or any other matter that arises during their visit to have fair redress, and even for the state to know what the revenues are and the amounts that should be paid to us, have not been addressed.

Yet the Senate passed most of the compacts with 22 to 24 votes and between 5 and 11 Democratic votes against these mega deals, with the exception of SB 106, a 99 slot machine pact which passed unanimously 32-0.

The vote on SB 174, the first to be brought up, showed the basic pattern. Twelve Republicans were joined by 11 Democrats to produce 23 votes for it. 10 Democrats voted against it, with 4 other Democrats not voting along with 3 Republicans.

If past experience, and the predictions of the Chair of the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, Alberto Torrico, The Speaker of the Assembly, Fabian Nunez, and others are any guide, these compacts will receive a much more thorough analysis and review in the Assembly and will have a much tougher time passing out of that body without at least some negotiated changes.

Under California and Federal law, the Governor negotiates tribal compacts on gambling and then the legislature has to either vote to ratify them or reject them without modification. This is the one instance where Arnold Schwarzenegger can sign basically what is a treaty subject to ratification by the legislature. These are leftovers from the last hectic days of the 2006 legislative session where he proposed them after the proper deadlines for consideration, tired to jam them through, and managed to get the California State Senate to pass them, but they foundered in the Assembly.

This was seen by many as a political move to embarrass the Democrats who have stood up for tribal rights before the election and peel away millions in Native American donations from them. That happened to some extent last year with massive contributions against Democrat John Chiang, who never had anything to do with gaming compacts and who has never been a member of the legislature to vote on them. Over a quarter of a billion dollars have been contributed to political campaigns by tribes interested in gambling expansion in the last decade.

Senator Sheila Kuehl delivered an elegant and principled argument against ratifying all the compacts with the exception of the Yurok measure. She spoke without notes and from the heart. The only other speaker against SB 174 was Senator Edward Vincent who read a statement about the effects of tribal gambling on the state's horse racing industry.

This is what Kuehl had to say:

I'll just rise once on all of these. I'm going to vote no on all the compacts with the exception of the Yurok compact, and I'll tell you why.
Many years ago when we asked to begin to ratify these compacts, it was a very, very good thing for the tribes. I didn't think it was a very good thing for California, because gambling is never a good thing for a state or a nation. It eats away, it's an addiction, and so to sort of compromise, we said, well this is really going to help these poor tribes get on their feet. And boy, did it.

They're so on their feet that billions of dollars are being made every year. Well, good for them. But I can't vote for an expansion of gambling. I can't vote for organizations that now refuse to take care of their workers in any fair way that we require of virtually everyone else in the state.

I can't vote for a compact that says, "we'll; give you money state if you vote for this compact, but we won't allow you to come into see if we are giving you the right amount of money."

I can't vote for compacts for tribes that aren't even sharing with all of their own members the largess that they win off the gambling addiction that they win off the gambling addiction of those who go to the clubs.

So I would encourage any of you who agree with any of those points to stand up and say no to the expansion of gambling in the state, to stand up and say no to these tribes that have indeed pulled themselves up by our bootstraps. And to virtually in the future continue to say no to this expansion.

It will now be up to the Assembly to show courage on this major issue for the state. Before then, this should be an area that most Californians know about--other than the statement of our Governor who emphasized finances above all else in his statement yesterday, trying to give the Assembly the bum's rush: ""Every additional day of delay costs the state millions of dollars for critical services that Californians rely upon."

The governor has been criticized by the Legislative Analysts' Office for exaggerating the money that will flow into the state's coffers. Even in tough budgetary times, California should not be for sale, and this is not how we should balance our budget.

Posted on April 20, 2007

Comments

Frank, were you Cheryl Schmit, Jack Gribbon and the others who've been paid to battle California's established gaming tribes going to reveal that little secret here? or did you hope you'd be able to keep that among yourselves?

When you mistakenly sent an email response to my earlier post rather than forwarding it to Cheryl Schmit as you so obviously intended you exposed yourselves!

GOTCHA!

Once a whore always a whore huh?

Posted by: Frank Lee at April 20, 2007 07:18 PM

Frank Lee: You have a vivid imagination and the ability to make charges that have no bearing to reality.

I have not been paid a red cent in all of this. I frequently send copies of comments to those who write articles suggesting they may want to respond.

The fact that you have to use foul language such as you have reveals you for who you are. If you have one scintilla of evidence that I have been paid anything in this, or that I am a whore, put it up. Or you owe me an apology.

Posted by: Frank D. Russo at April 20, 2007 09:27 PM

Kuehl,
Before you close your eyes to the Poor employees, let me point something out for you. Our Casino gives out xmass bonus, we have great medical and dental offerd to the employee. We bend over backwards to insure our employees are happy and well trained. Every summer a huge company pic. is given for the employees and there family's. Some of our training has college credits. I see this everyday due to the fact that I also work there. So take your blinders off and look around and ask questions first before you close off and look the other way.

Posted by: TribalEmployee at April 21, 2007 02:07 PM

[ENROLLED TOLOWA INDIAN.] Your story fell short in a few places. I'm sorry but the state of California does not make essentially treaties with any of the 114 sovereign Indian nations within its borders. Only the federal government can make treaties with tribes. As bad as states (including California) would love to totally usurp every aspect of the federal trust relationship with the 567 Indian nations within the U.S., there are some things it simply can't steal.

Congress once again undermined tribal sovereignty by requiring tribes to enter compacts with the governor of the state where the tribe is situated. This was a take away and an unnecessary interference against tribal sovereignty. States want to assert total domination over their tribes, as its the 500 year old colonial thing to do to indigenous peoples.

No California tribe owes the state of California one red cent. Arnold and too many in the legislature are extorting money from the California gaming tribes. These people demanding money from gaming tribes are the same descendents of those who took Indian scalps in the 1850-1875 period and who sought and received reimbursement from the federal government for their work.

The writer of this story did not reveal the obscene percentage that these tribes are going to pay to the state of California to add thousands of slots to a select few small tribes who have giant gaming operations. Arnold wants 22 per cent. Maybe five of the tribes with super-sized gaming operations can afford this, but I can assure you that the rest of our tribes don't want to have to be ripped off for 22 per cent. The writer didn't mention the fact that 109 of the 114 California tribes don't receive billions from gaming. Most will be badly hurt by the state now thinking that they can extort 22 per cent from all of our tribes when our current gaming compacts sunset down the road in the next decade.

If you don't think that every word of this comment is true, look at the publications of Professor David Wilkins at the University of Minnesota (on states intruding on tribal sovereignty) and look at the text of the "1850 Act for the Protection and Government of Indians" to get a gander of the genocidal mind of the state legislature of California. Nobody needs to kill Indians anymore today; just extoring 22 per cent from small tribes in the next gaming compacts will do fine to achieve that end. Tribes are scratching to build infrastructure with gaming funds. California, with the seventh largest economy in the world, and having been the beneficiaries of the largest land theft in the history of the world, in stealing California Indian lands in 1850, is doing fine with its infrastructure. Maybe if California could stop building a prison a month it could figure out what it should do to find some kind of equilibrium.

Posted by: Dr. Joseph Giovannetti at April 21, 2007 09:39 PM

Russo,

You blew it by accidentally sending a message to me that you meant to forward to Schmit and exposed yourself. LOL!

And now you want to make yourself out to be the victim! Nice Try!

Next time, pause ... before you hit "send" and question what you're about to do.

It's incredibly suspect that you and Gribbon are both so defensive about being "paid." A little too defensive. Payment, as you know, comes in many forms Frank!

Posted by: Frank Lee at April 24, 2007 01:05 AM

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