Pact on Indian Gaming Derailed by Wilson Opposition

Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren’s six-year battle with California’s Indian tribes over slot machine gambling appeared headed for a truce this week--until Gov. Pete Wilson stepped in and declared he would kill the deal.

Tensions between the state’s two highest Republican officeholders became apparent after a proposed settlement of the dispute over the casino slots was approved by the Assembly on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the differences escalated.

A meeting in the governor’s office to try to reach an agreement broke up with neither Lungren nor Wilson budging from their positions.

Lungren vowed to continue pushing legislation containing the pact with the Indians, and Wilson declared he will veto the measure.

Wilson and Lungren avoided reporters, but Lungren’s chief deputy attorney general, Dave Stirling, emerged from the meeting saying, “The governor is still of the view that the bill is to be vetoed.”

That’s “regrettable,” Stirling said. The agreement reached with the tribes “is really a breakthrough” that would have ended years of costly court fights, he said.

Lungren, said Stirling, is still “supportive of the bill. . . . If it’s vetoed, that’s the way it will have to be.”

The most striking part of the proposed settlement would allow the tribes to operate gambling machines--not necessarily slot machines--that Wilson, and until now Lungren, have strongly opposed.

As the tribal casinos have grown and some have prospered, Lungren and Wilson have stood on the sidelines urging federal authorities to shut them down.

This week, the federal government took initial steps in that direction. A letter from U.S. Atty. Charles Stevens in Sacramento to gaming tribes in his district called on them to “commence planning for the cessation” of gambling that is not agreed to by the governor.

Stevens said the tribes’ legal standing on slot machine gaming has been undermined by recent federal court decisions.

As for the Wilson-Lungren tiff, a source familiar with the issue said Lungren had been trying to keep his differences with Wilson quiet while he worked out an agreement with the governor.

A Wilson aide said the governor has never wavered from his position that he would veto the Lungren-Indian proposal.

The aide added that Wilson was also unhappy with other pending gaming legislation that Lungren has negotiated, including bills to allow takeover of the Bell Gardens Bicycle Club by Ladbroke, a British gaming and hotel firm, and another deal to allow the Hollywood Park racetrack to run a card club in Compton.

Tensions between Wilson and Lungren have become apparent since Lungren declined to endorse Wilson in his unsuccessful presidential bid. Lungren remained neutral.

Their political incompatibility was exacerbated at the recently concluded Republican National Convention in San Diego, at which Lungren was given a prominent role and was warmly received by GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole.

Wilson was given a minor convention role, mainly because of his outspoken stance--contrary to the party’s platform--that women should have abortion rights.

The governor has long declared that he would never negotiate with the tribes as long as they continued to operate the several thousand video gaming devices installed at tribal casinos throughout the state.

One of the features of the Assembly-passed measure--brought up as amendments to a pending bill--calls for a tribal-state compact on gambling “executed by the governor.”

Another component, offered as amendments on the Assembly floor by Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove), would leave the door open for the tribes to offer gambling using mechanized devices.

Dan Tucker, head of an Indian gaming association, said Thursday that the tribes agreed to the deal with Lungren because “we wanted to concentrate on the needs of our people and no longer engage in continuing litigation.”