Tribal Leaders Confident of Davis’ Support

Even though Proposition 5, the Indian casino gambling initiative approved by voters in November, was swiftly challenged on constitutional grounds, tribal leaders remain confident that reservation gambling ultimately will receive full legal blessing--if not by the courts, then by Gov.-elect Gray Davis and the new Legislature.

Critics of the measure--which spawned the most expensive initiative campaign ever waged in the nation--contend it is illegal because, among other reasons, the California constitution bans Nevada-style casinos in the state.

For now, as the case wends its way through the courts, casinos across the state are being allowed to operate as they have for years.

If the measure is struck down by the courts--wholly or in pieces--tribal leaders say they expect to negotiate favorable casino agreements with Davis, who has shown far more support of Indian gambling than his predecessor, Gov. Pete Wilson.

“We are hopeful that Gray Davis is predisposed to negotiating a Prop. 5-based compact with us . . . in the event that Prop. 5, on its face, cannot be implemented,” said Mark Macarro, chairman of the Pechanga Indians near Temecula and the television spokesman for Proposition 5.

A number of tribes contributed heavily to Davis in his successful election bid, pumping more than $750,000 into his campaign. And their largess didn’t stop with that.

More than 10% of the cost of Davis’ inaugural activities is being underwritten by eight tribes that operate casinos in California.

Davis’ three-day-long inaugural celebration is expected to cost between $3.7 million and $3.9 million, all raised through private donations.

Toward that effort, three tribes have contributed $100,000 each--winning them the distinction of being “chairs” of the festivities. They are the Agua Caliente Indians in Palm Springs, the Cabazon Indians near Indio, and the San Manuel Indians in Highland, near San Bernardino.

Additionally, the Rumsey tribe near Sacramento and the Twentynine Palms tribe near Indio have contributed $50,000 each. The Sycuan Indians near San Diego donated $25,000, and the Santa Ynez tribe near Santa Barbara and the Tule River tribe in Northern California kicked in $10,000 each.

The donations reflect the strategy among Indian tribes made wealthy by their casinos of contributing to politicians who they hope will later support reservation gambling enterprises.

Since his election, Davis has said he will abide by Proposition 5, which was supported by more than 64% of November’s voters and which would allow the proliferation of casinos on existing reservations without further state government approval. The measure called, among other things, for unlimited use of the kinds of slot machines currently operated in California without the state’s blessing--but not the classic one-armed bandits so popular in Las Vegas.

The new law was quickly challenged, as expected, by several organized labor groups and others, and its implementation has been blocked temporarily by the California Supreme Court, which has said it will hear arguments on the measure’s constitutionality. Supporters of Proposition 5 have until Jan. 4 to respond to the challenge with their written arguments, and opponents have 20 days from then to file their replies.

Meanwhile, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles has been stopped by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals from closing casinos in Riverside, San Bernardino and Santa Barbara counties.

The federal prosecutors had planned to close the casinos in December, given the blessing of a federal judge’s ruling in Los Angeles. He ruled, before Proposition 5’s passage, that the gambling halls were operating illegally because they did not have agreements with the state to operate, as required by federal law.

After Proposition 5 passed, the tribes successfully appealed the judge’s ruling to the the 9th Circuit, which is expected to make a final ruling in the spring on whether the casinos can remain open or should be shut down. The court also ordered the tribes and the state to hold talks with a mediator to resolve the issue, but those meetings have not yet been taken place. The mediator was told to report back to the judges on Jan. 6--two days after Davis takes office.

Tribal leaders say they are confident they will prevail in both the state and federal courts. But if they don’t, their fallback strategy is to negotiate specific casino agreements with the new governor.

Davis told tribal leaders before his election that he would be willing to negotiate compacts with tribes based on Proposition 5’s language, said Richard Milanovich, chairman of the Agua Caliente Indians.

He said he was confident the governor would approve casino agreements with the state that would be “fair and equitable” to the tribes.

For his part, Davis has not yet decided the types of compacts he will negotiate if Proposition 5 is rejected by the courts, a spokesman for him said.

“The issues are being reviewed by our legal team,” said Michael Bustamante. “We’ll have a much better idea how to best approach the myriad issues after the swearing-in.”