Handful of Tribes Broke Initiative Spending Record

A handful of wealthy Indian tribes shattered California’s previous initiative campaign record by spending $63.2 million to win passage of last fall’s Proposition 5, according to campaign finance reports filed Friday.

Opponents of the initiative--which allows Indian tribes to run casinos on their reservations as they see fit--spent $25.4 million in a failed effort to defeat the measure. The opponents were led by Nevada casino interests and organized labor.

Altogether, the $88.6 million spent on Proposition 5 easily topped California’s previous record for an initiative campaign--$55.9 million spent on an insurance industry-related measure in 1988.

The tribes raised $68.6 million, and ended the campaign with $2.2 million in the bank for some future political fight.

“It was an excessive amount of money. It’s an obscene amount,” said Donna Lucas, a spokeswoman for the opposition campaign.

Organized labor and other opponents of the initiative have sued to block the measure from taking effect. That case is pending before the California Supreme Court. Labor opposed the initiative because the tribes have blocked most efforts to organize workers at the casinos.

Proposition 5 would force Gov. Gray Davis to sign compacts allowing tribes to operate casinos on their reservations on their own terms. The compacts would, for instance, give the tribes the right to greatly expand the number of highly profitable slot machines.

The single biggest spender in the Proposition 5 campaign was the San Manuel Tribe, at $25.5 million. The tribe’s casino is in the foothills near San Bernardino. The San Manuel band was singled out by the initiative’s opponents, which aired television ads featuring members’ sprawling homes.

Tribal representatives could not be reached Friday for comment.

The biggest recipient of the tribe’s money in the report covering Oct. 18 through Dec. 31 was the Encino political consulting firm of Winner / Wagner & Mandabach, which received $11.2 million.

The firm, in turn, gave $9.8 million to a subcontractor, which purchased commercial time on radio and television. Los Angeles TV stations were the biggest beneficiaries of the money in the final weeks of the campaign.