California and the West : Tribes, Davis Reach Tentative Casino Accord : Gambling: While strongly rejecting overall pact, Indian leaders give preliminary approval to related deal involving operation of Nevada-type games.

Indian tribes that operate casinos angrily objected Tuesday to Gov. Gray Davis’ proposed compact to cap gambling expansion, but tentatively agreed to a related deal that would allow them to operate Nevada-style games.

The opening day of talks left in question whether Davis can resolve the issue before the tribes submit petitions to qualify a ballot measure that could set up a new gambling initiative war next year.

But Mark Macarro, a spokesman for the tribes and a Pechanga tribal leader, said at the end of a day of closed-door talks that negotiations would resume today.

More than 300 tribal leaders, accompanied by lawyers, lobbyists and campaign advisors, addressed a half-dozen Davis administration officials Tuesday morning, rejecting virtually point by point Davis’ proposal for a new compact governing tribal casinos.

“It’s Pete Wilson with a smile,” said a lobbyist for some of the tribes.

Davis, a Democrat, inherited the issue of Indian gambling from Wilson, his Republican predecessor. Wilson angered some tribes by pushing for limits on gambling and calling for revenue sharing between gambling tribes and tribes with no casinos.

The initial reaction to Davis’ opening foray into the high-stakes dispute left administration officials taken aback.

“Yeah, it’s surprising,” said Phil Trounstine, Davis’ communications director.

But by the afternoon, Davis’ negotiators, led by retired federal appellate court Judge William Norris, proposed that the tribes agree to a single aspect of the deal--one that would call on the Legislature to place before voters a measure to allow tribes to operate Nevada-style casinos.

“We have an agreement in principle on a possible constitutional amendment, and as a result we will continue working with the governor,” Macarro said.

Davis says he dislikes gambling and would preside over only a modest expansion. But in his effort to resolve the dispute, the governor has indicated that he would back such a constitutional amendment, thereby allowing tribes to expand the types of games they now offer. The exact games are not specified in the proposal.

The governor’s effort is part of a two-pronged deal that Davis is trying to negotiate: authorization for tribes to run Nevada-style games, but with a compact between the state and tribes that limits casino expansion.

Although the main negotiators would not comment, sources at the meeting and others familiar with the discussions said some tribes with large casinos were particularly upset at provisions that would force them to share gambling proceeds with tribes that have few or no gambling operations.

Several tribes also disliked provisions that would require them to pay more taxes to the state. Trounstine and Davis press secretary Michael Bustamante said they were unsure how much the annual tax would amount to. However, another source estimated that its revenues could reach $500 million a year.

Meanwhile, some tribes have bankrolled a petition drive to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot in March that would expand tribe-sponsored gambling. Failing an agreement on a new compact in the coming days, the tribes are expected to submit the requisite number of signatures to put a new initiative on the ballot.

It would replace Proposition 5, the Indian-backed initiative approved by voters last November but struck down by the state Supreme Court last week.

Trounstine asserted that the tribes’ possible new initiative could meet the same fate as Proposition 5. “A lot of people have come to the conclusion there could be a constitutional problem with the measure,” he said.

Trounstine said Davis has made no counterproposal on the compact, noting, “The governor’s proposal is the governor’s proposal.”

The proposed compact could allow tribes over time to more than double the 15,000 slot machines they now operate--still far fewer than the number in Nevada. Davis’ proposal was intended to be a model compact, aimed at resolving the standoff between tribes, the state and the federal government over gambling on California’s reservations.