Tribal Lobbyist Revealed PR Pitch, Senator Alleges

SACRAMENTO -- A state senator who sought to become a paid public relations advisor to Indian gambling interests accused a tribal consultant Thursday of publicly disclosing his sales pitch -- and said he will be watching how the tribe handles the consultant.

In an interview late in the day, Sen. Jim Battin (R-La Quinta) also said he had decided to drop plans to represent tribes in his private consulting business. He made the decision Thursday, the day his solicitation was reported in The Times.

While noting that no tribes had yet retained him and his nascent consulting group, the senator explained his decision by saying: “It is just not worth it to me.”

“I just don’t want my constituents to have reason to question my integrity, so I am just not going to pursue it,” said Battin, who is expected to seek reelection next year to a final four-year term in the upper house.

Earlier, Battin had sent an e-mail to several tribes suggesting that political consultant Richie Ross leaked a memo in which the senator urged that tribes hire him and his team of public relations and advertising specialists to help burnish Indian gambling’s public image. A copy of the e-mail was obtained by The Times.

Ross, a Democrat, is a Sacramento consultant and lobbyist who represents the Barona Band of Mission Indians, one of the tribes Battin sought to enlist as a client.

“He’s no friend of mine,” Battin wrote, adding that he had informed Barona of his suspicions about Ross and that he “will be very interested in the way they choose to handle it.”

Ross, who did not respond to repeated calls, recently created controversy in the Capitol halls when he shouted at two aides to lawmakers who had not supported a bill he favored.

David Baron, director of governmental affairs for the Barona tribe, stood by Ross: “Barona is quite happy with the consulting team we have, and we have no reason to change it at this time.”

Battin himself said he was not threatening Barona or Ross. But Robert Stern, president of the nonpartisan Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, interpreted Battin’s swipe at Ross as “vindictiveness” and an attempt to “throw around his weight.”

“Here Battin is a state senator who sits on a committee that hears gambling legislation,” said Stern, “and it sounds like he is saying, ‘Fire Richie Ross.’ It is strike-back time.... They make these threats all the time. They don’t put them in writing.”

Battin serves on the Senate Governmental Organization Committee, which has jurisdiction over gambling legislation.

“Whatever they do is entirely up to them,” Battin said of the Barona band, a San Diego County tribe. “I have nothing but high regard and respect for Barona. After this is all behind us, I will have nothing but respect and friendship with them, whether Richie Ross is their employee or not.”

Battin sent the e-mail in response to the Times article describing his original solicitation of various tribes earlier this year. In that solicitation, Battin said one member of his team would be Terry Nelson, a political consultant in Washington, D.C. Nelson said, however, that he would not be involved, given that he recently became political director for President Bush’s reelection campaign.

Battin nonetheless theorized in the e-mail that Ross was trying to embarrass Nelson and Bush.

“Needless to say, I am extremely upset about this,” the senator wrote. “It hurts me, it hurts Bush and it hurts Indian country.”

While noting in the interview that he could not prove that Ross was the source of the leak, the senator accused Ross in the e-mail of “an absolute betrayal of his client’s trust. Just so he can take a shot.”

Battin both apologized in the e-mail and defended his effort to line up clients for his private consulting business, saying lawyers, doctors and farmers serve in the Legislature and pursue their professions when not doing legislative business.

“Suddenly,” Battin wrote, “because this deals with Indians -- and I’m on the Governmental Organization Committee -- does this merit a Times story. Apparently, there is a different standard when Indians are involved. Typical.”

Battin wrote that he had vetted his business plan with his personal attorney and was told that his “involvement was completely aboveboard and proper.”

“I hope,” he wrote, “this does not affect my relationship or standing with any tribe in any adverse way.”

California legislators are paid $99,000 a year, plus thousands more in tax-free per diem payments when the Legislature -- a full-time body -- is in session. Lawmakers face strict limits on accepting gifts and speaking fees but are not barred from earning outside income. However, they are precluded from voting on matters in which they have a personal financial interest.

Some legislators frown on outside earnings, though. Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga, for one, said Thursday that while lawmakers have outside jobs, he doesn’t “believe anyone ought to have outside income,” other than passive earnings from investments.

Battin’s district covers parts of Riverside County and includes several Indian reservations. He has been among the strongest advocates in Sacramento of Indian sovereignty and the right of tribes to operate casinos, and has received more than $150,000 from tribes in campaign donations in the past 18 months.