Barstow Hatching Who-Needs-Vegas Plan

For Las Vegas-bound travelers, the city of Barstow --straddling Interstate 15 in the baking heat of the Mojave Desert -- is little more than a pit stop.

City leaders, however, are hoping to change the fleeting view that motorists have of the town by planting a casino near the train tracks and fast-food outlets in the heart of town.

Perhaps, City Council members reasoned, gamblers will want to place their bets in Barstow rather than make the two-hour haul through the desert to Las Vegas.

“Barstow has always been a town where travelers stop and eat,” said Mayor Lawrence E. Dale. “Now we want them to stay. We hope to do that with a casino.”

Barstow is an economically depressed desert town of about 23,000 residents. The 2000 census put median family income at $40,160, compared with $56,530 statewide, and a fifth of the folks in town live below the federal government’s poverty line. A casino, city officials say, could change all that.

The opportunity seems to be there. More than 45,000 cars pass through town each day, and the McDonald’s on the town’s main drag is among the chain’s busiest, testimony to Barstow’s ability to get travelers to swing off the freeway. But, as is the case with casinos elsewhere, the project is already mired in controversy and political intrigue. It turns out that two casinos could rise in the desert town, and three Indian tribes are vying for rights to the action.

A proposal by the Chemehuevi tribe, which claims historical ties to the area, was rebuffed by the City Council in favor of a bid by Los Coyotes Tribe from San Diego County. Dale said Los Coyotes “presented a proposal that best fits the needs of our city.”

The city and Los Coyotes tribe teamed up to negotiate a compact with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office to allow the tribe to build an off-reservation casino. But the talks took an unexpected turn when Schwarzenegger recommended that Los Coyotes form a partnership with a Northern California tribe to build a two-casino complex in Barstow.

The Big Lagoon tribe from Humboldt County -- all 18 members -- and Los Coyotes tribe of Warner Springs, with about 200 members, are negotiating with the governor’s office for the right to build adjoining casinos in Barstow, one for each tribe. Dale said the town’s preference was to have just one.

“It was a marriage performed by the governor’s office,” said Tom Shields, spokesman for BarWest Gaming LLC, hired by Los Coyotes and the Big Lagoon to develop and manage the casinos. The company was formed by Marian Illitch, co-owner of the Little Caesar’s restaurant chain and Detroit Red Wings hockey team and owner of the MotorCity Casino in Detroit.

For Schwarzenegger it was a marriage of convenience and an opportunity to settle a pesky lawsuit filed by the Big Lagoon in 1999 over the tribe’s right to build a casino on its Northern California land. The state blocked the project because it was planned for an environmentally sensitive area.

“The teaming up of the Big Lagoon and Los Coyotes is a very unique situation,” Shields said. “It would solve a couple of problems at the same time. The lawsuit would go away, and the Big Lagoon can still have their casino, in Barstow.”

A spokesman for Schwarzenegger declined to comment for this article but confirmed that the governor’s office recommended the partnership.

Under the plan, the casinos would be separated by a walkway or common area. Each would keep its own books.

Los Coyotes, who Shields said got electricity on its reservation only 10 years ago, has a municipal services agreement with Barstow for a casino. The Big Lagoon does not.

Free Ride Disputed

In February 2004, representatives of Los Coyotes and BarWest, along with the mayor and another Barstow official, flew in a private jet provided by BarWest to San Francisco for a meeting with Willie Brown, former San Francisco mayor and state Assembly speaker.

A memo filed with the Barstow city clerk states that “the purpose of the meeting was to persuade Mr. Brown to work as a consultant for BarWest” and to assist “by gaining immediate access to the governor’s office for the purpose of negotiating a state compact [with Los Coyotes] for Indian gaming.”

According to Barstow Councilman Joe Gomez, Brown requested a fee of $100,000 to lobby Schwarzenegger. Dale refused to confirm the figure but said Brown was not paid with city funds. Shields also refused to confirm the amount paid to Brown but suggested it was money well spent.

“Look, Los Coyotes just got electricity 10 years ago. They don’t have as much pull in Sacramento. Willie opened some doors for us. He gave us a good lay of the land. He’s part of the team to help us lead this project through,” Shields said.

Brown did not respond to interview requests.

Dale did not report the plane ride on his 2004 statement of economic interest, sparking protest by officials at Barstow Enterprises, the Los Angeles-based developer hired by the Chemehuevis to pursue their own plans for a casino in Barstow. The company’s chief lobbyist is Scott Baugh, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party and former Republican leader in the state Assembly.

Baugh declined to comment, but Sacramento attorney Tracey Buck-Walsh, who represents Barstow Enterprises, said Dale should have reported the jet ride as a gift on his 2004 disclosure statement.

“He can’t get around it. If the private plane hadn’t been offered, would the city buy a plane ticket for the mayor to fly to San Francisco and lobby Willie Brown to work for a private company?” said Buck-Walsh, a former special assistant attorney general.

Dale said the memo about the trip, filed with the city clerk, met the reporting requirement, even though it is not listed in the disclosure statement that public officials are required to file annually.

Buck-Walsh said use of the BarWest plane exceeded the monetary limit for gifts that Dale could receive in 2004 from a single source, which was $340.

“Our position is that because of this, he cannot vote on the Big Lagoon-Los Coyotes project because he now has a conflict of interest,” she said.

Patrick Aleman, a Barstow resident and frequent council critic, filed complaints with the Fair Political Practices Commission and San Bernardino County district attorney, asking that Dale and city Redevelopment Director Ron Rector be investigated for taking the trip. Representatives of the FPPC and district attorney declined to comment.

In the spring of 2004, Barstow officials learned from the governor’s office about the plan to get the Big Lagoon tribe involved in the Barstow plan. Dale said he accompanied BarWest officials and Los Coyotes tribal leaders to Sacramento, thinking a compact was going to be signed.

Instead, the group was told the governor wanted Los Coyotes to form a partnership with the Big Lagoon tribe from Arcata, more than 700 miles from Barstow, the mayor said.

“I was extremely surprised, because we had been negotiating with Los Coyotes all along. Then we were told we had to bring in the Big Lagoon into the plans,” he said.

Looking Pushed

In April, 2004, Big Lagoon Chairman Virgil Moorehead addressed the Barstow council.

“He didn’t look too excited about being here,” said Councilman Gomez, who asked Big Lagoon tribal leaders to attend the meeting. Shields said Gomez’s observation was accurate.

“Virgil showed up,” Shields said, “and basically said he was there because the governor told him to be there. He said the only other time he had been in Barstow was when he passed by on his motorcycle while going to a motorcycle convention” in Laughlin, Nev.

The leaders of the Big Lagoon and Los Coyotes tribes declined to comment.

Gomez, who was elected to the council in November, said he was frustrated by the governor’s insistence that the city deal with both tribes. He led a council vote in favor of reopening talks with the Chemehuevis, the tribe that claims rights to the Barstow area.

About 250 Chemehuevis live on a reservation at the eastern end of San Bernardino County, near the Colorado River. In 2001, a 14-hour rave party held on the reservation attracted more than 20,000 people and led to three deaths.

Some critics have used the rave party to suggest the tribe is not responsible enough to own a casino. But Buck-Walsh says Barstow Enterprises is confident the city will eventually allow the company and the Chemehuevis, who already own a small casino at Lake Havasu, to build a bigger one in Barstow.

“Unlike the Big Lagoon and Los Coyotes, the Chemehuevis already have a compact with the state. They own land in Barstow, and we’ve completed the initial environmental study that is required and intend to file this information before Labor Day. We’re way ahead in the process,” she said.

But the Chemehuevis do not have the City’s Council’s support for a casino, a key requirement before the governor will begin negotiating an amended compact with the tribe.

Shields said Los Coyotes had also purchased land in Barstow. But Los Coyotes and the Chemehuevis have not asked the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs to take the off-reservation lands into federal trust. Until that happens, the federal government can block casino construction, even if the tribes negotiate a compact with the governor.

U.S. Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton would also have to approve the compacts. A Bureau of Indian Affairs spokesman said the federal approval process could take one to four years.

Off-site casinos are getting closer scrutiny by some in Congress who say the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act that permitted them never sanctioned the Nevada-style establishments that tribes are building away from reservations. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz), chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, will hold hearings to investigate the increase in the number of off-reservation casinos, an aide said last week.