Posted on 05/06/2006 9:17:26 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO – Three years after bashing Indian gaming tribes on the way to the governor's office, Arnold Schwarzenegger is quietly reaching out to California's most powerful tribal leaders as he prepares for what could be a difficult re-election campaign.
The overtures, similar to those the Republican governor has made in recent months to other special interests he has battled, could lead to another round of gambling expansion while chilling possible tribal opposition to his bid for a second term.
“Schwarzenegger may never convince these tribes to be his biggest backers, but if he can talk them down to neutral, that eliminates a huge potential source of political opposition this fall,” said Dan Schnur, a Republican political consultant who has worked for tribes in the past.
In recent weeks, Schwarzenegger made personal calls to tribal leaders such as Agua Caliente's Richard Milanovich and Morongo's Maurice Lyons, several sources said. The two Riverside County tribes and a number of others have been at odds with the governor since rejecting his terms for new gambling agreements, or compacts, two years ago.
The governor also has begun a series of meetings with three prominent tribal groups. On Wednesday, he sat down with the California Tribal Business Alliance, a small group of tribes that include Pala, Pauma and Viejas of San Diego County and two others that negotiated the first new gambling deals with Schwarzenegger.
Next Wednesday, the governor has invited the powerful Riverside County tribes and other members of the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations to join him in his office.
The following day, he is scheduled to meet with representatives of the state's oldest and largest tribal lobby, the California Nations Indian Gaming Association.
Many of those tribes have been seeking a meeting with Schwarzenegger for more than two years.
“Clearly, the environment has changed,” said Jake Coin, a spokesman for the San Manuel band of San Bernardino County.
A Schwarzenegger spokesman confirmed the meetings with tribal leaders, but declined to say what prompted them. The administration similarly has moved to patch up differences with the powerful unions representing teachers and prison guards.
“The governor's always had an open-door policy,” spokesman Darrel Ng said. The meetings will not be negotiating sessions, he said.
Schwarzenegger came into office with sky-high approval ratings, but his popularity plummeted last year as he engaged in partisan battles with Democrats and labor unions.
Recent polls suggest he may be slowly creeping back into public favor, but will face a tough challenge in November from either state Treasurer Phil Angelides or Controller Steve Westly, who are seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in the June 6 primary.
In the 2003 recall campaign against former Gov. Gray Davis, Schwarzenegger aired a TV ad that complained Indian casinos “make billions, yet pay no taxes and virtually nothing to the state. . . . It's time to make them pay their fair share.”
He said he would refuse to accept campaign contributions from tribes, and criticized other candidates for doing so.
The rhetoric escalated after Schwarzenegger took office, and many tribes rallied around an initiative in 2004, Proposition 70, that would have given Indian casinos unlimited gaming in exchange for paying the state's corporate tax rate of 8.8 percent.
Schwarzenegger waged an aggressive campaign against the measure, which was crushed at the polls.
Although the governor now is extending a hand, Coin and others wonder what the administration may be willing to offer that some big tribes have not already rejected.
San Manuel, Pechanga, Morongo and San Diego County's Sycuan, among others, refused to accept tougher environmental protections, organized labor provisions and agreements to address local impacts that have became standard language in Schwarzenegger's compacts for expanded gambling.
Those tribes wanted the option for unlimited slot machines that Schwarzenegger gave seven tribes, but the governor's chief negotiator recently told a Senate committee that unlimited gaming is no longer on the table.
Most of the tribes are operating with 1999 compacts that restrict them to 2,000 slots each.
“We know what the benchmarks are with regard to this administration's idea of a compact,” Coin said, explaining that some tribes believe the terms require concessions that could lessen their government authority.
But, in addition to more slots, many tribes are eager to talk to Schwarzenegger about the push for off-reservation casinos, and the competition they could bring to established casinos.
“These tribes may never get the type of compact they want from this governor,” Schnur said, “but there are more important issues on the table for them now.”
There are also four Schwarzenegger compacts, including agreements for the Los Coyotes tribe of San Diego County and Quechan of Imperial County, that the Legislature has refused to ratify.
Los Coyotes is part of a controversial off-reservation casino project proposed in Barstow. But Quechan's new compact would merely allow the tribe to expand and relocate a small existing casino.
Sen. Denise Ducheny, a San Diego Democrat whose district includes part of the Quechan reservation, said she was among a group of lawmakers who have urged the administration to reopen talks with disaffected tribes in hopes that all involved could benefit.
“It was a good move by the governor,” said Sen. Jim Battin, a Palm Desert Republican who represents the Riverside County tribes. “It was a long time coming.
“The governor needed to put aside what I think was some bad political advice he received early on and get over the problem caused by name-calling in his TV commercials.”
Neither Agua Caliente Chairman Milanovich nor Morongo Chairman Lyons could be reached for comment. Morongo, one of the state's most successful gaming tribes, hosted a private meeting yesterday for other tribal leaders to discuss the governor's overtures.
“We don't have any formal discussions or negotiations regarding a compact set up,” said Alva Johnson, Agua Caliente's director of government affairs. “We're right now trying to evaluate the different communications from the governor's office . . . and trying to figure out how to proceed.”
Morongo spokeswoman Waltona Manion would say only that the tribe “provided a compact to the Schwarzenegger administration in September 2004 and has been waiting patiently the past 20 months for the opportunity to work with the governor.”
California is a lost cause.
PS: California is to the USA as the bow is to the Titanic.
after recent events, I sadly am inclined to agree.
native Indians are what percent population of ca, or this planet? The fact that this is even an issue demonstrates something is wrong with our democracy!
No, it demonstrates how desperate the Gub's handlers are for votes. their internals must really be bad..
I don't see what is really different. 8 tribes gave about $375,000 to the CA GOP in 2005, who gave it to Arnold or his initiatives. Despite his reported tough-talk about tribes, the first compacts he negotiated lifted the prior limits on slot-machines in Casinos and approved some pretty sweet deals. It's the same old game.
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