Free Republic

AS one of his New Year's resolutions, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is seeking to get one of the biggest moneymaking industries in the state to cough up a larger share of its billions in tax-free income: Indian casinos. Good luck to him. It's not going to be easy to squeeze more money out of a politically powerful lobby that has long-term agreements signed by the past administration that let it off virtually scot-free from sharing some of its billions in tax-free annual revenue. But as tough as it will be to undo the damage done by former Gov. Gray Davis, it's...

California state judge Loren McMaster ruled this week that Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante violated campaign laws by paying for a TV ad campaign with more than $3 million from Indian casinos and unions, donated in violation of state contribution limits. Richie Ross, Mr. Bustamante's campaign manager, says the campaign has already spent the money and thus can't comply with the judge's order to return it to the donors. The controversy will dog Mr. Bustamante's campaign as well as raise questions about the disproportionate influence that Indian casinos now exercise in California government. When Californians voted in 2000 to give Indian...

<p>The boom in Indian casino gambling has sparked new scrutiny from the Bay Area to the nation's Capitol -- and fears among tribal leaders that the intense attention will hurt an industry that has lifted many of their people out of abject and historic poverty.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO - As a small Indian tribe pushes forward with plans to acquire a San Pablo casino, Gov. Gray Davis vowed Thursday to keep Indian gambling out of California's major urbanized areas.</p> <p>"When someone says, 'Well, we used to be over here but now we want to move into Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco,' that requires approval of the governor and the secretary of interior," Davis said.</p>

Governor gives case to increase gaming cutTribes asked to be community-minded By James P. Sweeney COPLEY NEWS SERVICEJanuary 17, 2003SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gray Davis staked out his opening position in upcoming Indian gambling negotiations with some frank talk yesterday about sharing the wealth and raising tribes' sensitivity to impacts on surrounding communities. In his most extensive remarks on the subject since signing the compacts that legalized California's Indian casinos three years ago, Davis confirmed that the state will entertain an expansion of gaming in exchange for a bigger slice of profits. He also introduced a new negotiating team, which includes...

By STEVE SCHULTZE sschultze@journalsentinel.com Last Updated: Dec. 4, 2002 Indian casinos have become a highly profitable, nearly billion-dollar business in Wisconsin, but state oversight has fallen short, according to a state audit released Wednesday. Though the report lists no fraud or other problems linked to the spotty monitoring of casinos by the state, it points out that regulators haven't looked very hard for it either and says some tribes have resisted state oversight efforts. The regulatory shortcomings detailed in the audit developed against a backdrop of a burgeoning casino industry. Net revenue last year from the state's 24 casinos and...

Bureau of Casino Affairs Heard of the tribe with only eight members? If your summer vacation included a spot of gambling, chances are you found yourself in Indian country. Chances also are that you didn't encounter many Indians, which is just one of the embarrassments about U.S. Indian affairs that Congress is finally noticing.Take the $16 million casino that opened this summer on the Augustine Indian Reservation, 130 miles east of Los Angeles. The Augustine Band of Mission Indians has all of eight members. But its new casino, run by a Las Vegas company, has 349 slot machines and 10...

Indian Casinos TodayLast month these columns criticized New York Governor George Pataki's midnight legislation to create six new Indian-run casinos in his state, part of a national gambling boom. We've since been called racist and part of a "growing national backlash against Indians." Maybe we're getting somewhere.Indian Country Today, the nation's leading Native American newspaper, accused us of "perpetuating Native American stereotypes" because we referred to "Big Chief Pataki," among other perceived insults. We thought we were having fun with Mr. Pataki, not Indians. But in any case the race card has become the first refuge of scoundrels in American...