Arnold’s people would like us to believe that Cruz’s campaign is somehow tainted by the money he received from the tribes. Arnold has said that he wants to collect revenue from the tribes’ casinos… like other states apparently do. Davis and Cruz want to make a “deal” with the tribes.
It’s not a big deal to most of us here in CA.
Thanks for the reply Dolphinboy; good thing I kept the OP because the hamsters, they’re acting squirrely:
Minor campaign point, but I am wondering about this.
When I try to follow your gubernatorial recall/donnybrook, peering across the country, I guess a few things got lost in translation. Cruz Bustamante in particular has come under fire, it seems, for accepting a lot of campaign contributions from Native American tribes that have gambling as a major source of revenue. Ahnold himself was just quoted today as backing off a little on this issue after pressing it for weeks.
I guess my question is, why is this so bad, in the sense that why do these interest groups merit so much snark? Do the gambling tribes have a particularly unsavory reputation? Are there Ute loansharks cruising around breaking kneecaps? Is there still an aura of sleaze or immorality around gambling at the reservations? Or have Cruz or Davis had trouble with undue influence in the past, and this is just seen as more of the same?
The flap over Indian Gaming is that Bustamante used a ‘loophole’ in campaign finance law.
I may be oversimplifying here but, he collected the money & put it in an ‘old’ campaign account, then spent the money for this ‘new’ recall election push.
In September a judge ruled he had to return the money, but most of it was already spent.
What started out as a campaign finance issue, then turned into a ‘who’s financing your campaign’ issue for all the candidates.
3, 2, 1…
(Ah, on preview I see that Mehitabel’s question largely accomodates my pre-fabricated answer. I’ll leave it as is.)
If the general question here is, “what the hell is dolphinboy talking about?” (just kidding), I might be able to supply some insight.
Indian tribes are sovereign governments located in California, but in many ways distinct from the state of California itself.
Oddly enough, the entire nationwide trend toward Indian tribes opening casinos stems largely from a single court case, State of California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, 480 US 202 (1987). In that case, the Supreme Court re-stated that because of the inherent sovereignty of Indian tribes, the state of California had no authority to regulate (or prohibit) high-stakes bingo from being played on the Cabazon reservation.
Congress in turn stepped in with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. A key element of IGRA and the yearly court decisions which help define it is that tribes must enter into a compact with the state in which they are located, and tribes may only offer the classes of gaming permitted by that state. Another provision of IGRA is that all gaming revenues going to the tribe must go to the tribal government, not directly to individual tribal members. IGRA has helped to keep corruption largely out of Indian gaming.
The terms of the compacts between tribes and states can vary widely. Connecticut makes a shitload of money off of the two tribal casinos within its boundaries because they compacted for 25% of the slot-machine revenues produced by the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes with a guaranteed minimum revenue of $80 million per tribe going to the state. In return for this money, the state of Connecticut attempts to prevent the tribes from taking land into trust, delays and foils the federal recognition efforts of other tribes in the state, and threatens to put up toll booths outside of the reservations.
Strangely enough, California tribes are unwilling to make similar agreements with the State of California.
Because tribes are sovereign, their members who live and work on the reservation are not generally subject to state income or state property taxes. This of course works both ways–the state of California generally doesn’t (and never did) spend any money to supply Indian tribes any of the things California residents generally take for granted such as paved roads, electricity, and drinking water. Casino gaming is one way tribes generate revenue to provide their members with such creature comforts.
Another thing tribes can do with their gaming revenue is give it as campaign contributions to those California candidates whom tribes feel will best respect tribal sovereignty. Bustamante and McClintock have both publicly demonstrated an awareness of the situation as above, and have benefitted the most from tribal contributions. Is this bribery, or reward for actually knowing the state of the law as it exists today?
One possible argument is that tribes, being sovereign, should have no influence over state elections. One possible response to that argument is that when people like Arnold Schwarzenegger go on television saying that tribes don’t pay their “fair share,” implying some sort of new state taxation or extortion of casino profits to which the state is not rightfully entitled, then maybe tribes should exercise the sovereign rights they still have to influence the political process in their favor by supporting the candidates who understand that it is illegal to impose state taxes on Indians and don’t try to get political traction out of such an unworkable idea.
The above answer to the nonexistent question is as impartial as I can make it. If I have transgressed the boundaries of good taste within the GQ forum, please delete or edit as necessary, moderators.
I’ve got a pretty intimate understanding of who makes campaign contributions in California (for several years I read every single campaign disclosure statment in the state). Indian tribes are some of the biggest campaign contributors, and they contribute to pretty much everyone.
And this isn’t at all a new thing.
Well, I think my OP (the second post, arrrgh) is pretty well answered. Thanks too all who answered. I didn’t understand that the agreement they have in CT wasn’t a nationwide rule.
Mods, you can either close this or move it to Great Debates with a slight change in title: “CA Politicos Taking Indian Gaming Money–OK or not?”
Thanks again!
I can’t believe nobody tried to ding me on the “paved roads, electricity, and drinking water” line.
Come to think of it, maybe that’s why some California politicians can’t tell the difference between tribes and the rest of the state.