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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at Odds Again With Indian Tribes
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger threatens to close six casinos run by the Indian Tribes. This time the reason for threatened closure is the slot tallying. The casinos threatened for closure include the two largest casinos in the San Diego County.
Through a letter from his lawyer, the governor rejected the compromise proposal from Barona, Sycuan and four other powerful Indian tribes. He warns the casinos that he would seek a court order to revoke their gambling pacts unless they will get rid of the slot machines being questioned or the casinos will tally those slot machines the way the state asserts them.
The tribal officials question the move of the governor. They are wondering why Schwarzenegger would launch a major court battle over a machine that is only responsible for a small portion of the seven billion Indian gambling industries in California.
Darrel Ng, spokesman on behalf of Schwarzenegger, said that the governor stands on his ground that some of the Indian tribes used slot machines with multiple seats in order to exceed the slot limits as warranted in the gambling agreement between the state-tribal agreements.
According to Ng, the meetings held between the tribal group and the governor is a way to open the lines of communication and the state believes that they are successful with that aim but it does not mean that the state will leave out its responsibility to implement the agreements.
The multistation games, where groups of players can play at once, are the one being questioned by Schwarzenegger. The games addressed are electronic versions of craps, blackjack and the roulette where it has five to ten seats per machine.
Tribes are only allowed to have two thousand slots and they consider the multistation game as one machine because as they explain those machines are only controlled with one computer chip. But the state argues that each station of the game counts as per slot and this is the purpose of the licenses and the fees the Indian run casinos should pay the state.
Pechanga, Barona, Sycuan with three other tribes had begun formal talks with the governor legal staff regarding the dispute last June.
And now other tribes are at the table are Berry Creek in Northern California, Colusa in the Central Valley and Morongo in Riverside County.
Schwarzenegger had called off all negotiations last June 9 and he had given the six casinos to only sixty days to halt the operation of multistation games or face the breach of contract.
After Aug. 8, the governor can seek a federal court order to cancel all the gambling compact of any tribe who will not comply with the state.
The tribes has the option of to let go of the multistation games being questioned or fight it out in a court battle.
The alliance group formed by the tribes said that they are not in favor of the seven revised agreements that Gov. Schwarzenegger negotiates. The offer of the governor is an unlimited slot machine in exchange for increased payments the tribe will give to the state.
The tribal groups argue that if the new compact will take effect, it will grind down the tribal sovereignty because it will give the state greater control over casino related projects.
During the recall elections in 2003, Schwarzenegger had started talks with the tribal groups as he says that these tribal groups should pay their fair share. In turn, the tribal groups supported the unsuccessful bid of Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, main opponent of Schwarzenegger.