Monday, December 31, 2007

No on Prop. 94, No to Pechanga: California Tribes, Unions Bet big on Feb. Ballot

Pechanga and the other 3 tribes will be spending $50 MILLION trying to convince CA that this is a good deal. This is after some $million$ they spent trying to KEEP US from voting. First, they don't want us to vote, then, they have to spend so much to get us to vote their way. Sounds like they don't have a good compact for California. Let's vote NO on all the expanded gaming props.


Calif. tribes, horse tracks, unions bet big on February ballot
By AARON C. DAVIS, Associated Press Writer
Friday, December 28, 2007
(12-28) 17:30 PST SACRAMENTO, (AP) -- REST OF THE STORY

For all the money presidential hopefuls might spend to win California's February primary, far more may be bet on a lesser-known battle to expand Indian gambling.
Four wealthy Southern California Indian tribes are preparing to spend as much as $80 million to defend deals they struck with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature.
The deals would give the tribes 17,000 new slot machines — enough to fill eight Las Vegas-sized casinos. In exchange, they would share profits with California's cash-strapped general fund, which faces a multibillion dollar deficit.
The tribes — the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians (which decimated their population via their Indian Removal Act) near Temecula, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in Palm Springs, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Cabazon and the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation near San Diego — already have contributed more than $44 million to promote their compacts.
Tribal leaders say they're convinced the deals will be a winner with voters, but they're not taking any chances. Opponents have put four referendums on the Feb. 5 ballot to overturn them.

The tribes are expected to add tens of millions of dollars to their campaign in the coming weeks and have purchased so much commercial air time that some political analysts say it could cut into the number of presidential ads voters see before the election.
Despite the onslaught, an unlikely band of opponents believes it can stop the tribes.
A racetrack owner, competing tribes and a casino-workers' union pooled their money for a signature-gathering drive to put the deals on the ballot. They're banking on an Indian-gambling backlash and say they can convince voters the deals aren't nearly as sweet as they sound on TV.

We CAN make a difference, VOTE NO on 94.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a LOT of money that the tribes are spending. What are they hiding? Why are they trying so hard?
But, are their differences in the propositions? Is it all or nothing, or can we vote no on one and yes one another?

Anonymous said...

The new commercials in opposition of these props. are a very well done. Good job on keeping the word out there OP

OPechanga said...

They are trying so hard to make us FORGET that they were trying to keep us from being able to vote on the compacts.

Pechanga is expert at denying civil rights to their people. They just were trying to do the same to the rest of Californians...

OPechanga said...

The number that is being communicated is now $80 MILLION to try to convince that these compacts are good for Californians. Well, maybe for 1700 Californians, which is what the tribes population is.

Ex Gambler said...

Why are they tryin to open more Casinos and try and make it seem like they are giving us money. They only money they are giving us is the money they are getting from Califonia from people addited to gambling like I was. I used to feel bad for Idians I thoght they got a raw deal but now I see they are trying to make everyone into Gamblers not a good Idea

Anonymous said...

Wow just looked up prop 94-97 and this whole time i thought those good deals for ca, that commerical for yes on 94-97 make it seem like ca is going to get a bunch of money. well wait thats a good idea oh no they audit themselves so its up to them what they pay. HMMMMMMM damn them engines!

Anonymous said...

Where is the money coming from? -Californians.

Where would the money go otherwise? -California businesses.

Let's support legitimate businesses and jobs instead of gambling.

OPechanga said...

Indian Gaming IS a legitimate business, of course. But we have to recognize that in order for CA to get $9 billion, gamblers have to spend about $66 Billion at the casino. Better to have a Wal-Mart in every city.

Anonymous said...

I appreciate your viewpoint, and of course Indian Gaming is legal. I don't think that makes it right. Gambling, drinking, drugs and other businesses that take advantage of the base instincts of human weakness do nothing good for society. Whether they are legal is a matter of law, whether they are appropriate is a matter of ethics. Laws are made for the convenience of corporate interests and legislator's re-election campaigns and should not be confused with morality.

Anonymous said...

Pechanga's traffic is ruining the quality of life for those of us who have been living and working in this area since before the casino was built. Just driving home from work on southbound I15 has become incredibly dangerous due to the high amount of people trying to head to Pechanga.

If you want to add more slots, please do something about the traffic first.

Anonymous said...

"But we have to recognize that in order for CA to get $9 billion, gamblers have to spend about $66 Billion at the casino."

My understanding is that for CA to get $9 billiob, the tribes would have to make $66 billion. For the tribes to make $66 billion, gamblers would have to spend several hundred billion dollars.

It also allows exceptions to the California Environmental Quality Act.

They say $9 billion, but in the small print is the fact that it's over 20 years. That works out to less than half a cent per person per day. One commercial claims it's a critical part of the budget. Half a cent is a critical part?

Anonymous said...

So, how many tribal members were disenrolled and how many are left afterward?

Unknown said...

I say let the Tribes make all the money that they can. After all California, the wealthiest state and the 7th largest economy in the world. We can't point blame at the Tribes for any gambling addictions or own fiscal woes. Perhaps our legislatures needs to take cue from the tribes and learn how to balance a budget. Then allow non-tribal gaming online in California fostering the true spirit of competition!!

Anonymous said...

I'm very torn. I only have two days to decide and I'm still not sure. I grew up going to school with a lot of the kids off the reservation and back then everyone was very very poor, there were no casinos that I know of. When I was a teenager I found out that everyone on the res, got s certain amount of money every month...and I'm not sure if it's just because of who I knew or where I lived but it seemed like a huge majority had alchoholism problems among other things and it never seemed like the money went back into the res. When the casinos went up I was pretty excited for them, a way to bring in their own revenue and improve their communities. After all, our ancestors did mess thier ancestors over and struck a deal for them to have thier own laws on their tiny piece of remaining land. In driving through a lot of the reservations it seems like the only money being spent on the reservation is making the casinos bigger. Where IS their income being spent? Do we want to become another SIN CITY? Now I'm not a prude, I like my sin just as much as the next guy....but I'm telling you we don't want to be like Vegas. Basically I feel like we're being bought, throw the deficit some money, help out the governer and get a very huge return on that investment in the form of large scale expansion and a surplus of slot machines. The general public will believe commercials, it always seems to work. So the public will believe that California will get all this money and so it will be a win win situation. When has that ever happened in politics? Aren't we still fighting for money for public schools when the lottery was supposed to alleviate that problem? But wait why not get a piece of the pie? oh ya we already have! Well I think I have answered my own question. Thanks for letting me vent.