SYCUAN's $30 MILLION Swindle Maybe Even Costlier

Sycuan and Arnold Schwarzenegger pulled a fast one on the people of California, saving them $30 million and costing the state $30 million. ARNOLD KNEW and he let it happen, worse he sold US the snake oil.

The Sycuan band's decision to put off ratification of its new gambling agreement has saved the El Cajon tribe millions of dollars, but it may be about to backfire.
The compact permitting up to 5,000 slot machines on the tribe's East County reservation has been approved by the Legislature and the U.S. Interior Department, which has the final say.
But all of that happened before the Schwarzenegger administration quietly disclosed a few months ago that the tribe, relying on a little-noticed provision in its new compact, had not executed the deal. OP: Quietly = guiltily
The delay will cost the state at least $30 million in higher payments expected from Sycuan, an administration spokesman said.
Now, at the request of Sycuan's neighbors and a gambling watchdog, federal attorneys are taking a hard look at whether the Interior Department could legally approve a gambling agreement that had not yet been executed by the tribe. OP: That is like signing blank checks. Or giving an A on homework they didn't look over.
If they conclude the answer is no, the federal government's approval could be revoked and Sycuan could be forced to resubmit the deal to the Interior Department if and when it is ratified by the tribe.
That would give federal officials, who were troubled by the agreement's authorization of an off-reservation casino in Dehesa Valley, their first real opportunity to review the compact.
Sycuan's was one of four big new gambling agreements that Interior was forced to automatically approve in December after the compacts reportedly got lost at the agency and were not found until after a 45-day review period had passed.

Read MORE HERE

San Pascual - Valley View Casino Seeks to Assure Investors

The NIGC is very busy these days trying to put out fires. Maybe they should have gotten involved sooner. It's easier to put out a spot fire, rather than a conflagration.

From the Union Trib article:

Valley View Casino operator seeks to calm investor worries
UNION-TRIBUNE
10:31 a.m. August 5, 2008
The head of the organization that runs the Valley View Casino said in a statement to investors Monday that the Valley Center gambling hall is not threatened by tribal politics.
“The San Pasqual Casino Development Group is 100 percent confident that the San Pasqual Band will resolve their internal differences amicably,” said Joe Navarro, the organization's CEO. “Valley View Casino will continue to thrive.”

OP: AMICABLY is a positive sounding word. That means that they will either accept the people they just unceremoniously kicked out of the tribe or they will give a settlement. Good news on both fronts. Coming to their senses over their impending loss is good for San Pascual. Some at Pechanga are talking reconciliation too.

On Friday, the local superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs told tribal leaders that their government had collapsed over a membership rift and only tribal governments can operate businesses.
The National Indian Gaming Commission, which oversees tribal gambling operations across the country, is looking into the situation with the tribe

The casino development group is trying to restructure the debt it took on to buy out a prior management and expand the casino.

OP: The lenders would be FOOLISH to allow a business with so much internal strife, which could lead to the CLOSURE of the money-maker casino to restructure the loan. IN FACT, a lender could PUSH HARD to ensure that the tribe ENDS its troubles before they get any money or restructuring. That is exercising Moral Outrage to the good of all.

Pechanga: A Bad Neighbor that Does Some Good Deeds

It’s been a decade since Pechanga Chairman Mark Macarro asked the People of California to help Native Americans in their quest for self-reliance. I believe that most people took self-reliance to mean that Native Americans would help take care of their own people with the proceeds of Indian Gambling. This is the messaging of every public relations campaign during every California referendum on Indian Gaming, Each time the leaders of Pechanga were the face of the California Native community.

Unfortunately, self-reliance to Pechanga means keeping rightful people from joining the band and removing people who don’t think the way the leadership wants them to think, so there will be no dissent among the membership. The Council’s policy is cash your check and shut the hell up.

Pechanga’s Constitution and Bylaws provides for OPEN ENROLLMENT each January, yet in 1997 the band approved a petition, which called for a moratorium on member enrollment so that the tribe can get caught up with the applications. There are 10 members on that committee, how long could it take to catch up? The will of the people was the rule of law in an enrollment matter, upheld by the tribal council.

When the people passed a valid petition to halt all disenrollments in 2005, the tribal council maintained that the petition couldn’t be enforced, because the general council had no authority in enrollment matters.

Let’s get this right, the general council says the people could keep people OUT, but they can’t keep people IN?

So, we have the Pechanga Tribal Council acting in a shameful manner by eliminating 25% of their citizenry. They stripped this group of their status as Native Americans, and grabbed their share of per capita payments to grow their own. They keep rightful members from their place at Pechanga via disenrollment and abused the elders and children of two families, terminating their cultural heritage.

In direct contradiction to these reprehensible actions, Pechanga donates to groups like the Boys and Girls Clubs, The Temecula Valley School District, and other organizations, which gladly take generous donations from the tribal government. Would these groups accept these donations if they knew what Pechanga had done to their own people?
Pechanga used those donations to trumpet how they were generous to the community, and good neighbors. Yet, I can’t believe that the organizations mentioned above would believe it’s okay to screw someone, let some people die knowing their heritage was stripped, so that they can have a new swing set on their playgrounds? I really don’t believe they would have endorsed Pechanga in the last elections if they knew what was really happening on the reservation in their own neighborhood.

Ethical businesses and governmental agencies should be expressing their outrage at what Pechanga has done, not turning a blind eye. Many sovereign countries quit doing business in South Africa because of their apartheid policies. Pechanga’s policy of denying basic civil rights to the people that they were purported to be helping with Proposition 5A is little different than S. Africa's, or Saudi Arabia's denying women the right to vote.

If Wal-Mart is so bad for not providing health coverage for all of their associates, which bring protests for each new store, why isn’t the same outrage aimed at Pechanga, who not only took away per capita, but health coverage, education assistance, employment and elder care for the citizens they kicked to the curb?

What Pechanga is doing is the epitome of hypocrisy. They are hiding their ‘dirty family secret’ behind a veil of sovereignty, and then publicizing their good deeds to local charities to show what honorable people they are. Don’t allow them to get away with it. It is time the people of this community learn the truth.

Please spread the word and if you must patronize an Indian Gaming facility, it is time to go elsewhere. Let Mark Macarro know that you DO NOT support his actions.

Soboba's Salgado: White People should go back to Plymouth Rock

This is good customer relations from Chairman Salgado of Soboba:

If those in the trailer park aren't happy, he said, they should "get back on Plymouth Rock and sail back to Europe." in response to neighbors who complained about bullets from the reservation hitting their mobile homes.

Reminds of the words of wisdom of Pechanga Chair Macarro: "what we do on the reservation is NO BUSINESS of the WHITE MAN.

But, Riverside County, WHERE YOU SPEND YOUR MONEY IS your business. Take your business ELSEWHERE.

Even if the tribe and the department strike a deal, it won't be the end of the story. The tribe's lawyer, veteran Indian rights attorney Jack Schwartz, is investigating whether deputies violated the tribe's civil rights.

JACK, will you take up the cause of INDIANS who have ALSO had their rights violated by tribes like PECHANGA and PICAYUNE?

Tribal Justice at Barona: Paid for Judges?

Quote of the Day: Most people don't realize that when you go to an Indian casino, it's like entering a foreign country where you have very few rights,"

Tribal justice for outsiders is not swift or sure. And judges taking contributions from tribes that may come before them?

When Redd discovered that Goldsmith had taken political contributions from nine Indian tribes, including the Barona tribe, she filed a petition to have his decision thrown out on grounds that he should have disqualified himself. The petition was turned down by the California Supreme Court.

Barona Bedbug Bites mean be careful when going on sovereign territory

Jerry Brown: Fox Guarding the Tribal Casino Henhouse?

State AG Jerry Brown doesn't seem to be taking a strong stand against crime on California's Indian Reservations. He DOES seem to be courting the tribes, however, should he plan to run for governor again.

Michell DeArmond has the story HERE.

The attorney general's office's Bureau of Gambling Control is one of several entities that regulate Indian casinos. Whether Brown, as attorney general, can crack down on problems at Indian casinos and simultaneously solicit tribes' political support could become an issue on the campaign trail, as questions of potential conflicts of interest often do
Records show that Brown hasn't collected any campaign contributions from tribes during his time as attorney general thus far. In a telephone interview Tuesday, Brown said he wouldn't rule out accepting tribal donations later but would exercise "prudence and good judgment" in cases of potential conflict.
"That's a concern I might have with respect to anybody," he said, noting that many political donors do business with the state. "I don't want to single out tribes. They're big and they're important in the political process, but there are also a lot of others."

OP: Except, Jerry, that YOU KNOW that tribes, led by Pechanga are the single BIGGEST donors. Are you going to be out front when the indictments are going to be handed down?

Sen. Jim Battin Offered NO Help to Nat. Americans whose Civil Rights Violated

Thank Goodness for term limits. Outgoing Senator Jim Battin ignores the plight of those disenfranchised Native Americans because he received over $350,000 in contributions. He voted their way most of the time. This new site has the information on how much our politicians are taking from sovereign nations.

http://maplight.org/map/ca/interest/X3400/view/all

Banished Snoqualmie File Civil Rights Lawsuit

Lynda V. Mapes
Seattle Times staff reporter

Nine banished members of the Snoqualmie tribe have filed a federal lawsuit in the latest round of an ongoing fight for control of the tribe, poised to open one of the state's most lucrative gambling casinos this fall. Tossed out in April, the banished members, including the tribal chairman, several council members and a minister of the Indian Shaker Church, filed suit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, claiming violation of their civil rights.
Named in the suit are the Snoqualmie council members who banished them, stripping them of their tribal identity; barring them from tribal lands, and cutting them off from any tribal benefits, including health-care services. "This is a sad, sad time," said banished tribal member Lois Sweet Dorman. "This was supposed to be a time to celebrate together; the promise of prosperity to enable us to provide for our people. We worked so hard for our sovereignty. Most of us are elders of this tribe; this action is unbelievably harsh and cruel."

In the suit, attorney Rob Roy Smith of Seattle said the banishments should be overturned because his clients' liberties were illegally restrained by violation of the Indian Civil Rights Act. Passed by Congress in 1968, the act is intended to safeguard the fundamental civil rights of tribal members, such as their right to due process, free speech and peaceable assembly. The banished had no opportunity to confront their accusers or exercise their right to free speech, and were unlawfully accused of "treason" and meeting as an "illegal shadow government" in violation of their right to peaceable assembly, according to the suit. They are also denied their liberty in being barred them from tribal lands and services, the suit stated.

Matt Mattson, tribal administrator, declined to respond except by e-mail on Friday: "The tribe is not aware of the suit and really cannot comment without knowing more details.(What do you think? They aren't aware?)
Read related story HERE and HERE