California Indian Wars: Pechanga

California Indian wars
Signature gathering for a referendum to cancel state compacts to expand tribal gambling meets opposition from four of the richest Indian casino owners in the state.

“I have seen ... near fisticuffs as people argue over these things,” Mike Arno, a consultant with a labor union representing hotel workers and a racetrack company, told the Aug. 28 Los Angeles Times. Arno referred to a political fight that might be played out in shopping centers across California in the next few months. The union, Unite Here, and the Bay Meadows Land Company have joined forces in a petition drive to qualify four ballot initiatives that would allow state voters to decide whether to cancel compacts signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and four casino-owning Indian tribes last year. The compacts would allow the tribes to add 17,000 slot machines to their existing 8,000 in return for paying 15% to 25% of their additional profits to the state.
The benefitting tribes are the Agua Caliente band of the Cahuilla (which owns casinos in Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage), the Pechanga band of the Luiseño near Temecula, the Morongo band of Mission Indians (with a casino near Banning), and the Sycuan band of the Kumeyaay near El Cajon. The state legislature approved the compacts last month; they await approval by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Bay Meadows Land Company says the compacts have hurt business at its racetracks, Hollywood Park in Inglewood and a track near San Francisco.

Unite Here says the compacts did not include desired collective bargaining terms, like those in earlier compacts. Two Indian tribes – the United Auburn Indian Community, which owns a thriving casino near Sacramento, and the Pala band of Mission Indians, with a casino near the Pechanga operation – have together kicked in $1 million to help the referendum effort. (According to the July 28 San Diego Union-Tribune, ten years ago the Pechanga tribe financed a referendum opposing a state compact with Pala.) To save their compacts, the four tribes have begun a campaign to block referendum signature gatherers. Workers for the tribes urge people not to sign the referendum petition, or if they have signed it, to sign a form asking that their names be removed from the petition. State law allows voters to revoke their signatures from referendum petitions by filing a written request with elections officials before the signatures are turned in.

The four tribes’ apprehension may arise from what may be a change in public opinion toward Indian gambling casinos. “People have soured on the political influence of the tribes, their internal infighting, and they want to limit the proliferation of gambling,” Cheryl Schmit with the gambling watchdog group, Stand Up California, told the Union-Tribune. Bill Bengen of Dehesa Valley says his group, Residents Against Gambling Expansion, will support the ballot referendum against the Sycuan band. Bengen said Californians supported Indian gambling as a way to help tribes overcome poverty – and some have “done that grandly.” Other tribes, however, are still poor. Many El Cajon citizens oppose the Sycuan compact because it would allow the tribe to build a second casino at a former golf club owned by the tribe.

Pechanga Tribal Council Sued for Civil Rights Violations.

www.pechanga.info

Attached is a media advisory sent out regarding Jeffredo et al. vs. Macarro et al. which has been filed in Federal Court and served on the Pechanga Tribal Council. The Writ alleges that the Pechanga Tribal Council committed numerous violations of the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 ("ICRA"), a federal law that prohibits tribal governments from violating certain civil rights such as due process and equal protection of law.

As Pechanga Tribal Officials have done before, it is a safe bet to expect the Pechanga Tribal Council to claim immunity so as to escape prosecution for violations of the ICRA. MEDIA ADVISORY Wednesday, August 29, 2007 Contact Persons: Patrick Guillory Paul Harris 415-285-1882 Federal Lawsuit Being Served on Pechanga's Tribal Council Temecula, CA- A Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus is being served on the Tribal Council of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians. The Petition names the current members of the Pechanga Tribal Council, including Chairman Mark Macarro, as Respondents for the Tribal Council's actions in violating the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 ("ICRA").* The Petition was filed in Federal Court by descendants of Paulina Hunter, who was retroactively stripped of her Pechanga citizenship.

All of her descendants, numbering over 100 tribal members, have also been disenrolled from their Tribe. (Disenrollment means the stripping of their tribal citizenship, and effective banishment from their Tribe.) Pechanga Tribal officials ignored the findings of the Tribe's retained anthropologist, who concluded that Paulina Hunter was one of the original Pechanga tribal members when the Tribe was formally recognized by the U.S. Government in the 1800s. The Petition cites numerous violations of ICRA, which was passed by Congress to provide basic civil rights to Indians on Indian Reservations. It's because the U.S. Bill of Rights does not apply on reservations that ICRA was enacted; to "protect individual Indians from arbitrary and unjust actions of tribal governments." Specifically, the Tribal Council's actions denied the Hunter descendants of due process and equal protection of the laws; inflicted cruel and unusual punishment; deprived the Hunter descendants of property without due process; and violated freedom of speech protections.

The Tribal Council also refused to comply with a "duly-enacted Tribal Resolution" stopping the wholesale denationalization of its citizens. These actions also constitute a "severe and continuing detention" and "restraint on Petitioners' liberty". The Petition requests that the Court issue orders directing the Pechanga Tribal Council to free the Hunter descendants from the restraints on their liberty and to invalidate the illegal stripping of their Indian citizenship. * The case is known as Jeffredo et al. vs. Macarro et al., US District Court-Central District of California, Case # CV 07 1851 JFW (PLAX).

Did Pechanga Corruption Lead to Snubbing of Prez on the Rez?

Were many Democratic Candidates looking to avoid embarrassing questions about actions by Pechanga to disenroll 25% of their tribe? At least Dennis Kucinich had the balls to stand up against disenrollments.

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070823/a_eline23.art.htm


Candidates snub Indian forum in Calif.
A presidential forum set for today at the Morongo Band of Mission Indians reservation in Southern California has attracted only three of the eight Democratic candidates: Bill Richardson, Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich.
The absence of top-tier candidates — Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois and former senator John Edwards of North Carolina — shows the leading contenders continue to take the small and usually Democratic Indian vote for granted, organizers say.
"If they won't come talk to us now, they certainly won't be responsive to us if they get in the White House," said Kalyn Free, a Choctaw from Oklahoma who is organizing the Democratic forum, called "Prez on the Rez."
Top contenders said they could not attend because of scheduling conflicts. The event is the first attempt to bring a presidential debate to Indian country.
Tribes contributed $7.6 million to federal candidates in 2006, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. They spent $16.7 million on Washington lobbying last year.
"They have gone from being the poor sisters of American politics to being more politically influential," said John Kenneth White, a political scientist at Catholic University in Washington. "The challenge they've had is how to be effective politically and savvy politically."
— Diana Marrero,Gannett News Service

Letter in Opposition to Pechanga Land Transfer

Please help to keep Pechanga from getting a reward for violating the civil rights of it's people:

August 1, 2007 Senator Dianne Feinstein VIA US Mail and Facsimile United States Senate331 Hart Senate Office BuildingWashington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3841Fax: (202) 228-3954

Re: HR 2963 Bill to Transfer Land to the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission IndiansDear Senator Feinstein: It has come to my attention that you may be considering sponsorship of HR 2963 (Issa) which would transfer land to the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians in Riverside County, California.

I urge you to reconsider this course of action and review the letters previously forwarded in opposition to HR 2963 (previously HR 28) as well as its predecessor, HR 3507. In addition, I would like to draw your attention to a letter dated May 10, 2006 which was your response to opposition letters addressed to you and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, of which you were a member.

Specifically, you responded that you would “keep our concerns in mind as HR 3507 is debated in committee” and you also agreed that “Native Americans should not be denied their fundamental civil rights”- something Pechanga Tribal Officials have done on a grand scale.

While those who opposed HR 2963 were denied the opportunity to testify in opposition to the bill in the House of Representatives, I and many others would request that we be given the opportunity to meet with you or a representative of your office to discuss the implications and impacts of HR 2963. We further ask that we be given the courtesy to testify in opposition to HR 2963.

I oppose HR 2963 for several reasons. First of all, HR 2963 does not benefit all the Indians who are associated with or have ties to the cultural and sacred sites located on and within the land proposed to be transferred.

The land should be transferred to all Indians with ties to the cultural and sacred sites. If a transfer occurs that fails to include ownership and use rights for all affected Indians, especially those who have had their human and civil rights violated by actions of Pechanga Tribal Officials, the Pechanga Band will deny access to individuals who have undisputed cultural and lineal ties to the sacred sites seeking to be protected by HR 2963.

I also oppose HR 2963 based on the Pechanga Band’s actions to deprive and deny individuals of their human and civil rights. No entity that participates in, supports, or otherwise partakes in human and/or civil rights violations should benefit from the public trust. The actions taken by Pechanga Tribal Officials -denial of due process, failure to provide equal protection of the laws, establishment of ex post facto laws, etc.- mirror those which led to the introduction and passage of the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 ("ICRA"). As you know, the ICRA was intended to “… protect individual Indians from arbitrary and unjust actions of tribal governments” and to secure for the individual American Indian the broad constitutional rights afforded all other American citizens.

However, Pechanga Tribal officials have hid behind the Tribe’s sovereignty to escape prosecution and to prevent the victims of their actions from seeking recourse for the injury and harm resulting from the human and civil rights violations. Although the tribal officials may be immune from suit, this does not equate to innocence of action.

Additionally, I would ask you to take a hard look at lands previously transferred to trust for the Pechanga Band. Specifically, the Great Oak Ranch was transferred with the intent of protecting it and its invaluable resources from a proposed transmission line project that threatened to negatively impact the Great Oak and other resources.

The Pechanga Band spent a great amount of time and money lobbying Congress to protect the Great Oak Ranch, and it was stressed that the Pechanga Band had no intent in changing the use of the ranch. In fact, Congressman Issa introduced at least one bill to protect the Great Oak and the Great Oak Ranch from the transmission project.

Today, with the Great Oak and the Great Oak Ranch spared from the transmission line project and the property transferred into trust, a portion of the Ranch has been turned into a staging area for on-going construction projects both on the Ranch and associated with the casino complex. The character of the Ranch has been drastically changed and in no way reflects the “no change in use” mantra used by Pechanga officials in lobbying Congress, your office, and federal agencies for its protection and transfer to trust.

In light of the issues presented above, I must oppose HR 2963, and I ask to meet with you to discuss these issues

Respectfully submitted,

GREED not Heritage Was the Issue at Redding Rancheria

The late Virginia Timmons was among the 17 Indians still living on the Redding Rancheria when it was disbanded by federal order in 1959, one of the sad milestones of the Indian experience in California.

Her daughter, Lorena, was among the 130 original members enrolled in the tribal group after its reestablishment 24 years later, a restoration that came about partly through the efforts of her grandson, Bob Foreman.

To this day, many of Virginia Timmons’ 75 descendants remember her as the cheerful woman they called “Nano.” She loved the music of Elvis and used to startle guests by uttering phrases from a near-forgotten tribal language in her sleep. Many of her offspring have served the rancheria as members of the tribal council, executives of its health clinic, administrators of its educational programs or managers of its thriving Win-River casino.

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By almost any measure, Timmons’ family would have to be ranked among the leading clans of the Redding Rancheria, which sits on 30 acres of land in the shadow of Mt. Shasta. So one can only imagine their dismay at the movement to kick them all out of the tribal organization.

“Our history’s always been here,” says Carla Maslin, one of Virginia Timmons’ great-granddaughters. “I think it’s a crime when people start trying to take others’ heritage away.”

Maslin’s father, Bob Foreman -- the same man who was instrumental in reestablishing the tribe -- is more succinct. “It’s greed,” he says. “Out and out, that’s what it is.”

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Foreman, now 67, is alluding to the feature of tribal life that hangs over the so-called disenrollment case like a shroud: the disbursement of roughly $3,000 that every tribal member receives from the casino each month. Disenrolling the family, which could cut the size of the tribe to about 186 members from 261, could consequently mean an increase of about 40%, or $1,200, in every remaining member’s monthly take.

“This proves the truth of an old Chinese aphorism, ‘You never really know someone until you share an inheritance with them,’ ” says the family’s Las Vegas-based lawyer, Michael V. Stuhff.

Tribal representatives say the case is not about money, but about the tribe’s legitimate interest in establishing its own identity under conditions in which there just happens to be money at stake. “If the Foremans have produced any evidence other than the circumstances to suggest this is about money, I’d like to know what it is,” says David Rapport, the tribe’s outside lawyer.

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It’s unclear whether the Redding situation is a harbinger of more such conflicts over tribal membership. Only a handful of disenrollment cases have arisen in California in recent years, including a Pechanga reservation case that reportedly has been dropped. “The incidence rate in California is pretty amazingly low,” says Michael Pfeffer, executive director of Oakland-based California Indian Legal Services, an independent agency providing a neutral hearing officer in the Redding case.

Still, it’s only now becoming widely appreciated how burgeoning casino wealth means that tribal membership might confer not merely cultural identity but substantial financial reward too.

The challenge to the Foreman family dates to June 2002, when the tribal council received two letters alleging that Virginia Timmons bore no children. The letters, which were written by an elderly tribal member named Dorothy Dominguez shortly before her death, implicitly attacked the bona fides not only of Timmons’ only child, Lorena (who was born in 1916 and died in 1995), but of Lorena’s five children, their 17 offspring and the two generations that have followed.

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The family contends that Dominguez, who they openly deride as an aged, bitter alcoholic, could not have had any grounds to challenge Lorena’s parentage. Among other things, they say that Dominguez was 16 years younger than Lorena and therefore not in any position to know the circumstances of her birth. They contend the 10-member tribal council -- which currently includes three Foreman family members -- should have rejected the allegation out of hand.

Instead, an enrollment committee examined Lorena’s file and determined that it included neither a birth nor a baptismal certificate. The panel asked the family to provide such documentation, even though it would have been highly unusual for an Indian born in 1916 to have had a formal birth certificate.

The Foremans delved deep into dusty family and public archives. They turned up federal Indian records, census rolls and other contemporary references establishing Lorena’s lineage. They offered up pages from the Foreman family Bible recording births and deaths, all of this from a period in which there could be no conceivable gain, financial or otherwise, from fabricating such a familial relationship. They even exhumed Virginia Timmons’ body, obtaining a bone sample for a DNA test that established a statistically likely maternal link between Timmons and one of Lorena’s living children.

Despite this mountain of evidence, the tribe has continued to press the disenrollment case, raising the family’s suspicions about its motives. The Foremans believe the chief threat to its standing, however, is not the question of documentation, but the quasi-judicial procedures the tribe has established in the matter. These include a merging of an evidentiary hearing before the tribal council with a general vote on the disenrollment by a secret ballot of all adult tribal members present later this month.

With the hearing and the balloting combined, the family fears they are being set up to lose a massively self-interested vote. Their concern is intensified by the tribe’s plan to bar the Foremans from voting, on the grounds that they have a direct financial interest in the outcome.

As for the financial interest of the rest of the tribe, the council argues that it’s only indirect and should not have a bearing on the general right to vote.



“They’re trying to dress this up so it looks like a hearing with evidence,” Stuhff says. “I’d call it a kangaroo court, but that would be unfair to Australian marsupials.”

Rapport counters that the system has been in place for several years, and that it has been applied to at least one other family. (Its three members were disenrolled.) At the session, set for Sept. 27, the Foremans will have a full opportunity to present their evidence, he adds.

“The tribe enacted a procedure and they’re following it in good faith,” Rapport says. “If the Foremans are right and their argument is persuasive, they should win.”


Family members aren’t as confident that the outcome will be just.

Says Carla Maslin, whose earliest memories include the mimosa trees in the front of her great-grandmother’s house and the blackberries she and the other children picked out back: “I watch my two grandchildren and know I’m looking at our future, while we’re also looking at our past. I’ve never been involved in anything so hurtful.”

Letter to Senator Barbara Boxer

Please copy and send to Senator

Dear Senator Boxer:

Please accept this letter as a formal request to meet and discuss regarding the ever growing number of human and civil rights violations occurring in California Indian Country. Specifically, I would like to provide you with information on this growing problem and propose possible solutions which would ensure that individuals are afforded equal protections of the laws.

Congress has passed several laws which were originally intended to stamp out lawlessness in Indian Country and provide the victims of human and civil rights abuses a means to protect and preserve those rights. For example, in 1968, Congress passed the Indian Civil Rights Act (“ICRA”). The ICRA was a federal statute which was intended to extend constitutional rights to individual Indians and thereby “protect individual Indians from arbitrary and unjust actions of tribal governments.”

However, the ICRA failed to include an effective enforcement mechanism whereby aggrieved individuals could hold the offending tribal government or official accountable for violations of the ICRA. And, in spite of the express prohibitions listed in the ICRA, tribal officials have oppressed a growing number of Indian and non-Indian individuals. Violations of the ICRA committed include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Denied individuals of due process.
2. Failed to provide equal protection of tribal, state, and federal laws.
3. Subjected individuals to ex post facto laws.

And, sadly enough, California Tribes such as the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, Enterprise Rancheria, Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, the Jamul Indian Village , and Redding Rancheria--among numerous others--are leading the way.
The very circumstances which necessitated the ICRA’s introduction and enactment have once again taken root in Indian Country, and each day that passes finds more and more United States citizens being deprived of the basic human and civil rights provided for in the ICRA, the United States Constitution, and tribal laws.

Individuals are also being deprived of all the benefits and privileges afforded Federally Recognized Indians. These benefits and privileges include, but are not limited to, the ability to participate in tribal elections and tribal business; access to medical care; access to senior care; access to schooling and education assistance; access to health and life insurance benefits; and access to per capita distribution payments.

More importantly, their identity as members of federally recognized tribes—including their culture, heritage, and tradition--has been stolen even though their existence as legitimate Indian People can be undeniably verified through federal and tribal documents.

Now, more than in any time since the passage of the ICRA, Congress must exercise its plenary authority to protect the basic human and civil rights of individuals from the arbitrary and unjust actions of tribal officials. The continued and unabated abuses of Federal, State and Tribal laws by tribal officials show complete disregard for Congress’ desire and intent when passing the ICRA- to provide a means of redress to Indians aggrieved by tribal officials.

It is imperative that the basic rights of individuals be protected from further transgressions, and until such time these basic rights are recognized and upheld on par with those of other United States citizens, a growing number of individuals will be subjected to the same types of arbitrary and unjust acts Congress intended to outlaw decades ago.

I therefore respectfully request a meeting with you or a representative of your office to discuss the growing number of violations of human and civil rights which are occurring in California Indian Country. I will be eagerly awaiting a response.

Respectfully submitted,

Native Hearts: Story From Pechanga

From: Paulina Hunter's blog

Native Hearts: Stories from Pechanga
Please READ and forward to all your Native friends.

From Native Angels Blog:

With all this disenrollment going on my Rez in Pechanga I've had many of my people from the tribe and surrounding tribes come and talk and give their support from one Native heart to another. It's amazing you know to see your own people that you were sure you knew through new eyes.
I think the worst part of what I've come to realize from my disenrollment is how few Native people can really see what has been taken from me. It's a shame so many of our people are being blinded by money.But what keeps me going are those of you feel my heartache like your own without me having to say a word.
Thats what I mean when I say Native heart, I've found I can see it in the eyes. Eyes that express emotions shared by Native hearts from a shared pain that runs so deep in our souls we've come to recognize one another by the fire it feeds. I must thank everyone of you who come to me no different then you ever have, and those who come right out and bring it up, or ask how my family is, and most of all, all of you who say "FUCK UM!!" before I ever have too.
In fact I ran into an old friend in the casino last night (hey, it's still mine & where my friends are) I have not seen since it happened and I got to thank him because its people like him who keep me going like nothings changed and remind me of why I love my people so. He comes up to me and the one of the first things he says is " Hey they disenrolled you huh? So how'd that feel?" I was suprised because that was the first time I was ever asked that. To make it even better all I got to say in response was "Man, guy it still..." then he cut me off and said how he couldn't believe they did that to me and how its so fu**** up and not to worry because they will pay for it in the end.
How now all we do is watch them ruin it for all Pechanga cause they can't even see it happening. And therein lies my strength my friends are what holds me up. All of you who say this money ain't worth it and you'd give it up and be poor again just to go back to the days when we all watched over and took care of each other. The ones who love "Rez Life" because it was our life. Something these ones will never know nothing about probably wouldn't want to might disgust them the way we live. But to us it just looks like HOME,baby.Thats what we love not this casino shit.
Keep the $ just give me back my people!! I am grateful for all of you who bother to care for even a moment.
All my Love & all my Life for you, My People.

American Indian Rights & Resources Org. MEETING

Special Meeting of American Indian Rights & Resources Org.
Notice of Special Meeting of the
American Indian Rights & Resources Organization

AIRRO will host a special meeting of the membership on
Saturday, July 14, 2007
in Sacramento, CA


The meeting will coincide with the meeting of the
California Democratic Party's Executive Board Meeting

Several important Resolutions regarding Indian Rights are scheduled to be heard at the Executive Board Meeting.

Agenda Items for the Special Meeting include the following:

1. Elections for Board of Directors
2. Discuss amendments to AIRRO Bylaws
3. Establish Election Committee for Amendment vote
4. Rights Issues in Indian Country


Please check your emails for additional information on the Special AIRRO Membership Meeting and the CDP Executive Board Meeting.

Exact place (including directions) and time of the Special Meeting will be forwarded in a future email.

Sacto Pols Should Protect CA Election Law via Compacts

There should be no new amended compacts at this time. The BIG FIVE are making plenty of money for their tribes, Pechanga especially so as they have less tribal members now than they did when their compacts were created.

Sacramento Politicians Should Use Gaming Compacts to Protect California Election Law
By Ned WigglesworthPolicy AdvocateCalifornia Common Cause

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2007/06/sacramento_poli.html

The five southern California tribes currently seeking permission to vastly expand their gambling empires have spent millions of dollars on California politics and elections to achieve their goal. By now, every Californian has seen the flapping eagle that was a component of Morongo’s planned $20 million TV campaign to win expansion approval. Some might also remember “Team 2006”, the $10 million independent expenditure committee funded by the tribes last fall to extract political retribution when the tribes’ expansion agreements stalled in the Assembly.
This combination of brute financial intimidation and dupe-the-public ad campaign has brought these gaming tribes to the threshold of their objective: permission to triple the number of slots in their casinos. Not-so-quiet whispers in the corridors of the Capitol suggest that the Legislature is about to cave into the tribes, demonstrating yet again the power of the dollar in Sacramento.
But even as these tribes have spent tens of millions of dollars to impact California law, they have sought in the state’s courts to exempt themselves from California laws regulating election and political spending. (Apparently, this is how much audacity a $10 million political warchest will buy you.) This self-serving exceptionalism – “the law applies to you, but not to us” – could be stopped in its tracks if the Governor and Legislature demanded that any gaming compacts between the tribes and the state included agreement by the tribes to abide by the laws protecting California’s political process.
Now, one of the five tribes with an expansion proposal, the Agua Caliente of Palm Springs—the same tribe deeply involved in the Abramoff bribery scandal, has quietly positioned itself to continue arguing its privileged status in front of the US Supreme Court, a petition now scheduled for July 28, AFTER it gains its permission for a huge gambling expansion in Sacramento.

Despicable Pechanga's Tribal Purge

http://www.laweekly.com/news/dissonance/tribal-purge/16628/

Gloria Romero is becoming the lap-dog of tribal nations like Pechanga, who have destroyed more Indians than the white man. Well, except that they HAVE A WHITE MAN on their council, so he could be the single most Indian-destroyer of the century. Butch the Indian destroyer. Senator Romero, congratulations for being connected to the destroyer of Indian lives.



Tribal Purge
State Dems back gambling-rich Indians’ greedy wars of expansion

By MARC COOPER
Wednesday, June 13, 2007 - 7:30 pm


YOU KNOW LOCAL, EASTSIDE STATE Senator Gloria Romero, right? The feisty Democratic majority leader in the California Senate? The highest-ranking woman in the state Legislature? Ardent defender of civil liberties, consumers, workers, minorities? Fearless reformer of prisons and rogue police forces? Great.Now you can add another title: Gloria Romero, faithful in-the-bag servant of wealthy gambling interests.Romero has written and is carrying an onerous piece of legislation titled “Unlawful Entry: Tribal Land” that would allow California Indian tribes to issue stiff fines against non-tribal members entering what are called “Indian Lands.”

The uninitiated here might be scratching their heads asking: Exactly what problem does this bill solve? Aren’t “non-tribal members” just the usual endless flow of pasty-faced patsies hurriedly tooling through the rez eagerly trying to get to the slot machines? Or has there been some unreported invasion of Indian holdings by a Palm Springs cattle-rustling gang?Hardly.

What the tribes are worried about are, in fact, their own members — members who have been booted out of the clan and who still live on the rez or might want to visit family members who do. Booted out, by the way, because the tribal bosses don’t want to share juicy gambling revenues with them. Some of these “disenrolled” members are now among the strongest voices opposing Romero’s bill — arguing that it will be one more cudgel that gambling tribes will use to whip up their profit rates.

The result, they say, will be hundreds of the disenrolled getting evicted from their homes, and then banned from visiting relatives who stay behind.Paranoia? I don’t think so. The casino-owning Pechanga tribe in the Temecula area, for example, has purged some 400 members since 2004, about one-third of its population. And why not? The monthly stipend handed out to enrolled members from casino profits has reportedly doubled since then, now topping out at a handsome $30,000 per month per person. The Pechanga purge was a nasty, Sopranos-like affair — digging up relatives’ graves and scanning the remains for DNA. The tribe hired an independent consultant to oversee the probe and authenticate tribal bloodlines. But when his report revealed that those on the purge list were, indeed, authentic Pechanga Indians, his recommendations and findings were simply ignored and dozens of families lost their income — and their heritage — anyway.

Erosion of Tribal Sovereignty: Pechanga Led?

San Manuel takes care of their people, Pechanga hurt their people. Do you think that the court ruled against a good tribe, or to start taking the side of those who need help?


Court decision goes against San Manuel casino
10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 12, 2007
By KIMBERLY PIERCEALLThe Press-Enterprise

A federal appeals court has refused to revisit a decision by a three-judge panel involving the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians that could have broad implications for tribal sovereignty and labor relations.
OP: Are you payint attention, Pechanga?

The tribe said Tuesday it was disappointed with the ruling but was not sure what its next move would be. One option could be an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"We've not had a chance to confer with our counsel or our governing body," said Jacob L. Coin, director of tribal communications.
Story continues below

2005 / The Press-Enterprise
An appeals court has refused to rehear a ruling by a three-judge panel in a case involving the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians that gives a federal labor board jurisdiction over tribal casinos.
If the ruling stands, it could force tribes to allow union organizers and picketing on their reservations -- long considered sovereign land not under federal oversight.
In 2004, the National Labor Relations Board ruled it had jurisdiction over the tribe's casinos after two labor unions clashed while attempting to organize casino workers.
According to a labor ordinance that was adopted when most tribes signed gambling compacts with the state in 2000, workers at tribal casinos are barred from striking and unfair labor complaints must be taken up with the tribal government, not the federal government.
While a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia agreed that tribal sovereignty should be preserved, it ruled in February that the National Labor Relations Board should have jurisdiction over tribal casinos because workers at the casinos are not necessarily members of a tribe.
On Friday, the full appeals court denied the tribe's request to hear their case.
Reach Kimberly Pierceall at 951-368-9552 or kpierceall@PE.com

Artist Offers Sculpture to inspire Healing of Disenrolled Pechanga Members

Artist offers sculpture to inspire discussion, healing to disenrolled Pechanga members By: NICOLE SACK - Staff Writer

DE LUZ -- Call it a peace offering, a catalyst for discussion or simply art. Whatever is said of Austin Casson's latest sculpture, he hopes the piece will get people talking. Casson, a 60-year-old De Luz resident, has dedicated his work titled "The Healing" to the Pechanga people and the disenrollment that led to the ouster of 240 tribal members in less than two years, between 2004 and 2006.
Casson worked on the 24-inch-tall sculpture for 10 months and the piece will soon be sent to the foundry, where 35 copies will be cast in bronze. However, one of those sculptures has already been reserved for a specific purpose: "It will be a gift to the tribe for the first meeting of elders that includes both sides of the enrollment debate -- not for a meeting with lawyers or with politicians, but of tribal members," Casson said. "All I can offer is my art."
The sculpture depicts a Golden Eagle in a "manteling" position -- a posture birds of prey assume when they are protecting something important to them. The eagle encircles his wings around a ring of eight figures representing Pechanga tribal members. Casson said he chose the Golden Eagle because it is indigenous to the Temecula area, but more than that, the proud bird of prey also embodies qualities most people aspire to have. "They mate for life, they protect their young. They are true hunters and live long lives," he said of the bird with a typical wingspan of 6 feet and 6 inches.
Casson, who has been a sculptor for 20 years, said he began to consider the ramifications of the Pechanga disenrollment after he spoke with an ousted tribal elder. "He said to me, 'I was raised Pechanga. I was raised to believe I was a person of worth within the tribe. Now what?'" Casson said, recalling the conversation. "I began to think what would happen to his family, his children and his grandchildren. Are they no longer Indians?" The family most recently disenrolled from the tribe was the Hunter family, a group of nearly 100 adults that trace their lineage to Paulina Hunter, who was listed on tribal rolls in the late 19th century. That group lost an appeal to remain in the tribe in August. An additional 133 adult members formerly with the tribe, who can trace their lineage to Temecula pioneer and Luiseno Indian Pablo Apis, were released from the band in 2004.
The two disenrollments center around disputes over the legitimacy of the Hunter and Apis clans' heritage with the Pechanga band, according the Pechanga enrollment committee. However, John Gomez Jr., a spokesman for the disenrolled Apis family members, says greed and money were the reason to purge the rolls. The tribe and its 1,000 members own and operate the Pechanga Resort & Casino, which sits southeast of Temecula and is one of the most successful Indian gaming ventures in California. Members reportedly receive approximately $20,000 per month from casino revenue shares. Disenrollment not only strips the members of their membership in the tribe, but also takes away health insurance, college scholarships and other benefits. The Pechanga Tribal Council issued a statement via e-mail on the disenrollments Monday: "This disenrollment occurred more than three years ago," the statement read. "Understandably, some of them filed lawsuits challenging the disenrollment. But five state and federal courts -- including the California and U.S. Supreme Courts -- rejected the claims. Our people are moving forward and focusing on the future." Gomez said Casson's sculpture holds special meaning, but he isn't sure if anything will bring together the disputing sides of the disenrollment debate. "Could that happen? Could there be a meeting of the current tribal council and those who have had their human rights violated by their actions?" Gomez asked. "I think a meeting would be difficult, but not impossible." -- Contact staff writer Nicole Sack at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or nsack@californian.com

Shame of the Cherokee Nation

It's the same shame that should be written about the Pechanga Tribe of Temecula. 2800 descendents is about less than 1/2 of one percent of the Cherokee Tribe. Pechanga shamefully eliminated 25% of their tribe.

New York Times June 8, 2007 Editorial

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/08/opinion/08fri3.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The Shame of the Cherokee Nation

Many members of Congress were rightly outraged by the Cherokee Nation’s decision earlier this year to revoke the tribal citizenship of about 2,800 descendants of slaves once owned by the tribe. The tribe’s leaders have since tried to avoid any punishment by restoring partial rights to some black members. Congress should disregard that ruse and move ahead with legislation that would force the Cherokee to comply with their treaty obligations and court decisions that guarantee black members full citizenship rights, including the right to vote and hold tribal office. This dispute dates back to the 19th century, when Cherokee, Seminole and Creek signed treaties with the federal government that required them to accept their freedmen — many of whom had mixed black and Indian parentage — as full tribal members in return for recognition as sovereign nations.

The tribes have repeatedly sought to abridge black Indian rights, but the treaties have been repeatedly upheld in federal court. Black tribal rights were also upheld last year in the Cherokee tribe’s own supreme court. Then the tribe voted to expel black members. This could potentially deprive them of their cherished tribal identities, along with access to medical, housing and tribal benefits. Representative Diane Watson, Democrat of California, is circulating a draft of a bill that would strip the Cherokee of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid, and suspend the tribe’s gaming rights, until it returns black members to full citizenship. The bill would also require the Department of the Interior — which has dragged its feet on this issue — to report to Congress on the status of freedmen’s rights in all tribes. It is shameful that the Cherokee have to be pressured into restoring the rights of their own black citizens. But that clearly is what is needed.

Pechanga Gamble will Hurt ALL Californians

This gamble will hurt all Californians
BY KATHRYN BOWEN, Guest ColumnistLA Daily News
Article Last Updated:06/02/2007 05:02:31 PM PDT
WHOEVER coined the phrase "Ignorance is bliss" must have been talking about the 35 million Californians trusting that their elected officials are actually doing their jobs with respect to gambling casinos run by Indian tribes in our state.

"Bliss" is what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been selling the public while he sells the state down the river by granting the largest expansion of gambling in history to five casino tribes.
In the wake of Californians' support of Proposition 1A, former Gov. Gray Davis negotiated gambling compacts with Indian tribes. Millions of voters succumbed to a brilliant marketing campaign in which casino tribes invested nearly $100 million, equal to a presidential election, to persuade voters to change our state constitution and direct gambling monopolies to Indian tribes.
I was one of those voters.
But here's the bad news. At this moment, our elected representatives in California are about to vote on whether to grant five casino tribes, consisting of just 1,876 people, the ability to expand willy-nilly despite the impact on our communities, families, children and ultimately the financial future of California.

This is just the beginning; 67 additional tribes with gaming compacts are waiting in the wings.
The reality is the revenue promised for the state through gambling expansion will not materialize. The expected income is neither measurable, nor is its collection enforceable.
Thousands of e-mails, letters, phone calls and exhaustive testimony attempting to alert our elected officials of endless issues regarding jurisdiction, regulation, accounting and disastrous social costs have fallen on deaf ears.

The reason for the hearing loss? Could it be the massive unregulated tribal contributions flowing into political campaigns of the majority of our elected officials in our state Capitol?
Tribes poured $429,600 into the campaigns of just 15 Assembly members who held a hearing on problematic regulatory issues with the compacts and will be key in deciding their fate. How impartial can they really be when taking money from the same tribes that will benefit from their vote?

Making matters worse, the Minimum Internal Control Standards, the only federal regulatory leg left to oversee the integrity of the games and to collect the money, has been eliminated from the compacts.

http://www.dailynews.com/theiropinion/ci_6046596