MagicMtnDan
10-14-2003, 04:34 PM
from the Wall Street Journal today, 10/14/03, Alan Murray's column, "Political Capital."
"Mr. Schwarzenegger wants the state to take 25% of all the gambling profits of its American Indian tribes - the same percentage paid by the Connecticut tribes to their state. That is big money. The 40 or so tribes now operating casinos in California pay the state a paltry $140 million a year, but have profits estimated at about $5 billion - more than half as much as the profits of all the casinos in Nevada. The Schwarzenegger proposal would net the state $1.25 billion or more a year."
"The problem is that American Indians don't pay taxes. They live in autonomous regions, yet can vote in U.S. elections. And even more importantly, they can lobby and make campaign contributions - something they have done prodigiously in recent years."
"They were the biggest money players in the recall effort, contributing $11 million - more money than any other interest group. They attacked Mr. Schwarzenegger from both sides, giving roughly $8 million to Democratic Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante, and another $3 million to anti-tax conservative Senator Tom McClintock."
"In addition, the tribes engaged in head-on combat with Mr. Schwarzenegger, running ads to counter his, on the Indian gambling proposal. He accused the tribes of playing "money politics in Sacramento," contributing $120 million to politicians in the past five years. The tribes struck back with ads saying gambling has put them "on the road to self-reliance, with a brighter future for our children...We're thankful to leaders like Cruz Bustamante and Tom McClintock, who listened to our plight and helped us."
"If this were a movie, Mr. Schwarzenegger now would march into the casinos and demand his share of the cash. As governor, however, he will find it more difficult, because his predecessor - who, by the way, received more than $1 million of campaign contributions from the tribes - signed 20-year agreements granting 61 tribes a gambling monopoly and getting little in return. And Mr. Schwarzenegger may find it impossible to reopen these sweet deals."
""Gray Davis gave away the store," says I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California, and an expert in gambling law. "He negotiated a terrible agreement." The new governor's only hope may lie in negotiating better deals with the 30-some tribes still waiting to get their casinos approved."
"The tribal casinos shouldn't be allowed to wield enormous political influence on the one hand, while claiming sovereign exemption from taxation on the other. They ought to pay their fare share of the financial costs of a state that they try so hard to control politically."
"Or to put it another way: No representation without taxation."
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Note: These are excerpts from the article and while it's close to the whole thing it is not.
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Is it just me or does Gray Davis' "negotiation" of the Indian gambling deals smell a lot like Gray Davis' "negotiation" of the long-term energy deals?
I've said all along, now that the scumbag is headed out of office, the REAL truth will begin to emerge and only now will we all find out just how bad things really are here in California.
Gray Davis should be hung for what he's done to this state.
(The $11 million they threw at Bustamante, Davis and McClintock and others was pocket change!)
"Mr. Schwarzenegger wants the state to take 25% of all the gambling profits of its American Indian tribes - the same percentage paid by the Connecticut tribes to their state. That is big money. The 40 or so tribes now operating casinos in California pay the state a paltry $140 million a year, but have profits estimated at about $5 billion - more than half as much as the profits of all the casinos in Nevada. The Schwarzenegger proposal would net the state $1.25 billion or more a year."
"The problem is that American Indians don't pay taxes. They live in autonomous regions, yet can vote in U.S. elections. And even more importantly, they can lobby and make campaign contributions - something they have done prodigiously in recent years."
"They were the biggest money players in the recall effort, contributing $11 million - more money than any other interest group. They attacked Mr. Schwarzenegger from both sides, giving roughly $8 million to Democratic Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante, and another $3 million to anti-tax conservative Senator Tom McClintock."
"In addition, the tribes engaged in head-on combat with Mr. Schwarzenegger, running ads to counter his, on the Indian gambling proposal. He accused the tribes of playing "money politics in Sacramento," contributing $120 million to politicians in the past five years. The tribes struck back with ads saying gambling has put them "on the road to self-reliance, with a brighter future for our children...We're thankful to leaders like Cruz Bustamante and Tom McClintock, who listened to our plight and helped us."
"If this were a movie, Mr. Schwarzenegger now would march into the casinos and demand his share of the cash. As governor, however, he will find it more difficult, because his predecessor - who, by the way, received more than $1 million of campaign contributions from the tribes - signed 20-year agreements granting 61 tribes a gambling monopoly and getting little in return. And Mr. Schwarzenegger may find it impossible to reopen these sweet deals."
""Gray Davis gave away the store," says I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California, and an expert in gambling law. "He negotiated a terrible agreement." The new governor's only hope may lie in negotiating better deals with the 30-some tribes still waiting to get their casinos approved."
"The tribal casinos shouldn't be allowed to wield enormous political influence on the one hand, while claiming sovereign exemption from taxation on the other. They ought to pay their fare share of the financial costs of a state that they try so hard to control politically."
"Or to put it another way: No representation without taxation."
-------------------------------------------
Note: These are excerpts from the article and while it's close to the whole thing it is not.
-------------------------------------------
Is it just me or does Gray Davis' "negotiation" of the Indian gambling deals smell a lot like Gray Davis' "negotiation" of the long-term energy deals?
I've said all along, now that the scumbag is headed out of office, the REAL truth will begin to emerge and only now will we all find out just how bad things really are here in California.
Gray Davis should be hung for what he's done to this state.
(The $11 million they threw at Bustamante, Davis and McClintock and others was pocket change!)