Gov. Jerry Brown Monday announced the signing of an updated state gaming compact with the Pala Band of Mission Indianss in northeastern San Diego County. Brown made no mention of the abuses at Pala, and the lack of oversight of Robert Smith's council.
The agreement, which sets terms under which the tribe can operate the Pala Casino, supersedes a contract signed a dozen years ago.
It authorizes the tribe to operate 2,500 slot machines, an increase of 500 over the prior agreement. The casino has no plans to add gaming devices at the current time, however, spokesman Jack Taylor said.
Provisions in the compact cover revenue sharing with and mutual support of local jurisdictions for fire, emergency medical services, law enforcement, public transit, infrastructure improvements, education and other services that serve the needs of the community, according to the governor's office.
It also includes terms to stimulate investments in renewable energy, recycling or water conservation projects, non-gaming-related economic development and health care facilities that provide a mutual benefit to the tribe and the local community.
The Pala Band will also continue to share revenue with tribes that don't operate casinos.
The governor's office said the agreement is consistent with recent compacts reached with other casino-operating tribes, the professionalism of the tribe's regulators, and their constructive relationship with state gaming regulators.
15 comments:
Oh moonbeam's pocket must be growing too.
How about the FUCK the Members clause is it still the same?
Jerry Brown ignored all the rampant crime at Pechanga Resort and Casino when he was State Attorney General, why should he hold a different opinion now; they are given lobbyist dollars to look the other way. Money not only talks, it swears, like a MF...
Gov. Brown also ignored a public comment from the Agua Caliente Tribe of Cupeno Indians requesting that any renegotiation of the Tribal State Compact be suspended pending an investigation of serious alleged IGRA violations by the Pala Gaming Authority in its operation of the Pala Casino Resort and Spa. For some inexplicable reason the authorities with the duty of regulatory enforcement have overlooked the fact that the Pala Executive Committee has interests in the ownership and Management of a licensed gaming enterprise in their roles as the Pala Gaming Authority.
The IGRA explicitly prohibits elected tribal officers from holding personal interest in licensed gaming enterprises. It is the duty of the NIGC and the California Gaming Control Commission to uphold and enforce the IGRA, yet both agencies have purposely overlooked the violation at Pala even after receiving formal notification of the alleged offenses and formal request to conduct an investigation.
So what good are the regulations if they are not enforced? It appears that the only function the IGRA serves is to enable tribes to participate in gaming, and that the only function of the NIGC is to perpetuate a system where tribal leaders reap millions from gaming and use the money to harm their own members.
The proof is in the pudding so to speak. Look around at gaming tribes and NIGC enforcement and see if what I am saying it true.
NIGC: National Indian Gatekeepers of Corruption. Just ask Manny Sanchez, NIGC Field Agent of Temecula office; he knows first hand of the corruption at PRC. Here is his NIGC cell number: (951) 719-7149.
Before the Gov. Jerry Brown renews any Compacts he should require the Tribes to conduct an Audit of all gamming revenue before he approves a new deal.
Make it part of the new compact, and if you do not agree then you would not be issued a new compact for your Tribe.
Hopefully when Trump wins POTUS he will shut these Indian casinos down!!
What ever you do, do not vote for Trump, he has vowed to close all Indian Casino's before his first term is up.
Closing the Casinos is not a very well thought out idea. Prior to tribal gaming Indians were the poorest and most destitute of all American Citizens. There were rampant social ills such as alcoholism, suicide, and illiteracy. The federally funded programs were (and are) mismanaged and not administrated with the intent of providing for the general welfare of Indians.
If indeed Trump acts to close Indian Casinos, and I don't think he will because Indians have some political influence and would not hesitate to use it, the nation will once again have a welfare class to provide for instead of tax paying citizens, local governments would lose large employers, and states would lose a large chunk of revenue.
I believe you can chalk this one up to rhetoric, and see it as an attempt to curry favor with Americans who feel that tribal gaming is a protected monopoly and that Indians are not entitled to invest in business and profit like other Americans.
There is another problem with this campaign platform. There are other Casinos operating in the U.S., and Trump is invested in the success of the gaming and hospitality business. Is the presidential hopeful going to put himself in the position of saying that these other Casinos are good but Indian Casinos are bad? Indians are not unfamiliar with bigotry, but this kind of action is the kind of thing that would be a violation of civil and human rights that could lead to impeachment.
Anyway in order to close the Casinos the IGRA would have to be repealed, all the State Compacts would have to be revoked and the federal government does not have the power to revoke them, and the Supreme Court decisions would have to be overturned.
Good luck on this one all you bigots out there. Indians have trust land and can operate gaming. It has been determined in the Supreme Court. Such racism is destructive. Find something to build up rather than tearing down beneficial enterprises.
It's not casinos are good, it's that Indian casinos are corrupt and ill-regulated. So shut them down Donald, based on that alone. Yay! Enough said...
Such blanket statements show that you have not actually studied the issues. There are corrupt tribal leaders, but that does not mean that all Indian Casinos are corrupt. The regulatory requirements do work if the tribes comply with them.
As I said before, even if Donald Trump is elected he will not have the power to shut down Indian Casinos. Try researching the Supreme Court cases that established the right of tribes to conduct gaming on trust lands. I'll give you a hint. California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians (1987).
Enough said. Lol.
Reinstatement, there are many Californians that thunk that gambling should be opened up to all, not just tribal. If there was a vote today, I'm betting it would pass. Like all businesses, competition is good for all, even tribes.
I am not saying that it couldn't happen. That is not up to me. The idea that competition is good for all is part of the philosophy of free market economy. Since the American market is regulated, it is often difficult to see the positive impact of competition.
For example, large corporations are hard at work thwarting the free market and stifling competition. Rather than compete, they buy out the competition claiming that all benefit from these mergers and acquisitions. The truth is that it weakens the market, make companies bloated and slow to respond to market changes, inflates stock prices without adding tangible value, and the only parties that really profit are the shareholders.
Competition in the gaming market in California would drive some very unfavorable changes. Most Indian Casinos would be at a huge disadvantage because in general California Casinos are located in out of the way places. If customers can do their gambling closer to the urban centers they will. So instead of fostering competition, such changes in the market would have a devastating impact on tribal gaming, it would seriously dilute the gaming revenue pool, and there would most likely be many marginal enterprises paying small amount of taxes rather than the current flow of tax revenue.
I don't know if anyone cares about these market economy analyses. Most people think the same as you, that competition is good and the strong survive while the weak fail. The Indians have always been at the disadvantage and tribal gaming has proven to be the one method of revenue generation that enabled tribes to pull themselves out of poverty. By seeking to restore the conditions that make tribes destitute the outlook for the future sustainability of America's tribal peoples is dim.
Is that what you are hoping for? The restoration of a welfare class whose hopes for survival are slim and none is not an attractive prospect. Once again I encourage everyone to think of viable solutions driven by Indians to sustain their culture and allow them to regain control of their political authority. It really isn't that hard to do. The problem continues to be the complicity of the BIA with tribal leaders, the failure to intervene with overtly improper disenrollments, the lack of enforcement of regulatory requirements, and the rampant corruption that accompanies the misuse of gaming revenues.
RandR
Poverty is still rampant across Indian Country, with rates 6 times the national average. Also, Native Americans still have the worst health, lowest education, and highest unemployment as compared to the rezt of the US. If you consider that Native Americans are incarcerated and murdered at higher rates than any oyher race in America, and that poverty has a dire t correlation to crime, coupled with racialized violence being that Native are more likely to be murdered and raped by a non-Indian, than the idea that tribal gaming has somehow solved these realities is problematic and erases many realities that persist, tribal gaming is not everywhere, and of the tribes that do operate tribal gaming businesses only a small portii (I would guess 20%) hand out per capitia payments to their tribal citizens. So why the rant? Stereotyoes are dangerous and blanket statementz that concern tribal gaming in Indian Country allows pthers to utilize the same mentalnpictures/ideas generated by theae statements against Indians and their communities.
Please don't think I underestimate the condition of Indians in America. There are many tribes that do not participate in tribal gaming, and many that are suffering severe social and economic deprivations. Also tribal gaming is not a cure for social ills. On the other hand having some economic resources at least provides a foundation for the possibility that tribes can do something about the problems with which they are beset.
Simply put the problems were worse when the BIA was in control, tribes had no sources of income except what they got from federal programs and could raise themselves. Ranting against tribal gaming deflects attention from the true culprits. Leaders without morals and conscience who willingly destroy their people and heritage in their pursuit money and power are the correct targets for our disdain. Think of it like a gun which is relatively harmless until loaded, aimed, and discharged with bad intent. Tribal gaming itself is not the evil; it is the abuse of the revenue that harms people.
So forgive me if I advocate tribal gaming as an opportunity to help tribes relieve the conditions that are directly related to poverty and then fight hard against a BIA that is complicit with tribal leaders, against an NIGC that refuses to enforce the regulations, and against tribal leaders who rob their own people. If well used gaming revenue is a boon. Tribal just simply need to become savvy about their politics and participation and realize that leaders are elected, laws can be fixed, and they are in control if they do the hard work.
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