California Indian Tribes Want it Both Ways: Sovereignity that is

Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee has the following piece (free registration required) on California Indian Tribes and their involvement/influence with California state government:

Real life is replete with reminders that we can’t have it both ways. We can’t consume 1,000-calorie fast-food hamburgers each day without gaining weight or exercising vigorously; we can’t drive 100 mph on a crowded freeway without endangering lives; we can’t acquire everything we may desire without paying the bills, declaring bankruptcy or going to jail; we cannot jump off a cliff without smashing into the ground.

Politics, however, is not real life. Indeed, it often seems as though politicians spend their waking moments trying to figure out ways to defy the natural laws of human action – promising their constituents expanded services and benefits without raising taxes, for example. The state’s enormous, ever-growing budget deficits testify to the infinite capacity of politicians to evade reality, or even deny its existence.

They claim the right to participate fully in California politics, having spent tens, and perhaps hundreds, of millions of dollars to secure the passage of monopoly-enhancing ballot measures, become very influential players in legislative politics through campaign contributions and lobbying, and play significant roles in elections for governor and other statewide officials.

No other governments can legally make campaign contributions, however, which would indicate that while the tribes say they are governments, they want to function politically as if they were private corporations. At the same time, some tribes contend that the state cannot compel them to report campaign contributions because they are sovereign governments and therefore exempt from state political regulations. And they resist taxing and regulation of gambling activities and labor union organizing on the same grounds.

A bill making its way through the Legislature with strong bipartisan support testifies to both the gambling tribes’ political clout and their desire to have it both ways.

The legislation, Senate Bill 995, carried by Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, would allow federally recognized tribes to join state and local governments in issuing tax-exempt bonds to finance their construction projects, thus potentially removing a cloud over the tax-free local government bonds that some tribes have tapped by arrangement with city and county governments.

The chief beneficiary, at least immediately, would be the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, which operates a large casino-resort complex in Southern California. The city of Banning, in return for a $1 million fee, provided “conduit financing” for expansion of the Cabazon complex from a municipal bond issue, but the Internal Revenue Service is looking askance at the deal. Last month, the IRS issued a “preliminary adverse determination” that the Cabazon-Banning bonds do not serve “an essential government purpose” as the law requires.

SB 995 whipped through the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee the other day on a bipartisan 6-0 vote and seems destined to land on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk. Its ultimate fate is in doubt, however, because the governor vetoed a similar measure last year, saying he wanted a more comprehensive examination of Indian casino projects and their financing.

Schwarzenegger has forged gambling compacts with some tribes but has a touchy political relationship with others, especially those in Southern California. The Southern California tribes, including the Cabazon Band, contributed heavily against the recall of former Gov. Gray Davis and for Schwarzenegger’s chief rival in the 2003 recall election, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante.

Although they claim sovereignty, and thus exemption from many state laws, the tribes want to use tax-exempt (and therefore taxpayer-subsidized) financing for their resorts. That’s really trying to have it both ways.

The Cabazon Band of Mission Indians are found here.

It is understandable that a group of Native Americans who have been cheated throughout modern American history of their lands and way of life would involve themselves in American governance.

However, since they are participating like other corporate businesses they should willingly comply with election disclosure/limitation and other state and federal laws – when they are acting like a corporation.

They have a right to sovereignity. But, they also have a right to be good corporate citizens of the United States.

The governor should veto SB995 when it reaches his desk. California taxpayers should not be asked to subsidize the financing( tax- exempt financing) for Indian Resorts.