"As the gaming tribes the Pala Band of Mission Indians and the United Auburn Indian Community, is tagged, “It’s amazing what millions in political contributions can get you.”

But if you’re like most California voters by now, you’re thinking it’s amazing what millions in campaign advertising can get. With both sides flaunting the same images – police and fire chiefs, educators, senior citizens, wide-eyed children, and poor non-gaming Native Americans – it’s a shame they can’t get together on anything, at least to share the ads.

Yes For California – the supporters of the propositions – includes many gaming tribes and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. They remind voters (in an upbeat way) that our budget’s in shreds. In one commercial, Schwarzenegger even revives his campaign slogan, “California Indian tribes should pay their fair share,” which when uttered during the gubernatorial election had Native Americans spitting nails. Anthony Miranda, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA), accused Schwarzenegger back then of “blatantly using the tribes as political pawns to help sweep him into office.”

The propositions provide four tribes – the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, and the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation – with a total of 17,000 more slot machines and a 10-year extension on their compacts, due to expire in 2020. They agree to pay up to 25 percent of the slot machine revenues, an estimated $9 billion over 20 years.

Perhaps one of the sorriest aspects to this, apart from watching the gaming tribes go at it so bitterly, is that Schwarzenegger’s many campaign promises to balance the budget and repay California for the opportunities he himself enjoyed as a young immigrant have deteriorated down to this: How much gaming can California voters stand? That’s become the governor’s vision for the future. Seventeen-thousand slot machines. Take it or leave it. "

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A Fixed Hand (The LA City Beat 1/31)