Editorial: Oppose Graton Rancheria casino

Wednesday, May 30, 2007  

"Plans by an Indian tribe and powerful Las Vegas gaming firm intent on ramming a gargantuan casino complex onto farmland west of Rohnert Park demonstrate how bad laws, money and political influence are overwhelming, and ultimately ruining local communities in California. Whether this troubling statewide trend can be stopped or slowed before it wreaks havoc on southern Sonoma County is unknown, but it’s worth fighting to prevent this beautiful piece of the North Bay from being transformed into a traffic-choked gambling Mecca.

The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and their tribal leader, Greg Sarris, saw a golden opportunity to make a small mountain of cash by partnering with gambling kingpin Lorenzo Fertitta, president of Station Casinos Inc., a billion-dollar gambling enterprise that operates several casinos in and around Las Vegas.

Sarris and his well-heeled partners have since hired a host of powerful lobbyists who are walking the hallways in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., quietly greasing the skids for what would become the single largest development in Sonoma County history. They have also cultivated the support of many powerful business and community leaders here in Sonoma County, who have formed a separate non-profit organization to lobby for the casino development. Several of these folks became supporters of the casino development once the tribe and Station Casinos started throwing money around in the form of donations. Example: Dan Schurman, executive director of the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, a wetlands preservation group, decided to say nothing about the massive environmental degradation the development will cause after the tribe handed him a check for $100,000 to fund wetlands education efforts."

Get the Story:
Casino threat draws closer (The Petaluma Argus-Courier 5/30)