Barstow casino scheme has stalled since 2005; aging Schwarzenegger agreements set to expire soon absent swift ratification

Last year, Marian Ilitch’s Detroit-based casino syndication team vowed they would win approval of their scheme for dual Indian casinos in Barstow when the California Legislature reconvened this month in Sacramento. In reality they're no closer than they were a year ago, they have no measureable progress to report and some would argue they faced a major setback when Senator Wes Chesbro, the author of legislation to approve their agreements and the only passionate supporter of their cause, was termed out of office last fall. The aging agreements they negotiated with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005 are set to expire this legislative session if they aren't approved by both the Assembly and Senate soon.

In lieu of anything substantive to signal real progress in the California Legislature, the best the Ilitch team could do this past week was issue press releases filled with "spin" in an attempt to convince reporters and others that they are committed and making progress; and pose a veiled threat to the legislature.

As the 2007 legislative session gets underway, Ilitch and company find themselves at the same place they were a year ago – holding aging agreements signed by Schwarzenegger in 2005, absent an author or the introduction of legislation to serve as the vehicle for approval of those agreements and without crucial public commitments from any additional Sacramento lawmakers to support their scheme.

Among other triggers, the agreements Schwarzenegger has autographed are of no value unless ratified by the legislature soon. Failing to win ratification last year, the Ilitch crew has just months to make it happen.

The Ilitch organization, its two tribal partners and three Sacramento lobbying firms have failed to make any progress of their own, but have successfully blocked any other parties from making progress on alternative plans for casino development in Barstow – the halfway point between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Wes Chesbro, former state Senator, the author legislation to approve their Barstow scheme in the 2006 session. Chesbro’s term expired in 2006 and term limits prohibited him from seeking re-election. Ilitch and her Native American partners, the Big Lagoon Rancheria and Los Coyotes Bands of Indians, lost their only true legislative champion and were left without an author for legislation.

Including Chesbro, the Ilitch casino syndication had only won public commitments of support for their agreements from six legislators. Three of those were obligatory “co-authors” of Chesbro’s legislation because their districts, like Chesbro’s, include parties to the agreements (either the City of Barstow or Big Lagoon Rancheria). Two others (Assemblymen La Suer and Yee) indicated their support publicly after Chesbro and his original co-authors introduced the legislation.

The agreements were heard by the Senate Governmental Organization (GO) Committee last March (click to view). It was clear at the hearing Senators did not approve of the agreement but rather than take a public vote and sink the agreements at that time, the GO Committee concluded the hearing without any action.

The legislative time clock was ticking and absent any progress in the Senate, lobbyists for the Ilitch team worked with Chesbro to have legislation shepherding the agreements gutted and the agreements slipped into other legislation in the Assembly at the eleventh hour desperately hoping to find support their. The Assembly GO Committee scheduled a hearing on the agreements late in June and unlike their colleagues in the Senate, the Assembly committee members voted to reject the agreements.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
12:22 p.m. June 29, 2006

BARSTOW – An Assembly committee rejected proposed side-by-side Indian casinos by so-called reservation-shopping tribes hoping to lure Las Vegas-bound gamblers off Interstate 15 in Barstow.

Wednesday's vote by the Assembly Governmental Organizational Committee likely dooms Barstow casinos for the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians of San Diego County and the Big Lagoon Rancheria of Humboldt County.

The chairman of the Assembly GO Committee, Jerome Horton, (now also termed out of office) attempted to broker a workable compromise in July/August with the various Native American concerns(San Manuel, Big Lagoon, Chemehuevi and others). Reportedly the tribes came to an understanding that would have taken Ilitch out of the driver’s seat but brought an end to inter-tribal struggles.

That didn’t settle well with Ilitch and her team pleaded with Schwarzenegger’s staff to hold off on agreeing to any new proposal. In effect, legislators and the Native American interests (including Ilitch partners) were prepared to move the proposal forward and resolve the lawsuit between the state and Big Lagoon but it was the Detroit-based Ilitch gaming interests that blocked progress.

The Ilitch team tried unsuccessfully to have the Assembly rules suspended last summer in order to pursue other options for approval in the closing weeks of the 2006 legislative session. One of Ilitch’s Indian partners resorted to theatrics and staged a hunger fast on the lawn of the state capitol. That generated media interest but failed to win any new supporters in the legislature.

RGT Online - Daily News
August 17, 2006

SACRAMENTO, California – As reported by the Desert Sun: "An American Indian band that hopes to build a casino in Barstow is attempting to get on the fast track.

"The Los Coyotes Band of Cahilla and Cupeno Indians began a fast at the state Capitol that will continue until the legislature ratifies a gaming agreement, or compact, according to Tom Shields, public relations agent for the band. In a press release, he wrote that compacts for the band and the Big Lagoon Rancheria Indians, who hope to build a dual casino in Barstow, are stalled.

"Shields said in a telephone interview that the fast began Wednesday after noon with three or four band members. Other band members and supporters will join the group in the coming days, he said. Some will fast on the Capitol lawn until the compacts get approved, but others will fast a day or so at a time, he said.

"…The state Assembly Government Organization Committee voted 7-0 to turn down the Los Coyotes/Big Lagoon compact in June…"

And now, there’s nothing other than what Ilitch’s PR team has distributed to suggest there is any thing new, any real hope in 2007. To the contrary, as long as Marian Ilitch and her "bulldogs" (as one former partner called them) stand in the way, Barstow looks like it will come up empty handed.

The terms of Senator Chesbro and Assemblyman La Suer expired last year and California's term limits laws prohibited them from running for re-election; that leaves just four of the six supporters still in office.

It should also be noted that Assemblyman Leland Yee accepted $3,300 from Marian Ilitch's partner Michael J. Malik, Sr. on June 4/5, 2006; weeks before his June 28, 2006 vote in the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee to support the Compacts. The Committee voted as a whole to reject the agreements.

2006 Legislative Proponents
1. Senator Roy Ashburn (R-18) [1]
2. Assemblyman Bill Maze (R-34) [2]
3. Senator Wesley Chesbro (D-2) [3]
4. Assemblywoman Patty Berg (D-1) [4]
** ↓support after bill introduced↓ **
5. Assemblyman Jay La Suer (R-77) [5]
6. Assemblyman Leland Yee (D-12) [6]

[1] Represents Barstow, co-author SB 168
[2] Represents Barstow, co-author SB 168
[3] Represents Humboldt County (Big Lagoon Reservation), author SB 168
[4] Represents Humboldt County (Big Lagoon Reservation), principal co-author SB 168
[5] Represents Eastern San Diego County
[6] Represents Bay Area; Speaker Pro Tem (card club supported/opposes Indian gaming)

(For more background)

Also for reference, available at Governor Schwarzenegger's web site:
* Big Lagoon Rancheria Compact
* Settlement Between the State of California & Big Lagoon Rancheria
* Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians Compact

You may also want to review these posts:
The Verifiable Truth: Big Lagoon Rancheria purchases 16 acres
The Verifiable Truth: Big Lagoon Rancheria trust plan under fire
The Verifiable Truth: In a move right out of the Ilitch Bay Mills playbook, CA's Big Lagoon acquires 16 acres, increases leverage
The Verifiable Truth:Ilitch & Company report spending $2.42 million lobbying for East Coast casino expansions; just $80k for Barstow plan
Capitol Notes: Trial Casino Deal Debated