Ashburn has elected to back the previously rejected casino agreements that billionaires behind a Detroit Casino Syndicate negotiated on behalf of their newly adopted Native American partners – partners who also make their homes far outside the 18th District.
Ashburn demonstrates little regard for the struggle and needs of more than 1,000 constituents enrolled as members of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe located in the south east corner of his sprawling 18th Senate District and hundreds of other Native Americans who consider the Mohave Desert their ancestral homelands.
Perhaps it’s simply a case of “out of sight, out of mind” and not an intentional act to withhold opportunities from his own constituents. The Chemehuevi Reservation is located 268 miles across the Mohave Desert from Ashburn’s Bakersfield home.
The City of Barstow first approached the Chemehuevi Tribe about business partnerships in the mid-1990s. The tribe had been consulted by the City on various archaeological matters in Barstow and leaders at the City, like local historians, recognized the ties the tribe’s ancestor had with the Greater Barstow area.
The Barstow City Council awarded a municipal agreement to the Chemehuevi Tribe during the Fall of 2005, nine months before the City awarded valid agreements to the Big Lagoon and Los Coyotes partnership. However, since 2003, it has been reported that the Detroit Casino Syndicate has pulled out all the stops to block any other proposals from moving forward in Barstow.
It should be noted the median household income among Ashburn’s constituents at the Chemehuevi Indian Reservation is less than $20,000 per year which must be spread among three individuals per household. Roughly a third of the Chemehuevi population lives below poverty levels.
Mike and Marian Ilitch share a spot with Oprah Winfrey on Forbes 400 List of Richest Americans -- their net worth estimated to be at least $1.5 billion; their seven children and their families share in the Ilitch Family fortunes. They gave away almost $900,000 in individual political contributions during the last four or five years.
The extended Moorehead family that makes up the Big Lagoon Rancheria Tribe gets $55,000 per capita annually for each adult member (20) just from the larger tribes' revenue sharing trust fund program. Moorehead's family owns a small hotel and other buinsess in the general area. The California Department of Finance indicates the state’s median household income is $46,900; that’s before taxes. Big Lagoon’s at $75,000-$100,000 per household just from the trust funds alone and that’s not subject to taxes nor does it consider the tribe's other business ventures.
Senator Ashburn makes at least $110,000 each year on his legislative salary alone plus expenses of $138 per day for each day the legislature is in session. He’s benefited when the people like those behind the Detroit Casino Syndicate have generously contributed to his campaign funds.
Why not afford your constituents a break Senator Ashburn? The Moorehead Family (that's who makes up the Big Lagoon Rancheria Tribe) at home on the "pristine" Big Lagoon in Trinidad, a short walk from the Pacific Ocean, appears be doing just fine and the Ilitch Family, ranked #242 on Forbes list of "Richest Americans," has got airplanes, a baseball team, Stanley cups and second homes and plenty needed to take care of generations to come.
The Verifiable Truth (tVT) like nearly everyone else we’ve heard from is extremely disappointed in Senator Ashburn’s decision to support the compacts rejected last year in the Assembly. It is going to continue a program of block and delay. By doing so, Senator Ashburn perpetuates the exclusivities awarded the Detroit Casino Syndicate for five years that have already cost Barstow and other High Desert Communities dearly.
More troubling is the lack of respect Ashburn has shown for the hard working Indian tribes whose ancestors have struggled to make their homes in the High Desert for centuries. By approving plans to transplant tribes’ casinos clear across state to Barstow on lands that traditionally are recognized as the ancestral homelands of others, Ashburn in effect is robbing hundreds of his constituents of their heritage and the opportunity to pull themselves up out of poverty and perpetuates the bad stereotypes about Native American gambling interests.
Ashburn shows disregard for the ancestral heritage of Native Americans who have true roots in the greater Barstow area. Native Americans demonstrate little need for material possessions but have a spiritual connection to their homelands that’s not truly understood by most of European heritage.
Senator Roy Ashburn’s 18th District is expansive taking in Inyo, Kern, Tulare and San Bernardino Counties and stretches from Bakersfield and the Tehachapi Mountains in the west to the Colorado River in the east anchored in the Bakersfield area where there is the greatest concentration of voters.
There are seven Indian reservations located within the 18th District and two others with portions of their reservation lands spilling into the 18th. The 30,653-acre Chemehuevi Indian Reservation is the second largest in the 18th District. It’s located in the far southeastern corner of the 18th District, 268 miles across the Mohave Desert from Bakersfield. Nearly all of the Lake Havasu’s California shoreline is on the Chemehuevi Reservation.
tVT notes the Chemehuevi Reservation and the Barstow community are represented by the same San Bernardino County Supervisor, member of the Assembly and state Senator.
Ashburn is co-author of legislation, S.B. 157, that would allow a powerful Detroit-based casino syndicate to transplant two tribes and their casinos clear across state to Barstow, 700 miles away onto the ancestral lands of local tribes. S.B. 157, do-over legislation that was rejected by an Assembly committee in 2006, is backed by labor and environmental leaders. Regional and state law enforcement leaders joined other Indian tribes in rejecting the move last year.
The greater Barstow area is recognized as being within the ancestral homelands of the San Manuel and Chemehuevi Indian Tribes despite half-truths and misstated facts used by the Detroit Casino Syndicate to attack the local tribes’ ancestry.
Ashburn demonstrates little regard for the struggle and needs of more than 1,000 constituents enrolled as members of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe located in the south east corner of his sprawling 18th Senate District and hundreds of other Native Americans who consider the Mohave Desert their ancestral homelands.
Perhaps it’s simply a case of “out of sight, out of mind” and not an intentional act to withhold opportunities from his own constituents. The Chemehuevi Reservation is located 268 miles across the Mohave Desert from Ashburn’s Bakersfield home.
The City of Barstow first approached the Chemehuevi Tribe about business partnerships in the mid-1990s. The tribe had been consulted by the City on various archaeological matters in Barstow and leaders at the City, like local historians, recognized the ties the tribe’s ancestor had with the Greater Barstow area.
The Barstow City Council awarded a municipal agreement to the Chemehuevi Tribe during the Fall of 2005, nine months before the City awarded valid agreements to the Big Lagoon and Los Coyotes partnership. However, since 2003, it has been reported that the Detroit Casino Syndicate has pulled out all the stops to block any other proposals from moving forward in Barstow.
It should be noted the median household income among Ashburn’s constituents at the Chemehuevi Indian Reservation is less than $20,000 per year which must be spread among three individuals per household. Roughly a third of the Chemehuevi population lives below poverty levels.
Mike and Marian Ilitch share a spot with Oprah Winfrey on Forbes 400 List of Richest Americans -- their net worth estimated to be at least $1.5 billion; their seven children and their families share in the Ilitch Family fortunes. They gave away almost $900,000 in individual political contributions during the last four or five years.
The extended Moorehead family that makes up the Big Lagoon Rancheria Tribe gets $55,000 per capita annually for each adult member (20) just from the larger tribes' revenue sharing trust fund program. Moorehead's family owns a small hotel and other buinsess in the general area. The California Department of Finance indicates the state’s median household income is $46,900; that’s before taxes. Big Lagoon’s at $75,000-$100,000 per household just from the trust funds alone and that’s not subject to taxes nor does it consider the tribe's other business ventures.
Senator Ashburn makes at least $110,000 each year on his legislative salary alone plus expenses of $138 per day for each day the legislature is in session. He’s benefited when the people like those behind the Detroit Casino Syndicate have generously contributed to his campaign funds.
Why not afford your constituents a break Senator Ashburn? The Moorehead Family (that's who makes up the Big Lagoon Rancheria Tribe) at home on the "pristine" Big Lagoon in Trinidad, a short walk from the Pacific Ocean, appears be doing just fine and the Ilitch Family, ranked #242 on Forbes list of "Richest Americans," has got airplanes, a baseball team, Stanley cups and second homes and plenty needed to take care of generations to come.
The Verifiable Truth (tVT) like nearly everyone else we’ve heard from is extremely disappointed in Senator Ashburn’s decision to support the compacts rejected last year in the Assembly. It is going to continue a program of block and delay. By doing so, Senator Ashburn perpetuates the exclusivities awarded the Detroit Casino Syndicate for five years that have already cost Barstow and other High Desert Communities dearly.
More troubling is the lack of respect Ashburn has shown for the hard working Indian tribes whose ancestors have struggled to make their homes in the High Desert for centuries. By approving plans to transplant tribes’ casinos clear across state to Barstow on lands that traditionally are recognized as the ancestral homelands of others, Ashburn in effect is robbing hundreds of his constituents of their heritage and the opportunity to pull themselves up out of poverty and perpetuates the bad stereotypes about Native American gambling interests.
Ashburn shows disregard for the ancestral heritage of Native Americans who have true roots in the greater Barstow area. Native Americans demonstrate little need for material possessions but have a spiritual connection to their homelands that’s not truly understood by most of European heritage.
Senator Roy Ashburn’s 18th District is expansive taking in Inyo, Kern, Tulare and San Bernardino Counties and stretches from Bakersfield and the Tehachapi Mountains in the west to the Colorado River in the east anchored in the Bakersfield area where there is the greatest concentration of voters.
There are seven Indian reservations located within the 18th District and two others with portions of their reservation lands spilling into the 18th. The 30,653-acre Chemehuevi Indian Reservation is the second largest in the 18th District. It’s located in the far southeastern corner of the 18th District, 268 miles across the Mohave Desert from Bakersfield. Nearly all of the Lake Havasu’s California shoreline is on the Chemehuevi Reservation.
tVT notes the Chemehuevi Reservation and the Barstow community are represented by the same San Bernardino County Supervisor, member of the Assembly and state Senator.
Ashburn is co-author of legislation, S.B. 157, that would allow a powerful Detroit-based casino syndicate to transplant two tribes and their casinos clear across state to Barstow, 700 miles away onto the ancestral lands of local tribes. S.B. 157, do-over legislation that was rejected by an Assembly committee in 2006, is backed by labor and environmental leaders. Regional and state law enforcement leaders joined other Indian tribes in rejecting the move last year.
The greater Barstow area is recognized as being within the ancestral homelands of the San Manuel and Chemehuevi Indian Tribes despite half-truths and misstated facts used by the Detroit Casino Syndicate to attack the local tribes’ ancestry.
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