9.27.03Schwarzenegger adviser linked to card clubs, Nevada casinos
Rivals cry foul amid actor's attacks on Indian gaming
Mark Martin, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
A top political adviser to Arnold Schwarzenegger serves on the board of directors of a company that owns two Nevada casinos and has interests in two Southern California card clubs that compete with casinos run by California Indian tribes.
Schwarzenegger has made attacking tribes and their political influence a major tenet of his campaign, prompting the actor's top Republican opponent in the recall election and a tribal gaming group to raise conflict-of-interest questions about Schwarzenegger Friday. At issue is Bonnie Reiss, a longtime Schwarzenegger ally who has taken an increasingly public role in his bid to be governor.
Reiss earns $30,000 a year as a director of Pinnacle Entertainment. The company owns casinos in Reno and Verdi, Nev., and earns money from leases on two California card clubs, including the Hollywood Park Casino, located in Inglewood (Los Angeles County) and one of the largest card clubs in California.
"Clearly, he's got a bit of a conflict," said Jacob Coin, executive director of the California Indian Nations Gaming Association. "He's blasting the tribes very publicly and on the other hand quietly receiving political advice from someone with a major interest in a business that competes with us."
The clout of Indian tribes has become a central issue in the recall election and has provided an unusual side note to an already unusual campaign: an advertising battle between the actor-turned-candidate and tribes.
Several tribes have contributed more than $9 million to help the campaigns of Gov. Gray Davis, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, both Democrats, and state Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks (Ventura County). Schwarzenegger began airing television commercials this week accusing casino-operating Indians of not paying their fair share of taxes to the state and wielding too much influence over politicians.
In response, at least one tribe is paying for newspaper ads lashing out at Schwarzenegger.
A Schwarzenegger aide dismissed as "pathetic, flat spin" the idea that Reiss was somehow influencing campaign policy. Aide Rob Stutzman said Reiss had had no say on the Schwarzenegger campaign's public concerns about tribal influence.
He said the theme had stemmed in part from private meetings gaming tribes had last month with Davis, Bustamante and McClintock.
"There is no conflict (for Schwarzenegger)," said Stutzman. "The conflict is when you go behind closed doors in meetings with the tribes, won't say what was promised and then start pouring millions of dollars into campaigns."
Reiss is CEO of the After School All-Stars, a nonprofit Schwarzenegger started to promote after-school activities for disadvantaged children. She is a longtime friend of Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver, and became a paid member of his campaign team in August. Reiss has been presented to reporters working on stories about the actor's attitudes toward women, and has said that he treats women with respect.
She joined the board of directors of the Las Vegas-based Pinnacle Entertainment last year.
McClintock mentioned Reiss to reporters at a Sacramento press conference Friday, saying she "has major financial interests in . . . casinos that are looking at California's Indian casinos as competition and are trying to put them out of business."
And Coin said Schwarzenegger shouldn't be let off the hook for Reiss' role in his campaign and the attacks on tribes.
"I don't think you can disconnect that so casually," he said.
Schwarzenegger has sworn he wouldn't be beholden to special interests if elected.
Pinnacle is a special interest. The company has spent more than $300,000 on Sacramento lobbyists since 2000 and is part of an industry that has nearly annual battles with tribes over legislation in Sacramento affecting the gaming industry.
Card clubs spent heavily on ad campaigns to defeat initiatives that voters approved to allow Indian gaming.
And in 2001 and 2002, Pinnacle lobbied for legislation that would have given it an exemption from state law to own the Hollywood Park card club. The measure failed; it was opposed by 28 Indian tribes.
Schwarzenegger has said in campaign appearances and ads that he favors forcing tribes to turn over $1 billion in "taxes" from their casino profits to the state.
Bustamante and McClintock, however, have argued tribes are sovereign nations and therefore the state has very little power to force them to do anything.
E-mail Mark Martin at markmartin@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/09/27/MN76440.DTL
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