Tribe's lobbyist reports Barstow gaming Compacts are dead; blames Governor Schwarzenegger

With almost a month left in California's 2007 legislative session, a lobbyist for the Big Lagoon Rancheria has reported that for the second year in a row, the tribe has failed to win legislative ratification of a gaming Compact it negotiated with the Governor's office in 2005. He blames established gaming tribes and Governor Schwarzenegger for the failure without considering flaws, shortcomings of his client's unorthodox plan.

Nick Medeiros, a Sacramento lobbyist for both the Big Lagoon Rancheria and the City of Barstow, who previously worked on the failed effort by Marian Ilitch and Michael Malik to legalize gambling in the Hawaiian Islands, has reported:

"The Barstow gaming compacts appear dead for this year. "

"The incredible power of the gaming tribes and their unlimited financial resources coupled with a lack of interest on the part of the Governor doomed this most worthy project. A meeting with leadership in both houses is on the horizon to see if we can't get this project going in the right direction."

Nick Medeiros
Lobbyist, Big Lagoon Rancheria

This is the second year in a row that the Legislature has refused to ratify these unorthodox off-reservation gaming Compacts. The agreements with the Big Lagoon Rancheria and a quasi-partner, the Los Coyotes Band of Indians were negotiated by aides to Governor Schwarzenegger in 2005. Medeiros indicates that Schwarzenegger has grown increasingly disinterested with each subsequent failure.

In 2006, Barwest, the developer and manager of the planned casinos mega-resort could count just six members of the entire California Legislature who publicly declared their support for the scheme.

In 2007, only three members of the Legislature publicly declared their support.

If history's any indication, they'll be lucky to find anyone willing to author such a bill in the 2008 Session.

Medeiros' notion that a meeting with legislative leaders just might be the antidote to kick-start the proposals for a third go-around is nothing short of Pollyanna given some in legislative leadership identified the scheme as DOA when it was first revealed in 2005.