Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Desert Dispatch Editor still Clueless; head buried in the Mojave Desert sand!

9.03.07
NOTE: This struggling daily newspaper has taken tens of thousands from Detroit gambling syndicators who seek to maintain their grip on the Barstow gambling franchise. TVT has been told be various sources that The editor of this paper has never met with Chemehuevi tribal leaders.
EDITORIAL: The casino project stall leads to misplaced blame
By SCOTT SHACKFORD, editor

Although there’s still a chance the compacts for the proposed Los Coyote/Big Lagoon Rancheria off-reservation casino in Barstow to be approved by the state legislature, it seems very unlikely it will happen by the end of their 2007 session Sept. 11.

This is the second year in a row the compacts have not been able to get through the legislative process for approval. They actually made it further last year than this year. The compacts expire Sept. 17, and while the governor and the tribes could just draft up a new version of the compacts with new deadlines, we’ve come to conclude the state legislature is simply not going to allow it to happen. (And before the competing Chemehuevi celebrate, we don’t believe a tribe that already has a casino will ever be allowed an off-reservation casino either, so they haven’t "won" anything other than the pleasure of being used by San Manuel to eliminate a potential competing development — we hope the Chemehuevi at least got something out of it)

We think local Barstow leaders realize it’s pretty much over, too, which is why there’s again a sudden buzz of angry bickering between different factions about he future of the projects, and of course, the laying of blame.

It would be easy to lay a lot of blame on the local level. Barstow Mayor Lawrence Dale stubbornly resisted a referendum for Barstow residents to simply vote on whether they supported Indian casinos in general. This opened the door for opponents in Sacramento to question whether the community actually supported the project and created an opportunity for project-killing Measure H to be deceptively marketed as a pro-casino initiative. And speaking of Measure H, promoter Manuel Gurule to this day still apparently refuses to accept that the point of Measure H was to kill the Los Coyotes/Big Lagoon project, even though most voters saw through it. For most of us, such deceptive tactics would cause us to rethink our allies.

But really, blaming Dale or Gurule assumes that they ever had the ability to influence the outcome of this fight in Sacramento, and we don’t believe that they ever did. This isn’t an insult to the influence of these men, but an acknowledgment of the limited influence of our region in this particular area.

Clearly, the powerful gaming tribes were calling the shots here, but even so, they’re behaving no differently from most other businesses, governments, and lobbying organizations by protecting their own interests. By blaming the tribes for the failure of the project to pass, we’re blaming the symptoms, not the disease.

The tribes are powerful because they throw around money, and here’s the important part — people take it. Tribes give millions of dollars to state legislators’ campaigns and political parties to influence decisions. We have a tendency to blame the tribes, the corporations, and the lobbyists for these corrupt tactics, but if it works, then why shouldn’t they use them?

The blame lays squarely on the politicians who take the money and then look for weaselly ways to justify their votes — and the complicated laws behind Indian gaming always allow a technical justification for any decision that just happens to also support the status quo.

No comments:

TVT has welcomed more than 178,000 unique vistors

TVT, founded in December 2006, has averaged more than 20,000 visitors annually. It is produced with the support of scores of individuals from coast-to-coast, each a volunteer citizen activist/jounalist, who review tips and compile the verifiable details and documents that are the hallmark of our content.

Since our first post, more than 178,000 visitors have accessed the details compiled uniquely at TVT.

The citizen activists behind TVT wish to extened a big "THANK YOU" to all those who have provided "tips" -- contributed pictures, documents, link suggestions, leads, reports, insight and comments. Your trust and confidence in TVT has allowed us to create a comprehensive resource that thousands of others -- including bloggers, journalists, Members of Congress and other local citizen activists around the country -- have come to rely upon.

We invite feedback and constructive comment and want you to know you are welcome to do that here in "comments" or by contacting us directly and confidentially via allverifiable@gmail.com

Google News: Indian Gaming

NEWS: Bay Mills Indian Community & Casino Proposals

NEWS: Shinnecock Indian Nation (Gateway Casino Resorts) Casino Proposals

NY Times: Shinnecock Indian Nation

NEWS: Los Coyotes Indian Tribe

NEWS: Los Coyotes / Barwest Barstow Casino Proposals

NEWS: Michael J. Malik, Sr.

NEWS: Marian Ilitch

Muckety.com: Mapping Social Networks

Play with the interactive tool here or visit Muckety.com

TIP: Search for multiple entries in the Muckety.com database simultaneously by separating their names with the word and

certainly must reads!

Ilitch has backed loosing sports teams and pizza, but casinos in Detroit? Forbes.com 10.09.06 ● Marian Ilitch #1 on "25 Most Powerful People" to Watch 2006” global gaming business o1.oo.o5 ● My Kingdom for a Casino Forbes 05.08.06 ● Big Lagoon’s casino dream awakens north coast journal 07.28.05 ● Shinnecocks launch legal claim to Hamptons land newsday.com 06.16.05 ● Ilitch Plans to Expand Casino Empire RGTonline.com 07.05.05 ● Ilitch outbids partners MichiganDaily.com 04.14.05 ● Ilitch enmeshed in NY casino dispute detnews.com 03.20.05 ● Marian Ilitch, high roller freep.com 03.20.05 ● MGM Mirage to Decide on Offer for Casino in Detroit rgtonline.com 04.16.05 ● Secret deal for MotorCity alleged freep.com 02.15.05 ● Los Coyotes get new developer desertdispatch.com 02.08.05 Detroit casino figure to finance Barstow project LasVegasSun.com 07.07.03 ● Indian Band trying to put casino in Barstow signonSanDiego.com 06.04.03 Pizza matriarch takes on casino roles detnews.com 10.23.02 ● Vanderbilt gets short straw in negotiations for a casino Lansing Journal 10.06.02 ● Indians aim to drive family from tribe in vicious dispute san diego union tribune 04.09.00 ●Malik owns 2000 Michigan Quarter Horse of the Year Michigan.gov 01.01.00 ● Detroit Team to run Michigan’s newest Indian casino detnews.com 05.23.99 Tiger ties tangle Marian Ilitch detnews.com 04.29.99 ● Three investors must sell their Detroit casino interests gamblingmagazine.com 04.25.99 ● Partners’ cash revived election; They say money was crucial to Prop-E detnews.com 04.25.99 Investors have troubled histories las vegas review journal 04.27.99 ● Investor served probation for domestic assault on 12 year old boy detnews.com 04.25.99 Can a pair win a jackpot?: local men hope to... crainsdetroit.com 03.17.97

The Verifiable Truth