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Commentary: Schwarzenegger wrong on Indian gaming
Thursday, October 16, 2003

"During the California recall, candidate Schwarzenegger and his team repeatedly attacked Indian groups for lavishing casino-generated campaign contributions on Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamente. Then, after the election, Governor-elect Schwarzenegger made taxing Indian casinos one of the centerpieces of his deficit-reduction plan, apparently oblivious to the conflict between this and his pledge not to raise taxes, and to the legal and constitutional issues involved.

The subtext both of Schwarzenegger's charge and his proposal is corruption: the idea that there's something intrinsically unseemly about the gambling industry, and that tribal Indians benefit from unfair special advantages (Schwarzenegger argued that the tribes should be made to pay "their fair share"). But neither point is necessarily true: It's not clear that there's anything especially problematic about the tribes deploying their gambling-derived funds in the political process. And it's even less clear that the tribes should fork over more of their gambling revenue to the state. "

Get the Story:
Jacob Levy: Loaded Dice (The New Republic 10/15)

Relevant Links:
Arnold Schwarzenegger - http://www.joinarnold.com/en

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