Paskenta Treasurer: No to off-reservation gaming

Wednesday, July 19, 2006  

Leslie Lohse is the treasurer of the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians of California.

"A telling trend has emerged in California over the last year -- California voters from the ranchlands of Glenn and Colusa counties to the desert prairie of Barstow have said "no" to developers looking to exploit a tribe's legal status and establish casinos on non-Indian lands -- what is known as "off-reservation gaming." All over California, developers are looking to move tribes off of their historical ancestral lands and move them -- oftentimes hundreds of miles and even across state lines -- to gaming markets identified by the developers.

The message sent by voters in recent elections is particularly ripe because Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California Legislature are considering approving as many as 15 off-reservation gaming deals, including several where developers are seeking to move out-of-state tribes to California in order to develop casinos in locations where the developers would otherwise be barred by law. Under federal law, California must give its approval before the federal government will take action to allow a tribe to relocate. These off-reservation applications are pending before the state at the same time as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is working to pass Indian gaming reform legislation, inspired by the Abramoff scandal, to end the practice of off-reservation gaming."

Get the Story:
Leslie Lohse: Governor -- the people say no to off-reservation gaming (The San Francisco Chronicle 7/18)