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Lawmaker enters fray on RP casino
Rumors go unconfirmed as Huffman meets governor aides on Graton Rancheria compact
Assemblyman Jared Huffman met Tuesday with staffers of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to try to confirm rumors that a Sonoma County Indian tribe is negotiating a compact needed to open a casino near Rohnert Park.
Huffman, whose district includes Rohnert Park, said he didn't get an answer.
But after an hourlong meeting, the San Rafael Democrat said: "My gut tells me they have been in discussions."
Contacted Tuesday, neither the governor's office nor the tribe, the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, would confirm or deny that negotiations are taking place.
Huffman, an opponent of the $450 million casino resort proposed by the tribe and their partner, Station Casinos, called the meeting interesting.
"It was a little bit of speaking in code," he said.
A spokeswoman for the governor, Sabrina Lockhart, said it is the administration's policy to make no comment on the status of compact talks.
Compacts are required before casinos can open and determine things like how many slot machines are allowed and how much revenue will be shared with the state.
Lockhart said the governor will negotiate in good faith with any federally recognized tribe with gaming eligible land. And, for now, that may exclude the Graton Rancheria.
The tribe is months away from completing environmental studies that will help determine if land on Wilfred Avenue in Rohnert Park can be placed in federal trust, another prerequisite for opening a casino.
"Graton does not have gaming eligible land," Lockhart said.
Tribal Chairman Greg Sarris said he would honor the governor's policy by not discussing any possible negotiations.
He said, however, his own approach has been clear from the start: The tribe will not pursue talks with Schwarzenegger's office until it has finalized environmental studies, expected by April, and gotten the land placed in trust.
Rumors to the contrary are being circulated by anti-casino forces trying to fuel hysteria, he said.
"It's unfortunate," Sarris said. "You take the high road, and people use the high road to find places along the way to dynamite you."
The Capitol has been buzzing with speculation that Graton and at least two other tribes, the Shingle Springs Rancheria in El Dorado County and the Rincon Nation of Luiseno Indians of San Diego County, have been meeting secretly with the governor.
Articles have appeared in at least two newspapers, and activists have exchanged a flurry of e-mail alerts.
Huffman said one rumor had the Graton Rancheria negotiating for unlimited slots in exchange for a 10 percent profit-sharing agreement with the state, Huffman said.
"It would be terrible," Huffman said. "This is going to be the closest casino to San Francisco. It's going to be literally right on one of the most congested freeways in the Bay Area. And it will promote a kind of leap-frog contest with other tribes trying to go south to Petaluma or Marin. The impacts are well documented."
The rumored deal described by Huffman would be far more generous than the most recent compacts negotiated by Schwarzenegger and approved by the Legislature.
Those deals, approved in July, allow four Southern California tribes to add 17,000 slot machines to the 8,000 they now can operate. The deals require the tribes to share 15 percent to 25 percent of the revenue of the new machines with the state.
A coalition of labor and horse-racing interests are trying to place a referendum on the ballot to rescind those compacts.
Huffman said he first got wind of possible talks involving the Graton Rancheria from a Sacramento lobbyist whose source was the co-director of a statewide anti-casino group, Stand Up For California.
Cheryl Schmit said she got the information from consultants for two different tribes who were close to negotiations.
She wouldn't name them but said they were reliable.
"I just passed on information that was given to me by credible sources," Schmit said.
It rang true for Huffman, who met Tuesday with Andrea Hoch, the governor's compact negotiator, and Cynthia Bryant, Schwarzenegger's deputy chief of staff and director of planning and research.
Huffman said although neither would confirm any talks, it was clear that both viewed Graton as an inevitable candidate for a compact because of the federal law in 2000 that restored the tribe's status.
But Huffman said there were things that had to be done before the tribe could qualify, such as getting the land in its name. It is owned by Station Casinos and a development company, two firms that might want assurances of a compact before transferring title to the tribe, Huffman said.
Huffman said the state should not be "used in a business deal" to bring a casino opposed by a majority of residents.
"Why on earth would we want to provide a gaming compact that would help them close a deal on a casino?" Huffman said.
You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 762-7297 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com.
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