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GUESTS: Quanah Brightman, Vice President of United Native Americans Inc, John Gomez Snr, Vice Chairman of the American Indian Rights and Resources Organization

When Californians head to the polls this Tuesday for the state’s primary elections, they will also decide on four American Indian gaming propositions on the state ballot. Originally compacts signed by Governor Schwarzenegger and four Southern California tribes, the agreements would significantly change the relationship between state and local governments with Indian casinos. Though already ratified by the California legislature last year, groups opposed to the compacts gathered enough signatures to force the issue to be put on the ballot. Proponents of propositions 94 through 97, say that the deals allowing four Indian gaming casinos to add thousands of new slot machines will ultimately benefit California’s budget shortfall. In exchange for expansions, a larger share of revenues from the casinos would be paid to the state annually on top of a quarter of all new profits from the new slot machines. Opposition to the compacts has come from a diverse group including competing Indian casinos, a horse track owner, hotel and casino worker unions, and Native American groups. Some tribes are concerned that the propositions, if passed, will largely concentrate gambling revenues into the hand of four tribes. Others are demanding that the California Nations Indian Gaming Association use increased revenues to restart California’s D-Q University, the nation’s first indigenously controlled college.

For more information, visit www.nounfairdeals.com, and www.yesforcalifornia.com.