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Battle between tribes intensifies over proposed Madera County casino
OCTOBER 19, 2011 HTTP://FRESNOBEEHIVE.COM
Battle between tribes intensifies over proposed Madera County casino
Eight California tribes -- including Madera County's Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians and Fresno County's Table Mountain Rancheria -- are stepping up their fight against two Indian casinos proposed in locations far from established tribal lands.
This week, the tribes made public a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown -- dated late last month -- that urges him to reject the casinos, including one planned four miles north of Madera along Highway 99.
Both proposed casinos received Interior Department approval last month, but the process has two parts, and Brown can either concur with the federal government finding -- or reject it.
He has until next September to decide.
"These two decisions by the Department of Interior, if upheld, will harm the foundation of Indian gaming in California and the premise of Proposition 1A in 2000, which assured the voters of California that Indian gaming would remain on tribal lands," the letter to Brown says.
If the casinos are built, the letter argues, it would lead to more tribes seeking to locate casinos off their reservation land.
The North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians, which has been pushing the Madera casino proposal for six years, was elated with the Interior Department finding, and critics of Chukchansi and Table Mountain say two two tribes are only complaining because a new casino along Highway 99 would put them at a competitive disadvantage.
But the casinos argued that they played by the rules and followed the spirit of Prop. 1A.
They have ally in U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who also sent Brown a letter last month urging him to reject the two casino approvals. The California Democrat's letter says the federal government approved the two tribal casinos "despite overwhelming opposition from California voters and elected officials."
If Brown signs off on the Interior Department approval, the North Fork Rancheria would be permitted to buy the land that would be placed in trust.
But it would then still need the Legislature's approval of its gaming compacts.
So the fight over the Madera casino is a long way from being finished.