No matter how good a deal Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger thinks he has struck with the North Fork Rancheria of the Mono Indians, the proposal to build a Las Vegas-style casino on Highway 99 in Madera County is still a bad idea. Where Schwarzenegger sees a bonanza for the state, we see him selling out the residents of the San Joaquin Valley.

This casino would not be on Indian land, and would make "reservation shopping" for casino property acceptable state policy. It's not. This casino would create a badly congested urban area on Highway 99. Apparently Schwarzenegger is fine with such a mess. We're not.

This casino proposal has been pushed through, even without the required federal approval to put the land into trust. It seems Schwarzenegger and the tribe are moving quickly to avoid the kind of scrutiny that the state's first off-reservation casino should receive.

It's time to fully consider the impact that a casino of this size will have on the entire region. So far, the only redeeming value we see is extra money for the state and Madera County during bad budget times.

The gambling compact announced Monday allows 2,500 slot machines at the casino, 35 miles from the tribe's traditional home in the Sierra foothills. The Schwarzenegger compact still must be approved by the Legislature and we hope our lawmakers think good planning is more important than the payoff from the casino.

This compact might even be a good deal if it had been written for a casino on Indian land in a rural area. But using gambling proceeds to trump good public policy is a bit unseemly.

Humboldt County, far away from the casino, would actually benefit from this deal at the expense of Valley residents.

The North Fork Rancheria would share a portion of casino revenues with the Wiyot tribe on California's North Coast. In return for the $3 million to $5 million in annual payments, the 600-member Wiyot tribe would agree to forgo its right to build a casino on tribal lands along Humboldt Bay near Eureka.

Good for Humboldt Bay. Bad for us.

The state would get about $25 million a year out of profits from slot machines and banked card games, according to the governor's office.

Good for the state. Bad for us.

Promoters of this scheme are steamrolling the politicians with promises of great riches. Is that really how we want to plan for a 21st century California?

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