Pala And United Auburn Invests In Referendum

The Pala Band of Mission Indians along with United Auburn Indian Community will each donate $500,000 toward a ballot initiative that would seek to overturn four gambling agreements, including one signed by the Pechanga Band of Mission Indians, which owns a large casino just south of Temecula.

Pechanga Chairman Mark Macarro said he was "disappointed" by the tribe's actions.

The initiative is being sponsored by UNITE HERE, a service and textile workers union representing more than 450,000 members. The union wants to organize casino workers.

Supporters of the initiative ---- including horse racetrack owners and the United Auburn Indian Community, which owns a casino in Placer County ---- need to collect 434,000 signatures by Oct. 8 to put the matter before voters in February.

Howard Dickstein, an attorney for the Pala band, said the agreements set a bad example because they encourage too much growth in casinos and give the state too much oversight authority. He said the tribes also agreed to terms added by the Legislature after the negotiations with the governor to have them approved.

"Pala feels that it's a bad precedent that will come back to haunt Pala," Dickstein said.

In 2004, Pala and four other tribes also signed agreements with the state estimated to bring at least $1 billion to the state's general fund. In exchange, the tribes would be allowed to put in an unlimited number of slot machines at their casinos.

Dickstein said Pala's agreement discourages the tribe from adding too many slots because the annual fees to the state per machine increase with the number of machines.

In Pechanga's agreement, the tribe would be obligated to pay an additional 15 percent of net winnings on the first 3,000 machines it adds and 25 percent of net winnings on the next 2,500 machines.

Macarro said his tribe did not interfere when Pala signed its agreement with the state.

"We are disappointed that fellow tribes would oppose these agreements, particularly since we respected their agreements in 2004 that gave them unlimited slot machines," Macarro said.

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