KELSEYVILLE – District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown said he plans to ask his fellow board members to formulate a stance on Indian casinos at a meeting next month.
On Tuesday, Brown said he plans to put the issue on the Feb. 6 agenda.
Brown reported earlier this week that he had received information that a number of landless tribes were in talks with a developer interested in buying Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa, and that a plan was under way to locate an Indian casino there.
“I want to take action as far as a position to write to state and federal representatives that the board opposes the prospect of a casino on the property known as Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa,” Brown said.
Brown said residents of the area, who also are his district constituents, have expressed opposition to such a plan based on a number of reasons, including traffic.
Area residents have been “fairly tolerant” of Konocti Harbor's current operations, which Brown said is because the resort's president and CEO, Greg Bennett, has addressed the concerns.
If it were a casino, because of sovereignty issues, “we wouldn't have any opportunity to regulate/mitigate traffic and noise, and that's just one concern,” said Brown.
As far as losing transient occupancy tax (TOT) for the county, Brown dismissed that as being a prime motivator for his actions. He said that Kelly Cox, the county's chief administrative officer, has worked out TOT agreements with other area casinos.
“We're dealing with a developer who's trying to find a tribe to put in a casino,” he said, adding, “That isn't in the same category as Indian self-reliance.”
It seems unlikely at this point that the plan will get much support from state and federal lawmakers.
Brad Onorato, the field representative for Congressman Mike Thompson, said Tuesday that Thompson's office hasn't yet been approached about the casino deal. He added, however, they've heard plenty about it in the past few months and are aware of Anderson's proposed purchase of Konocti.
Such a casino deal, said Onorato, won't get any help from Thompson, who he said wants to see tribes receive the approval and support of the communities where they want to do business.
Onorato ventured to say that Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer also would be unlikely to help the effort along. “None of them ever are going to support this,” he said.
When contacted for information on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's stances on Indian casinos located off tribal lands, Darrel Ng, an assistant press secretary for Schwarzenegger's office, pointed to guidelines in the Indian Regulatory Gaming Act (IRGA) and the governor's May 2005 proclamation on tribal gaming policy in the state.
In the first document, Ng pointed to guidelines related to gaming on “newly acquired lands.”
“Generally, gaming is not authorized under the IGRA on Indian lands acquired after October 17, 1988, unless the land acquired is within or contiguous to existing Indian land or to former land of the tribe if the tribe no longer has a reservation. These requirements may be waived by the Secretary of the
Interior if the Secretary finds that a gaming establishment on newly acquired lands would be in the best interest of the Indian tribe and its members and would not be detrimental to the surrounding community under certain circumstances and if the governor of the state in which the gaming activity is to be conducted agrees with the Secretary's findings.”
In Schwarzenegger's proclamation, he said he would consider request for a “gubernatorial concurrence” under IGRA that would allow a tribe to conduct gaming on newly acquired land only in cases where four criteria applied:
– the land isn't within any urbanized area;
– the local jurisdiction in which the tribe's proposed gaming project is located supports the project;
– the tribe and the local jurisdiction demonstrate that the affected local community supports the project, such as by a local advisory vote;
– the project substantially serves a clear, independent public policy, separate and apart from any increased economic benefit or financial contribution to the state, community, or the Indian tribe that may arise from gaming.
Cheryl Schmit is co-director of Stand Up For California, a group that studies tribal gaming and its effect on communities.
Schmit said Tuesday that she's not sure the plan to locate a casino on the resort is a realistic proposal, because there are lots of hurdles to cross.
To date, only three tribes in the nation have been able to accomplish locating a casino completely off their reservations, she said, and only one of those cases was in California.
Such efforts also face opposition from large gaming tribes that don't want to see off-reservation gaming expanded, she said.
Konocti Harbor has been owned since 1959 by the UA Local Convalescent Fund, which is controlled by Local 38 of the United Association of Plumbers, Pipefitters and Journeymen.
The Department of Labor has sued Local 38 and its trustees, including Lawrence J. Mazzola, son of the late Joe Mazzola, for allegedly diverting more than $36 million in assets of five employee benefit plans to renovate and operate the resort's outdoor amphitheater and indoor showroom, and improve other resort infrastructure.
Meanwhile, lobbyist Darius Anderson and his firm Kenwood Investments are in the midst of a purchase agreement with the convalescent fund, said Peter Windrem, a local attorney representing the convalescent fund, in a December interview.
The trust fund, said Windrem, is contracted to sell Konocti Harbor and that transaction is pending, with Kenwood going through a three-month due diligence to study how they'll be able to use the property
Asked last week about a plan to locate a casino at Konocti Harbor, Windrem replied, “I have no knowledge of that whatsoever.”
Brown began circulating the petitions against a casino at the resort in his district last week.
The petition reads: “We the undersigned adamantly oppose any consideration of a casino development on the property known as Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa. We are asking that our county, state and federal representatives also oppose this or any other similar project that does not have our support.”
Anyone interested in getting a petition or signing one can contact Brown at his office, 263-2368.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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