LAKEPORT – With a unanimous, 5-0 vote on Tuesday, the Lake County Board of Supervisors said no dice to an Indian casino at Konocti Harbor and Spa.

 

The mandate was intended to send a clear message to Kenwood Investments, which is negotiating the purchase of Konocti Harbor, and, for that matter to Congress, which would need to approve of the sale of the property by the UA Local Convalescent Fund.

The vote was not an open-and-shut proposition. District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown, whose district encompasses Konocti Harbor and who introduced the proposal to adopt a resolution opposing the development, was the only assured "no" vote going into the board session Tuesday morning. To a lesser extent, Board chair Jeff Smith, who said he was "not into gambling," stood in opposition.

The remaining votes – those of Ed Robey, Anthony Farrington and freshman Supervisor Denise Rushing – did not originally favor the casino, which would require Congress making a reservation out of Konocti Harbor, but were more of a wait-and-see nature.

"I'd like to see them (Kenwood) come before us and then make a decision. That would strengthen our position," is the way Robey put it.

The eventual unanimity could be attributed to Brown's adroit balancing act to block the creation of a new casino while maintaining good relations with Kenwood and its lobbyist owner, Darius Anderson.

"Darius Anderson can make Konocti Harbor what it should be and we want that," Brown said while addressing a group of homeowners and presidents of several homeowner association presidents a night earlier.

"We don't want to make these guys out to be our enemies. It's just that there's a part of this project that we don't want."

After the vote, Brown said he said he felt that it was "done in such a way (that it did) not close the door on Kenwood Investments."

The messages from individuals who addressed the supervisors on Tuesday may have been as much a catalyst for the ultimate decision. The most powerful reasoning seemed to be provided by Gene Lovi, a former supervisor; Angie Seigel, a member of the Rivieras Area Planning Committee; and John DeChaine, a resident of Buckingham and a young lawyer serving in the county District Attorney office.

Brown was convincing in his response to comments that he was rushing to judgment in his labors to keep the casino out of Konocti Harbor.

In describing a sequence of events that led to Tuesday's session, he recalled a Sept. 21 edition of the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat quoting a Kenwood spokesperson talking about the deal with the plumbers union and quoting, "We're supposed to close on Monday and we're putting in a casino."

The spokesperson, Brown added, was also quoted as saying negotiations had been going on with Indian tribes from in and out of Lake County in the effort to change the Konocti Harbor site to a reservation for two years.

"I'd rather be driving the train than have it go up my backside," he said at the Monday homeowners association meeting, "and that's what's going to happen to us if we're not careful."

Brown said he made it clear to Anderson that he was "for anything that would help improve Konocti Harbor, but not gambling."

"It doesn't matter if it's four slot machines or 400,000, the people in the Konocti Harbor area don't want gambling," he told the board on Tuesday. "They need to know where we stand on this."

Seigel's comments followed the same path.

"You need to send a clear message to Congress that you didn't want to see this shoved down local people's throats," she told the board.

"You have the responsibility on your shoulders and you are bound by your constituents," said Lovi.

DeChaine scored when he said that he knew that the board would ultimately nix the casino, but questioned a delay "when (Anderson) can go to Sacramento and Washington, D.C. and say Lake County has not weighed in on whether a casino could be appropriate in that location. That's exactly the message that will be sent to federal and state legislators.

"My question is, do you want to close the door on a casino in two weeks or do you want to slam the door on a casino today?"

Soon after, Robey sensed the climate in the room to vote now and said, "I don't think anybody supports my position, so I'm going to give up."

Farrington, who had earlier he viewed as positive the opportunity of "having a casino like Cache Creek," followed, as did Rushing, who said earlier she couldn't make up her mind, "but leaned toward negotiating."

Brad Welch, who had represented Kenwood, swiftly exited before the vote was taken and declined comment.

Any possibility that Kenwood might still pursue a gambling casino at Konocti Harbor, Brown was asked.

"If they don't get this message, I don't what they'd understand," he said.

E-mail John Lindblom at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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