From the August 2 Desert Post Weekly . . .

Updated and reprinted with a sort of implied permission

A few months ago The Rat mentioned we might see the controversial tribal gaming compacts put to a referendum this February, despite the fact that they were approved by the legislature and signed into law. Under normal circumstances, that would have been enough to make it official.

But the casino workers' union and the horse racing industry have been total crybabies about the gaming expansion compact, which would bring another casino and a bunch of new slot machines to the valley, and late last week representatives from each filed paperwork with the attorney general's office to get the referendum process started.

The funny thing is, neither the hotel/casino workers union nor the owners of the racetracks are actually against the gambling part of the compact. You would think there would be groves of people lining up saying how gambling corrupts the soul and we shouldn't be making efforts to expand it and ruin more lives, but that doesn't seem to be the argument.

The union says the workers who keep the casinos in business won't have significant rights as the casinos exercise their newly appointed right to expand, and the racetracks say they want some slot machines of their own, because the casinos keep luring their gamblers away like a slot machine luring away your paycheck for the week.

Either way, this referendum could turn into a high stakes horse race of its own, as the California Tribal Business Alliance has predicted each side could spend $30 to $40 million trying to convince the voters to join their side.

The spending really began this week (September 24) as the four tribes affected by the compact launched a television ad campaign to garner support for the compacts. The commercials focus on how the compacts will bring billions into the state without having to raise taxes, and are airing in all the major markets including the Coachella Valley.

The timing of these commercials is curious for several reasons. Reason one is the ads are a bit of a preemptive strike at this point. The measure isn't even guaranteed to be headed for referendum as of yet; opponents haven't gathered enough signatures to see that happen. They have until October 8 to do so. The second reason the timing is odd is because this week marked the start of Native American Week in America. Did these tribes actually time these ads to coincide with the press the Indian community is already getting for their week of recognition? Could running these pro-casino expansion ads be their way of celebrating Native American Week?

The Rat's not a gambling man, but he'd be willing to bet the odds of that being true are better than you're likely to find at any of the local casino slot machines.