Arnold Hedges His Bets

Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger has turned out to be a quick study. He's discovered a way to get what he wants by pulling a few strings at the federal level. This time it has to do with Indian gaming in California. He negotiated new compacts with four of the wealthiest tribes, and got the state legislature to approve the compacts when he pointed out that the state (in the midst of some serious budget deficits) would get billions of dollars out of the deal. Now the compacts have to be approved by the voters in the February election, and there are four propositions dealing with the compacts.

This time around a lot of voters have indicated that they don't want more Indian gaming because they don't want the state to turn into another Nevada. It is conceivable that the propositions would be voted down. The governor knows this. What to do? Well, an editorial in Friday's Sacramento Bee explains what happened next.

...After the compacts were ratified by the Legislature, they were sent to Washington, where the U.S. secretary of the interior is supposed to review and either accept or reject them. But after they arrived at Interior, the compacts were lost for 80 days. Under federal law, the secretary has 45 days to take action or Indian state gambling compacts become law automatically. Because the California compacts were lost, no review took place. When they mysteriously reappeared after the 45-day deadline had passed they were deemed approved automatically.

Here's where the governor steps in. The compacts are not officially in effect until they are published in the Federal Register. Given the pending vote in California and the mysterious disappearance and reappearance of the California compacts, Interior Department officials initially said they would not publish them until after the California vote. But 16 days later Interior reversed course, and the compacts were published.

It turns out that Schwarzenegger had spoken with Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and asked him to publish the compacts. At an editorial board meeting with The Bee on Wednesday, when he was asked directly if he had asked Kempthorne to publish them, the governor hedged, merely saying he asked Kempthorne to give "some attention" to the matter to make sure that "everything go through procedures." Later, a spokesman for the governor said that Schwarzenegger had asked the secretary to publish the compacts. The governor spoke with Kempthorne on Dec. 6. The compacts were published in the Federal Register on Dec. 19.

... If voters reject those four gambling deals on the ballot, Interior's decision to approve and publish them in the Federal Register creates a legal quandary. Does federal action supersede the California vote? [Emphasis added]

Because in some areas, among them these gambling compacts, Native American tribes are considered sovereign nations, it is entirely possible that the federal government's action will take precedence over the state vote. If voters disapprove the compacts, the courts will have to decide the issue, and they surely will be called upon to do so. That, however, is only part of the issue. How we got to this point is far more telling.

The first part of this little incident, the mysterious disappearance and equally as mysterious reappearance, may be nothing more than another example of this administration's incompetence, although I somehow doubt that. Even if mere negligence on the part of the Interior Department is established, it is the second part of the episode that deserves scrutiny. The department's Inspector General is already looking into the whole episode, and the Sacramento Bee's editorial board urges an investigation into Governor Schwartzenegger's actions.

I think that's a sterling idea.