Posted on 07/15/2006 11:11:10 AM PDT by calcowgirl
Trying to appease another well-heeled political enemy, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger held a closed-door meeting last week with representatives of 68 California Indian tribes, offering to negotiate new gambling compacts.
The Republican governor fielded questions from tribal leaders -- some who operate casinos and others who want to -- in a hotel conference room across the street from the Capitol.
Schwarzenegger apologized for not meeting personally with the members of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association earlier to discuss the scope of gambling in the state, which is home to 56 Indian casinos.
"He said he was open to negotiating with all our member tribes," said Ralph Simon, executive director of the tribal gaming association. "From the statements he made, he appeared to be opening up negotiations to all tribes."
The conciliatory tone is a turnabout for Schwarzenegger, who earned the enmity of the tribes in 2003 during the recall election when he described them as special interests and said they should pay more of their gambling profits to the state.
"He wanted to open the lines of communication with the tribes," said Darrel Ng, a Schwarzenegger spokesman, of the recent meeting.
(snip)
During this re-election year, Schwarzenegger has attempted to court other political adversaries with the potential to spend lavishly against him in November, such as the powerful state prison guards union and the California Teachers Association.
(snip)
Schwarzenegger's administration has also made overtures to the politically powerful prison guards union, which Schwarzenegger previously criticized for wielding too much influence over the state prison system.
The administration described its extending of the olive branch to the union, another heavy spender last year against Schwarzenegger's propositions, the same way it described the governor's recent meeting with the tribes -- a simple attempt at better communications.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
>>For some time now, I've said that a lot of economic problems could be solved in short order if we could just convince the Indians to build some nuclear power plants.<<
What a geat frickin' idea!
Perhaps they could sell firearms without waiting periods, payment for background checks. adherence to "safe handgun" laws, or limitations on ugly, black rifles. I'm for this.
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