Indians Warn Lungren Against Crackdown

Four California Indian tribes have warned Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren that a crackdown against slot machine-type gambling devices on reservations would be “patently unlawful” and could provoke confrontations with the tribes.

In a strongly worded letter to Lungren, attorneys for the tribes say that raids to confiscate gambling machines “could expose local law enforcement agencies . . . to liability for unlawful arrest (and) seizure of property.”

Lungren last week urged sheriffs and police around the state to take “appropriate action” against slot-type machines on reservations, including prosecution of “individuals for the manufacture, possession and operation of (illegal) gambling equipment.”

The state attorney general issued his directive amid disclosures that gambling promoters have installed such devices in at least eight bingo halls on reservations in California--in three reservations just last month--despite a state prohibition against gambling machines.

Many local police and sheriffs’ officials say they don’t know what to do about the expanded gambling because of a patchwork of state and federal laws and court decisions that govern Indian gambling.

The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act cleared the way for Indians to use slot machines in states, such as Nevada, that have full casinos. But where the machines are banned, as in California, tribes are supposed to seek approval for them in “compacts” negotiated with the state.

Reservation officials, however, say they have been victimized by long delays in getting guidance from the National Indian Gaming Commission, a panel that will have to interpret key portions of the new federal law. Many tribes are hoping that the panel will let them use some gambling machines without the states having a say.

In the letter to Lungren, sent Friday, four Indian communities contend that the 1988 law shifted jurisdiction over reservation gambling to federal authorities, at least until tribes and the state sign gambling compacts.

“Lungren is wrong on the law,” said attorney George Forman, whose Berkeley firm represents the Sycuan Reservation outside San Diego, which has one of the most successful tribal casinos in the nation, and the Morongo Reservation west of Palm Springs, the Santa Rosa Rancheria in Kings County and the Colusa Rancheria in Colusa County.

The four-page letter--copies of which were sent to sheriffs and prosecutors in each county--warns Lungren that “the course of action which you urge local authorities to pursue not only would be counterproductive and confrontational, but also would be so clearly unlawful as to be irresponsible.”

In addition to calling for action against slot machines, Lungren announced last Wednesday that he is forming a task force “to ensure that gambling on Indian lands in California will be ‘squeaky clean.’ ”