CRUZ CONTROLLED

Pair back tribes on gambling: Bustamante and McClintock deny any dealing for donations.(Margaret Talev, August 29, 2003, Sacramento Bee)

Two of the three top candidates seeking to replace Gov. Gray Davis in the recall election took their cases to moneyed Indian tribes Thursday, promising to support more gambling and less government intrusion on tribal lands in California.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock drew standing ovations after their remarks to the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, according to members who attended the closed-door session at the downtown Hyatt Regency Sacramento. [...]

"In terms of Hewlett-Packard or any other industry group in California, we don't put a limitation on any of them," Bustamante said. "We don't say, 'You can only sell so many computers' or 'You can only have so many franchises.' What we do is let the market determine a lot of what is needed." [...]

New campaign laws limit donors to giving no more than $21,200 per replacement candidate in the recall campaign.

Through a loophole in election law, however, Bustamante can raise larger amounts by funneling them through his 2002 campaign account. Last week, the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation used that loophole to donate $300,000. Bustamante has said the campaign could cost him $15 million.

That $300,000 is, by the way, about half of what Mr. Bustamante has raised so far. Meanwhile, the suggestion that a vice like gambling should not be subject to greater government controls than other businesses is totally irresponsible. It's one thing to say that gaming should be legal, quite another to say that we're obligated to let the free market determine its extent. At worst it should be treated just like its peers--alcohol, cigarettes, etc.--legal but regulated. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 29, 2003 6:34 PM