Oct. 11, 2002
Indian gaming tab $32 million
Salmon gubernatorial campaign raises $1.7 million
Mary Jo Pitzl and Robbie Sherwood
The Arizona Republic


The millions being lavished on the Indian gambling propositions evoke gasps even from some of the players in the hotly contested battle to determine casino rights.

But the $32 million raised through Sept. 30 should be viewed in the context of what's at stake: hundreds of millions, maybe even $1 billion, in casino revenues.

"It's probably reasonable according to the stakes that are there," said Professor Joe Foote, director of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

A study done for The Arizona Republic estimated Arizona's Indian casinos reaped $975 million last year. With Indian gaming compacts beginning to expire next summer, two separate tribal groups are appealing to voters for approval to extend their gambling monopoly. Arizona's racetrack industry has joined the fray, seeking to continue Indian gaming while also letting the tracks operate slot machines.

The result has been a big-dollar campaign unlike anything Arizona voters have seen. Television ads have been ubiquitous, and the radio dial is full of appeals from the backers of Propositions 200, 201 and 202. Much of the early money went to the petition drives to qualify the measures for the Nov. 5 ballot, followed by voter-registration campaigns.

"It's just a cost of doing business," said Foote, who studies political communications. "When the stakes are high, the entities are willing to spend money."

Judging by reports filed Thursday, the 17-tribe coalition behind Proposition 202 is the most willing or, perhaps, the most able. Its $18.9 million in contributions through Sept. 30 comes almost exclusively from Indian tribes. The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Tribe, operator of Casino Arizona at two locations just east of Scottsdale, kicked in $5.3 million, according to campaign-finance reports filed with the secretary of state.

But the single biggest tribal contribution came from the Colorado River Indian Tribes, which is financing Proposition 200. The CRITs contributed $9.7 million from its own budget, mortgaging its Parker casino to fuel the campaign.

That means that one tribe on its own raised more than half as much as the other tribes working collectively.

Both Propositions 200 and 202 would continue casino-style gambling on Indian reservations only. But they differ in regulatory structure and in the amount of money they would share with the state: Proposition 202 is more generous, at up to $102 million a year, compared to Proposition 200's estimated $32 million.

The racetracks also are digging deep into the pockets of the owners of Turf Paradise and the Phoenix Greyhound Park. Those two track owners have contributed $3.5 million for Proposition 201, which would extend slot machines to the racetracks. 

In the governor's race, Republican candidate Matt Salmon appears to have fallen short of his $1 million fund-raising goal from President Bush's visit last month. Campaign reports suggest that the bulk of Salmon's $667,438 in individual contributions came from the Sept. 27 event. That's because many checks were recorded around the time of the event and were for the reported ticket price of $700.

The only privately funded candidate in the race, Salmon raised $750,000 since the Sept. 10 primary election, bringing his campaign total to $1.7 million. Salmon's report showed $82,620 from political action committees since the primary with $69,120 of that from the state Republican Party. 

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Janet Napolitano received $617,000 in publicly funded Clean Elections money. Her reports did not reflect an additional $200,000 given last week to Napolitano's campaign as a public match for a Republican Party issues ad favoring Salmon.

Independent Richard Mahoney had no primary, so he had received $748,106 in Clean Elections money for the entire campaign. Libertarian Barry Hess raised $1,338 since the primary for a total of $5,319.