After that effort met with near-universal opposition, the tribe did a bit of reservation shopping and shifted its plans to Rohnert Park. There, the tribe, allied with the Sonoma pro-growth lobby, made a deal with a majority of the Rohnert Park City Council to build a casino and hotel complex on the west side of the town just off Highway 101.
Woolsey's involvement with the Graton Indians has been controversial. In 2000, the Petaluma Democrat introduced a bill, HR 946, to give this small group of Indian families tribal status. The law as initially drafted, prohibited the Graton tribe from using its new official designation to open a casino. After Woolsey's bill cleared a House committee, its language was mysteriously changed to permit gaming. Woolsey denies any involvement in the switch. How that shift occurred has never been adequately explained.
Woolsey expressed dismay at the Graton tribes' move and denounced it. The legislation as enacted and signed into law during the last weeks of the Clinton Administration, allows the Graton Band the right to build casinos literally anywhere in Marin and Sonoma.
Her possible Republican opponent in the November general election, Sonoman Mike Halliwell, charges that "either Woolsey didn't know what was going on with HR 946, or she knew quite well." In effect, Halliwell is saying that either Woolsey incredibly lost track of her own bill or she quietly acquiesced to the tribe's effort to delete the anti-gaming provision in the legislation.
Given the Graton Band's political history with Woolsey, it's surprising that she would now be the recipient of its campaign money in her hard-fought Democratic primary against Assembly man Joe Nation. Perhaps it's all just an effort by the Graton Band to make peace with its local Congress member. The best way to track Woolsey's real intentions is to see if she will support new legislation introduced by Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) to halt reservation shopping by tribes.
McCain's bill would prevent historically rural tribes, such as the Graton Band, from buying large swaths of land in urban spots along major highways and erecting gambling halls in cohort with land spectators and Nevada casino interests. It's likely too late to stop the Rohnert Park casino. Yet McCain's bill would go a long way to prevent future casinos, which under Woolsey's amended bill, are allowed anywhere in both Marin and Sonoma on the contrived basis that every square foot of both counties is the Miwok's ancestral homeland.
ODDS & ENDS: In the race for the Democratic nomination in the Sixth District Assembly, five of the six candidates support the proposed Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) commuter rail plan. Only MMWD director Jared Huffman takes a different path supporting "the concept of commuter rail' but not the SMART plan. Huffman advocates initiating rail passenger service in Sonoma but not continuing it to Marin.
SUPERVISOR Hal Brown has now indicated that he will spearhead efforts to clear mud and debris from Ross Valley creeks within the next month. The practical reality is that the cleaning process requires dry creek beds. If Brown's pledge comes to pass, he will deserve real credit for taking the first tangible action in decades to mitigate the danger of flooding in Fairfax, San Anselmo and Ross.
MILL VALLEY is in the midst of a heated controversy over the so-called "giant chess board." While the proposed board has shrunk to just 12-feet-by-12-feet with the chess pieces averaging only 18 inches in height, the issue remains a symbolic fight over the city's popular downtown plaza. Instead of a months-long study, city staff should promptly erect a mock-up of the proposed chess board and let the public make up its mind. The test need not be fancy. Any high school drama department prop shop could set up a temporary board within a matter of days.
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