CALL SEN. FEINSTEIN NOW! 415-393-0707
"DIANNE'S CASINO": MARIN COUNTY COUNSEL
REVEALS FEINSTEIN BROKERED LATEST CASINO DEAL BETWEEN MARIN &, SONOMA COUNTIES & FIGR
(Note: Feinstein's actions and the two county's agreements do not and cannot affect in any
way the current lawsuit on the land to trust decision nor will they affect any environmental litigation.)
What's Senator Feinstein have against Sonoma County residents? That's what Sonoma County
residents are asking after learning that at the Tuesday (7/22/2008) meeting of the Marin County Board of Supervisors, Marin
County Counsel Patrick Faulkner let slip that U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) brokered the latest deal with a North Bay
casino tribe and the counties of Sonoma and Marin.
This
statement, caught on video and witnessed by STC101 spokesperson at the Marin meeting, Frank Egger, confirmed a comment by
Sonoma County Counsel. On Monday, Sonoma County Counsel told a Rohnert Park resident that "one
of the senators" would be "willing to carry a bill" to change the language of the Restoration Act of the Federated
Indians of Graton Rancheria (FIGR) so that all future trust acquisitions, but not the current casino site, would be subject
to the Secretary of the Interior's discretion.
On Tuesday,
both Sonoma and Marin supervisors approved agreements with the FIGR that were virtually identical in content, with only minimal
notice to the public.
This is the second deal that the
Senator has brokered to further the building of an enormous casino just outside the City of Rohnert Park. It was Senator
Feinstein who, in 2003, brokered the secret deal that allowed the FIGR to stay safe and sound at the Rohnert
Park site.
At that time, the Senator's husband, Richard
Blum, owned a controlling interest in Perini Corp., a construction firm that has done billions of dollars of work for the
casino industry, including the building of Thunder Valley Casino, a tribal casino near Sacramento built and managed by the
FIGR's partner, Station Casinos Inc. of Las Vegas, which opened in 2003. In 2007, Senator Feinstein resigned from
the Senate Military Affairs Construction subcommittee after a series of articles exposed her relationship with Perini Corp,
which had received $759 million in military contracts.
The
Senator's 2003 deal with Greg Sarris, Chairman of the FIGR, was that if the FIGR moved its casino site from the original
Highway 37 site near the Marin/Sonoma border, she would not obstruct the acquisition of any future site, a promise she apparently
continues to keep.
When STC101 Founder Pastor Chip
Worthington went to Washington in 2003, he told Joel McFadden at a meeting in the Senator's office, that he knew
about the deal.
McFadden was visibly shaken, and literally begged
Pastor Worthington not to go public with the information. Pastor Worthington, politically naïve at that point
in time, out of courtesy to the Senator, agreed not to go public.
It is now apparent that Sen. Feinstein has always been the key to the Rohnert Park casino debacle. The Senator's
strategy appears to be, the further north the casinos go, the better it is for the wealthy residents of Marin County and for
the Senator's home town, San Francisco.
Last year,
the Senator cut a deal with Lytton Band of Pomo Indians that prevented the tribe from opening a 2,500 slot machine casino
in San Pablo. The Senator commented at the time that her legislation "...ensure(d) that a major Nevada-style casino
will not be built in the Bay Area in the near future."
But
her deal with the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians (San Pablo casino) has had the effect of driving the Lyttons back up Sonoma
County in Windsor, where reliable sources inside Town Hall say that the Lytton have indicated that they may indeed go
for the Class III casino they were denied in San Pablo, on 60+ acres of Windsor land they plan to put
into trust.
"Make no mistake, this is
a class struggle", said Pastor Worthington. "Marin County is the acknowledged cash cow for the Democratic
Party in California. One the other hand, us Sonoma County folks are the rubes and the hayseeds. The Senator's
behavior is reprehensible, sneaky, self-serving and conniving."
For the past five years, Senator Feinstein's office has received innumerable requests from Sonoma County residents
to amend the Graton Rancheria Restoration Act, as she had done for the Highway 37 site. This most likely would
have prevented the construction of a casino on the Rohnert Park site.
Now Senator Feinstein is ready to amend the Graton Restoration Act, but only for future land acquisitions
so that Marin County will be protected from a casino; The Rohnert Park site will not be affected.
"This is the grossest betrayal of trust, and a terrible blow to all of the Senator's loyal supporters here
in Sonoma County, many of whom have continued to hope that she would help them with this problem", said Pastor
Worthington.
"We face serious environmental and
social impacts from Dianne's Casino that all the money in the world cannot solve", he said. "For the Senator
to put the selfish interests of herself and elite Marin County residents and the casino developers over the grave concerns
of her Sonoma County constituents is unforgiveable"
"Dianne's
Casino has been the result of one backroom deal after another, and the people of Sonoma County are tired of being ignored
and lied to by their elected officials."
