SACRAMENTO — Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca's promotion of an initiative to allow slot machines at card rooms and racetracks could benefit one of his biggest donors, a review of his campaign finances shows.
Card clubs, horse tracks and people affiliated with them -- who could profit from the measure if it makes the ballot and passes -- have given Baca $50,000 since he was elected five years ago. While that is a fraction of the $2.2 million he has raised for campaigns, it is not all he has received from gambling interests.
Baca's nonprofit corporation, the Sheriff's Youth Foundation, has received $115,700 since 2001 from the state's largest card room, the Commerce Casino.
Sacramento County Sheriff Lou Blanas, the other prominent law enforcement official backing the initiative, has accepted almost $50,000 from donors with gambling interests since 1996.
Card rooms and horse tracks are financing the initiative, which is intended for the November ballot. It could end the state's restriction of Nevada-style gambling to Indian lands and allot 30,000 slot machines -- the most lucrative game for any casino owner -- to existing card clubs and racetracks in Southern California and the Bay Area.
Many law enforcement officials shun the measure, but a letter bearing the two sheriffs' signatures will arrive in mailboxes starting Monday, urging voters to sign petitions to place it on the ballot.
The letter says the measure would provide $2 billion a year for law enforcement, education-related programs and fire protection by forcing Indian tribes, which currently make relatively modest payments to the state from their gambling proceeds, to pay more or lose their monopoly.
"The enclosed petition simply asks the Indian casinos to agree to pay their fair share for the exclusive monopoly that we have given them," the letter states.
The initiative specifies that, if tribes do not agree, the card rooms and racetracks will be entitled to slot machines and will pay the state a percentage of their take.
Both sheriffs dismissed any connection between their endorsements and the contributions they have received.
"There is no sustained source of funding for law enforcement," Blanas said, adding that his department stands to receive $12 million yearly in gambling proceeds if the initiative passes.
"I need more public safety money," Baca said in an interview. "That is my motivation."
