Senator foreswears soliciting tribes on gambling issues

By DON THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO (AP) State Sen. Jim Battin backed away Thursday from his public relations firm's offers to promote tribal gambling, an issue Battin oversees as a full-time state lawmaker.

Battin and several partners had solicited at least three Indian tribes, offering to coordinate public relations and advertising campaigns promoting tribal casinos.

But Battin, one of the Legislature's most vocal supporters of Indian gambling, said a deluge of criticism Thursday convinced him not to accept private business from tribes. Battin is a member of the Governmental Organization Committee that considers card room and horse racing legislation, and serves on a select committee on horse racing.

``It's just not worth it,'' Battin said. ``The people I represent, their faith in me, is worth far more than that.'' Battin's Southern California district includes several tribes.

Battin collected $140,500 in campaign contributions from tribes during the last election cycle, records show, though he was not involved in a campaign. Tribes in recent years have become the state's largest campaign donors.

Battin said he will continue to accept non-gambling related business through Voter Strategies Media Buying and Consultants, the firm he started this year to provide income beyond the $99,000 he earns as a legislator.

He had done radio and television advertising purchases before he was elected in 1994, and has since done ad buys for his own campaign and that of another lawmaker on a voluntary basis.

He did media buys for a Nevada group that favors limits on lawsuit damage awards earlier this year, but it wasn't until word of the tribal solicitations surfaced Thursday in a front-page Los Angeles Times story that Battin decided to foreswear any outside business involving Indian gambling.

In an interview, he blamed the resulting storm of criticism on a ``double standard'' for Indian tribes.

``The Legislature is full of people who have outside business interests. Some of them are committee chairmen who sponsor legislation, and that doesn't seem to bother anybody,'' said Battin said, who is currently sponsoring several pieces of tribal gambling-related legislation.

He said he'd cleared his business venture with a political lawyer, planned to disclose any income as required, and had turned offers to buy advertising that he felt would have posed a conflict with his legislative career. The ads Battin said he proposed to place on tribes' behalf involved ``keeping public opinion positive to the tribes. It's not anything involving the Legislature at all.''

However, a solicitation to the Barona Band of Mission Indians in San Diego County, quoted by the Times, said Battin's team would be able to ``provide reach into all levels of government'' at a time when card room and horse racing interests may try to undermine competition from increasingly lucrative tribal casinos. Gov. Gray Davis is asking tribes to contribute more to the state to offset the current budget shortfall.

A Barona spokesman did not return a telephone message from The Associated Press Thursday. But an Indian gambling official said the solicitations left tribes ``just shaking their heads. While we appreciate what Sen. Battin has done for us, most tribes were taken aback by this.''

The consultants made a formal presentation to just one tribe, whom Battin would not name, but Battin said no contract had been signed and he has no current clients.

Senate GOP Leader Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga was satisfied by Battin's decision.

``If we are in fact a full-time Legislature, then I have always been of the belief that no member of the Legislature should have an outside active income,'' Brulte said. ``That said, if he's followed all the rules, Sen. Battin should not be singled out.''

Brulte and Battin teamed in February to call for an audit of a fund administered by the California Gambling Control Commission that collects Indian casino money for distribution to non-gambling tribes.

Battin was fined $14,000 in 1998 by the Fair Political Practices Commission for accepting and failing to properly disclose his acceptance of a business suit and lodging payments in 1995, records show.

Commission spokeswoman Sigrid Bathen said commission rules bar her from commenting on Battin's current outside business interests.

On the Net:

See legislation at www.sen.ca.gov

See campaign contributions at www.ss.ca.gov/

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)