As reported by: The Mercury News
A tiny Indian tribe from the Central Valley and a San Jose-based investment group are pitching a giant casino resort south of Gilroy, hoping to exploit a 250-mile long corridor along California's central coast where they would face no competition.

The investors and their attorneys have met in recent weeks with several San Benito and Santa Clara county supervisors and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's top negotiator for Indian gambling in an effort to build support among decision-makers before going public with their plans.

They have not said how big a facility they plan to build, but suggested it would be "competitive" with the 2,000-slot machine casinos that have become typical in the state. They also want to build a 200- to 300-room hotel, an entertainment complex and other recreational facilities.

"You'd have to have a very naive idea of Indian gaming to not know this is a good location," said Phillip Thompson, a Maryland attorney for the tribe involved in the deal.

To move forward, the tribe would have to get the approval of the governor, who has indicated he would grant it only with wide local support for the casino. The tribe also may have to resolve an ongoing dispute over control within its ranks.

Thompson declined to reveal the name of the tribe, but other sources said it was the five-member California Valley Miwok tribe, which has been searching for a casino location for at least four years.

The tribe's chairwoman, Silvia Burley, did not respond to telephone messages seeking comment left at her Stockton office Friday.

The casino promoters said they have not yet optioned any land for the development, but are looking at several locations along the Highway 25 corridor on both sides of the Santa Clara/San Benito county line.

Led by Kirk Rossmann, 57, a former San Jose businessman now living in Incline Village, Nev., the investors otherwise have not been identified. Rossmann, who formed a corporation called Game Won in March to control the development, said he would reveal their identities after receiving permission to do so.

"It's mostly local folks. From manufacturing guys to farmers to developers," Rossmann said.

Rossmann, a director of Heritage Commerce whose family had owned American Welding Supply, a San Jose supplier of industrial gas, said the casino would provide 1,500 to 3,000 jobs. He views it as the best economic-development opportunity available for the region.

"I don't see Ford Motor coming back to Milpitas," he said. "I don't see the semiconductor business coming back. Manufacturing is going out. What else can I do for this community?"

The group has met with a majority of the San Benito County Board of Supervisors but not with Ruth Kesler, who represents the part of the county being considered for the casino. Kesler, who lost her re-election bid in March and will be out of office by the end of the year, said she would oppose the casino. There will be a runoff for her seat in November.

Other supervisors said they had an open mind. "I told them up front I'd be willing to listen to anybody," said Supervisor Reb Monaco. "I told them they have to sell this to the public in our county."

The group also met this week with Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage, who represents the Gilroy area. Gage could not be reached Friday for comment.

Currently, Santa Clara County residents face a 90-minute to two-hour drive to reach Cache Creek Casino in Yolo County or one of the casinos in the Sierra foothills. A major casino is planned for San Pablo in Contra Costa County, but approval of a compact between the state and the tribe was postponed in the Legislature this week. That compact calls for a 35-mile exclusion zone in which no other casino could be located, an area that would stretch south to Fremont.

To the south, the closest casino is in Santa Barbara County, leaving a vast, untapped market that casino investors long have eyed.

There are no federally recognized Indian tribes in Santa Clara or San Benito counties. Only recognized tribes have the right to build a casino under federal law and Proposition 1A, which California voters approved four years ago to allow Indian casinos. But the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act allows landless tribes to find a location for a casino outside their historic tribal territory if they receive the consent of the governor.

Representatives of the tribe and the investment group have met twice with Peter Siggins, Schwarzenegger's legal affairs secretary and negotiator on tribal compacts.

"They were told that in cases where the state does not have an obligation under federal law to negotiate with a tribe, the governor would need to see broad and strong local support for a project in order to consider it," said Vince Sollitto, a deputy press secretary for Schwarzenegger.

The tribe's move into the area won't be received warmly by American Indians with historic roots in the area, a number of whom have been seeking federal recognition for years.

"It gets very discouraging when you're ignored by many of the federal and state agencies, and to get ignored by native people is somewhat unpleasant and unsettling," said Ann Marie Sayers, of the Indian Canyon Band of Costanoan Mutsun Indians in San Benito County.

Thompson, attorney for the tribe seeking the casino, said he expected opposition from local Indians.

"We will make efforts to try to enter into discussions with these bands to see if there are things we can mutually work on," Thompson said. "I can't make any promises."

The Miwoks, the tribe reportedly behind the casino, may also have to deal with ongoing dissent within its ranks before it could finalize a deal. According to documents in a federal lawsuit in Sacramento, a Calaveras County member named Yakima Dixie is disputing Burley's authority. Dixie had been the tribe's only member until he approved the enrollment of Burley and her daughters in 1996. He accuses her of conspiring with agents of the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs to forge his signature on a letter resigning as tribal chairman and says Burley is using her position "to enrich herself and her family, to his detriment," according to the court documents.

Neither Dixie nor his attorney could be reached for comment Friday.