Idaho

Tribes boost campaign spending by $2 million

Associated Press

BOISE _ Tribal leaders pumped another $2 million into the campaign to pass their gambling initiative, making it the most expensive issue campaign in Idaho history.

A campaign finance disclosure statement filed Friday showed the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and the Nez Perce Tribe raised more than $2 million for the cause from June 8 to Sept. 30. Small contributions from individuals added just over $1,000.

It brought the tribes' total financial commitment to more than $3.4 million. Combined with the $100,000 raised by their opponents, the campaign exceeds the nearly $3.5 million spent in the 1986 battle over the right-to-work law.

The initiative would legalize electronic gambling machines that have made resort casinos so lucrative. Advocates maintain that gambling has provided the lift for once-depressed reservations.

Critics claim it saps resources from the state's economy and undermines social values. They claim that the machines are slot machines banned by the Idaho Constitution.

The tribes and their allies contend the machines are nothing more than an electronic version of games offered by the state Lottery and therefore legal under federal law. They have picked up the support of many political leaders.

Both sides spent heavily on this summer's battle over whether the proposition should even go to a vote.

The Supreme Court refused to stop it, but it cost opponents $60,000 in legal fees paid to the Boise firm of Moffatt Thomas. The tribes paid $84,000 to the Coeur d'Alene firm of Givens, Funke & Work.

But during the summer, the tribes also spent nearly $700,000 on their television advertising campaign in support of the initiative, and the Southern California company handling the media blitz threw in nearly $200,000 more.

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