Tribe Says it May Run More Anti-Kulongoski Ads

(SALEM) - In the just-ended primary election season, the tribe that runs Oregon's largest casino spent $850,000 to blanket the airwaves with TV ads blasting Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Republican Kevin Mannix.

Despite the ad blitz, Kulongoski won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in his contest with two challengers. But Mannix went down to defeat in the May 16 GOP primary, a loss he blames in large part on TV ads the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde ran against him. Now the Grand Ronde is prepared to bankroll a new round of TV ads targeting Kulongoski in the general election, if he persists in backing a competing casino that the tribe says will trash the Columbia Gorge and create unfair competition among Oregon's tribal casinos.

"We will do whatever it takes to make sure Oregonians know where the candidates stand on this issue," says Justin Martin, a Grand Ronde spokesman. "It's a critical issue to us, and it's a critical issue to Oregonians."

The dispute centers on Kulongoski's decision in 2005 to allow the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to build an off-reservation casino in Cascade Locks, located within the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area and about 40 miles east of the lucrative Portland market.

The Grand Ronde, whose Spirit Mountain casino currently is closest to Portland, says that letting Warm Springs build on nontribal land in Cascade Locks would encourage other tribes to demand they also be allowed to put up casinos in more profitable, off-reservation sites.

In the Democratic primary race, the Grand Ronde's TV ads attacked Kulongoski as a "do-nothing governor" on health care and schools, saying the state needs better leadership on those issues, "not new casinos."

The ad drew an immediate counterattack from Kulongoski, who claimed the ad was inaccurate and unfairly lumped the casino issue together with health care and education.

Kulongoski's campaign spokesman, Cameron Johnson, notes that Kulongoski won the Democratic primary by a sizable margin over his two challengers, despite the Grand Ronde's TV ads that ran almost constantly in the weeks leading up to the May 16th election.

"Voters are smart; they proved during the Democratic primary that they are going to reject those kinds of special interest ads," Johnson said. "Oregonians don't want their elections to be hijacked by special interests."

Kulongoski, as the incumbent, was considered the favorite to defeat challengers Jim Hill and Peter Sorenson in the Democratic primary.

The GOP primary was considered a close race up until the end, when Portland lawyer Ron Saxton vanquished Mannix to become the Republican standard-bearer for the fall election.

In that contest, the Grand Ronde's TV ads praised Saxton for opposing the gorge casino and criticized Mannix for refusing to say he would block it. The ads also suggested that Mannix had backed numerous tax hikes during his years as a state legislator.

Mannix, in a recent interview, said he thinks the Grand Ronde ads were a decisive factor in his defeat.

"The most significant event was the body blow we suffered early on from the massive TV advertising campaign by the Grand Ronde casino interests," the Salem Republican said. "They defined me for voters before I had a chance to define myself."

Kulongoski's endorsement of the Cascade Locks casino has drawn fire not only from the Grand Ronde by also from anti-gambling advocates, state lottery retailers and environmental interests.

One of the most vocal opponents is Michael Lang, conservation director of Friends of the Columbia Gorge, who contends that placing a casino in Cascade Locks will increase air and water pollution in the heart of one of Oregon's most scenic areas.

Lang notes the plan has yet to receive federal approval and that Kulongoski still has the opportunity to drop the Cascade Locks casino in favor of finding another site for the Warm Springs tribe â€” and avoid having the Grand Ronde opposing his re-election this fall.

"It would behoove the governor to take a fresh look at this," Lang said. "He still has several months before the election. There is time for the governor to re-approach the issue, and do it right this time."

Johnson, Kulongoski's re-election campaign spokesman, says the Democratic governor intends to allow the Warm Springs tribe to put a casino in Cascade Locks because otherwise the tribe might build a casino on a far less desirable site on tribal land upstream in Hood River.

There's no chance Kulongoski will change his mind â€” even if that means the Grand Ronde will run another TV ad blitz against him in the fall, Johnson said.

"He based his decision on what's in the best interests of the entire state, not just on what one special interest wants," Kulongoski's spokesman said.