California tribes ordered to report campaign funds

Indian tribes, donors of $100 million to California political campaigns, must report their contributions to the state, the California Supreme Court ruled.

The court decided 4 to 3 that tribes can be forced to comply with the campaign-finance requirement that donors report contributions of $10,000 a year and more. The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, a tribe based in Palm Springs, Calif., that operates a casino, claimed sovereign immunity from enforcement suits by the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

Most California tribes disclose their political donations, said Eric Shapland, an attorney for Common Cause, a public interest group in the suit. The ruling will ensure that all tribes comply, he said. Common Cause estimates the state's 100 tribes have donated $100 million since 1997. Agua Caliente has spent $20 million on political campaigns, Common Cause said.

"If folks aren't compelled to comply, there's a fear they wouldn't comply," Shapland said.

The Agua Caliente tribe "is disappointed that the 4-3 decision by the court fails to follow established federal law," Chairman Richard Milanovich said in a statement. "The tribal counsel will decide what actions it may take."

In 1974, California adopted rules that require disclosure of political donations to prevent corruption and allow voters to be fully informed about money in politics.

The case started when the Fair Political Practices Commission sued Agua Caliente for failing to report $8 million in contributions from 1998 to 2002.

The tribe said it was immune from such suits under the doctrine of tribal sovereign immunity. The tribe lost in trial and appeals courts and appealed to the state high court.

"Allowing tribal members to participate in our state electoral process while leaving the state powerless to effectively guard against political corruption puts the state in an untenable and indefensible position," the four-judge Supreme Court majority said Thursday.

Three dissenters said California had other ways to obtain the information it sought on Agua Caliente's donations and only Congress can decide whether Indian tribe's sovereign immunity from lawsuits should be modified.