At least $3,533,275 -- Includes money spent on two ballot measures and campaign contributions for the 1992-96 elections

• Search $33,275 in Washington gambling contributions from 1992-96 (does not include money spent on two gambling ballot measures)

June 9, 1997

Gamblers in the Evergreen State can wager their hard-earned pay in card rooms, lotteries, pari-mutuel racetracks, and Indian casinos all over the state, but the real action is in the capital city of Olympia, where Indian tribes' lavish spending has provoked a legislative backlash.

The state's Indian tribes and their backers spent a record $2.2 million last year on Initiative 671, a failed ballot measure to legalize slot machines and video poker at their Washington casinos -- this just a year after spending more than $1.3 million on the similar Initiative 651. Meanwhile, the new Washington Indian Political Action Committee spent its money largely on state Democratic candidates, and Washington tribes gave another $106,000 to the Democratic National Committee in 1996 -- including $30,000 each from the Tulalip, Muckleshoot, and Puyallup tribes just two weeks before the November election.

Now Republican lawmakers want to outlaw political contributions from Indian tribes, on the grounds that they are "domestic dependent sovereign" nations who shouldn't be allowed to meddle in Washington state politics. Indian leaders counter that they are American citizens with the same political rights as anyone else.

The Washington State Public Disclosure Commission keeps records of campaign contributions and lobbyist expenditures, available on paper for 10 cents per page, plus postage, or in computerized format downloadable from the commission's clunky Web site.

For a closer look at gambling contributions to individual state candidates, browse through the MoJo Wire's searchable database of these contributions, with data from the Western States Center:

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