Tribe paid for Madera politician's D.C. trip

City Council member testified for casino.

Published online on Tuesday, Sep. 01, 2009

A Native American tribe that wants to build a casino near Madera paid for a city council member's trip to Washington, D.C., last year so he could testify in favor of the project, interviews and recently filed court records show.

The council member, Gary Svanda, has been a vocal and longtime supporter of the controversial project. When he testified in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in May 2008, he said he was speaking on behalf of the Madera City Council and the Madera County Board of Supervisors, according to a hearing transcript. But neither the city nor the county approved the trip, and some council members said they didn't find out about it until after he returned.

By state law, Svanda was supposed to report the cost of his flight and who paid for it. He never did.

Neither Svanda, the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians nor the company that wants to build the casino -- Las Vegas-based Station Casinos -- would say how much the flight and hotel stay cost, or even which hotel Svanda stayed in.

Government watchdog groups say the trip was a conflict of interest because Svanda was elected to represent Madera residents, not the tribe. Members of the tribe also accompanied Svanda.

"When elected officials need to travel in the service of their community, the public should pick up the tab," said Douglas Heller, executive director of the nonpartisan Consumer Watchdog group in Santa Monica. "It's much more expensive in the long run when special interests pay for travel because of the indebtedness politicians inevitably feel."

In contrast, when Frank Bigelow, a member of the Madera County Board of Supervisors, went on a similar trip in October 2007 to testify before the same committee, the county paid his expenses -- a $1,038 flight and a $422 one-night hotel bill, records show.

Bigelow said the county paid for the trip because the Board of Supervisors has voted to support the casino project and he was advocating for the county's interests.

It's not clear whose interests Svanda was representing at the hearing. Even though he told the committee the project has "strong local support," the Madera City Council never has taken a vote to support or oppose the casino project, and council members are divided on it.

Cheryl Schmit, founder of the gambling watchdog group Stand Up for California, said Svanda should not have told the committee that he was representing the city.

"It's a criminal offense to lie to Congress," she said. "That's a real concern."

No disclosure made

Svanda says he did nothing wrong. He insists he went only as a private businessman and not as a representative of the city -- despite his statements at the hearing.

Svanda said he was only following up on Bigelow's earlier testimony and that it wasn't improper for the North Fork tribe to pay for the trip. The tribe bought his air ticket and reimbursed him for his hotel stay, Svanda said.

It's unclear who asked Svanda to attend the hearing: Svanda said Bigelow asked him to go, but Bigelow said he didn't.

Elaine Bethel-Fink, the tribe's chairwoman, said questions about who paid for Svanda's flight and hotel are "petty."

"My thinking is that anyone on my team should have [their travel costs] paid for to promote our projects," she said.

Bethel-Fink did not elaborate on what she meant by saying Svanda was on her team.

Elected officials are required to fill out finance disclosure forms each year that list any gifts worth more than $50. This also includes any payments for travel costs outside of California, though not necessarily hotel costs. Svanda did not disclose either the flight or hotel costs.