The very worst of Olympia's rubbish, however, is SB 5776, a partisan electoral "reform" measure that includes a particularly vile bid by state Republislug leaders to ban Native American tribes from contributing to electoral campaigns. Other provisions loosen donation reporting requirements in the final days of a campaign (a change favoring very large donors) and severely limit the ability of unions to contribute to campaigns.

According to 5776's lead sponsor, Bob McCaslin of Spokane, the tribal portion is a response to large Native American donations in the failed effort to pass a pro-gaming initiative in last fall's election. McCaslin: "You wonder why sovereign nations want to make campaign contributions."

Answer: because Washington state--and idiots like McCaslin--have fought tribal sovereignty every step of the way since 1889. The few sovereign rights tribes forced courts to honor in recent years (notably treaty fishing rights and gaming) were won over the fierce and ongoing opposition of official Washington.

The problem is simple. Native Americans are U.S. citizens; a law that states that a collection of U.S. citizens can't lobby or exercise free speech (courts consider campaign donations to be both) is plainly unconstitutional. Since the defining characteristic of tribes is race, it also meets any legal test for racial discrimination. It's also the ultimate in hypocrisy. If reservations were respected as sovereign nations they wouldn't need to have a vote of approval from the state of Washington. Native Americans should be able to do whatever the hell they want on their own land.

Instead, the constant official harassment for any meager steps to alleviate the crushing poverty of most reservations is a testimony to the two-faced utility of state and federal government attitudes toward native rights. When the feds want to dump toxic or nuclear waste, corporations want waived environmental, worker safety, or minimum wage regulations, and states want to withhold social services, sovereignty is great. When tribes assert fishing rights, economic development, control over forests or miner als on their land, or (gasp) start to get some money in their pockets, all hell breaks loose.

The root problem for McCaslin et al isn't gaming or campaign finance: it's people of color with money. SB 5776 is one of the most transparently racist bills to come along in years. Even with a certain Locke veto, this bill shouldn't ever be allowed to get to his desk. SB 5776 must be stopped.