Although the average customer of the Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino in Northern California might not be able to tell the difference, a power struggle that has occasionally been punctuated by the possibility of gunplay has been played out on the Picayune Rancheria, which owns and operates the casino.
The tribe of 900 members has been in a tense situation for several months, with one faction saying it is the elected council, and another group, which has set up headquarters on the 11th floor of the casino hotel, saying it is the legal authority.
Reggie Lewis, a former chairman of the rancheria, is head of the group that says it is in charge. “We are there because we were asked by the casino staff and other tribal members to go and do what we did,” Lewis told Fox 16. “We’re only following the direction of the people.”
The most recently elected tribal council has occupied the tribal headquarters. Its leader Vice Chair Monica Davis–Johnson told reporters, “Throughout the history of our tribe, the council is on the compound. We’ve been consistently handling the operations. When they came in, they did everything in their power to stop us from doing our job.” Her group is currently conducting a forensic audit, which, she says, has caused the problems.
Both sides accuse the other of carrying guns to try to intimidate their opponents. Madera County Sheriff’s deputies have been spending millions of resources of the small department keeping the peace. According to a spokesman for the department, “It’s exhausting resources of deputies. It’s taxing on deputies and taxing on citizens.”
Both sides insist that things are safe and should prevent patrons from coming to the casino to gamble.
