The blogosphere is buzzing these final two weeks of the election season not about Schwarzenegger versus Angelides, but about Strickland versus Chiang (in the race for state controller) and McClintock versus Garamendi (in the race for lieutenant governor). A new independent expenditure committee, Team 2006, has been formed by five Native American tribes that operate casinos in Southern California. Four of the tribes have contributed nearly $9 million to Team 2006.

The tribes that formed the committee are the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians; the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians; the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians; the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians; and the Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Nation.

The prevailing consensus is that the sudden infusion of money from the casino-owning tribes into these races is payback to the Democratic Party. At the end of the legislative session in early September, Democrats killed an effort by the governor to pass compacts that would have added 22,500 more slot machines at Indian casinos.

Daniel Weintraub at the Sacramento Bee notes that Strickland has also recently benefited to the tune of $66,000 in television ad time buys from another independent expenditure committee, Alliance for California’s Tomorrow. That committee has $1 million on hand from Intuit, the tax-preparation software company.

The theory here is that Intuit benefits if it has a friend on the Franchise Tax Board, on which the controller sits, because the board decides whether state tax filers can file electronically for free, without having to use proprietary tax preparation programs. The Los Angeles Times notes in an article tomorrow that Chiang, when he sat on the Franchise Tax Board, favored a pilot program called ReadyReturn that would have made it easier to file tax returns electronically.

Strickland’s campaign manager told the Associated Press today that the casino-owning tribes’ contributions would not influence him if he is elected.

On the other hand, one of Strickland’s campaign consultants is quoted in tomorrow’s Los Angeles Times article as saying, “We’re delighted about anyone who is supporting Tony Strickland’s message of lower taxes and more responsive government.”

The latest campaign finance filings from the committees in question are at the CalAccess website:

• Team 2006
• Alliance for California’s Tomorrow

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