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Charging that the Lytton Band of Pomos acquired Casino San Pablo “the wrong way,” maverick Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain announced Thursday evening that he’ll hold hearings on a law that would reverse part of the tribe’s special status. 

According to the Associated Press, McCain will hold special hearings on the casino in the Senate Indian Affairs Committee which he now chairs and take up legislation by California Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein that would reverse an earlier law written by East Bay Congressional Rep. George Miller. 

California Assemblymember Loni Hancock, whose district encompasses San Pablo, welcomed the decision. 

“I fully support the hearings being held by Sen. McCain and I fully support the legislation by [Feinstein]” which seeks to reverse the tribe’s special status, Hancock said. 

A leading opponent of the casino proposal, Hancock said, “It’s great to hear that we’re finally going to sit down and have a serious conversation about urban gambling in California.” 

Feinstein’s legislation would nullify legislation by Rep. George Miller that bestowed a unique legal status on the tribe, allowing them to acquire the land under conditions that would ease the way to building a Las Vegas-style casino. 

Miller tacked on a rider to the Omnibus Indian Advancement Act of 2000, backdating the Lytton Rancheria of Pomos’ claim on land they purchased that year to 1988, making it immediately eligible for a tribal casino. 

McCain’s announcement came the day after the Lyttons’ presented San Pablo City officials and councilmembers with their first look Wednesday at plans for the downscaled casino the Lyttons plan to build at the site of their Casino San Pablo cardroom. 

The mayor, City Council and city manager have embraced the 2,500-slot gambling parlor as the only possible economic salvation for their city, which they say would be forced to disincorporate without it. 

The new plans don’t cut back on the number of slots negotiated between the tribe and the governor, but they do scale back the overall size of the building, which won’t have a separate showroom, swimming pool and other amenities. 

The 9.53-acre San Pablo site only obtained official recognition as a Lytton reservation last June 29, when Aurene M. Martin, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, issued the official proclamation. 

Nevada Democratic Sen. Harry S. Reid, sponsor of the initial federal legislation authorizing Indian gambling legislation, led the fight to reverse the Miller amendment in the 2001 Congress, charging that his law never intended for tribes to be allowed to run casinos on land that was out of their historic areas. 

Sen. Feinstein opposed the measure in the Senate, where it was strongly supported by Pennsylvania Republican Senators Rick Santorum and Arlen Specter. 

Reid withdrew his opposition in October 2001, reportedly under pressure from Senate leaders eager to pass a funding bill for the Department of the Interior, according to stories in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. 

Hancock said the case of Casino San Pablo demonstrates the fatal flaws in Proposition IA, the tribal gambling measure passed by California voters in March 2000. 

Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy warned at the time that the measure would open the gate to urban casinos in California, a claim the measure’s backers had denied.ú