Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Lynn Valbuena

78. Lynn Valbuena

California has a lot of powerful gaming tribes, but none is more powerful than the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, a tribe that has so well played its cards (see what we did there?) that it was able to buy a Las Vegas casino, the Palms, in 2021. So it should be no wonder that San Manuel’s chairwoman, Lynn “Nay” Valbuena, appears on this list. A fixture in San Manuel tribal government for decades, Valbuena recently began her latest stint as chairwoman in May, this time under a four-year term, as opposed to the tribal council’s old two-year terms. Valbuena is an undisputed icon of the San Manuel tribe, but also well respected in the larger tribal community, having served as vice chairwoman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, secretary for the National Indian Gaming Association, as a delegate to the National Congress of American Indians and as a trustee for the National Museum of the American Indian, which is part of the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Updated Aug. 7, 2024