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Sunday, April 8, 2012

The Mashpee Wampanoag Pipe Dream in San Diego

Wampanoag leaders in San Diego to chart future
By George Brennan
April 03, 2012


SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Getting land into federal trust remains one of the key hurdles for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's pursuit of an Indian casino, but legal experts say it's far from insurmountable.

The National Indian Gaming Association is hosting its annual convention and trade show in San Diego through Wednesday.

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell, Treasurer Mark Harding and several members of the tribe's legal team are attending the conference, which features workshops in all aspects of Indian casinos, from intergovernmental agreements to what types of betting to offer.

In the lobby of the San Diego Convention Center, Cromwell exchanged well-wishes from other tribal leaders from across the country and was interrupted several times by business card-toting men and women interested in doing business with the tribe.

Despite the tribe's tight deadline of July 31 to negotiate a compact with Massachusetts for an Indian casino, Cromwell said it's important to keep up with what's happening in the Indian casino industry and that's why he's here.

"You're going to get all the latest and greatest information here," Cromwell said. "You're going to meet the people with the Department of the Interior that are working on (regulations) and policies, so you're getting all the information firsthand, so it's important to be here."



Land into trust
Cromwell and Harding attended a session on the process for getting land into trust and what some of the legal impediments are to that process — chief among them the 2009 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court known as Carcieri v. Salazar.

In that ruling, the court questioned the Interior Department's authority to take land into trust for the Narragansett Tribe in Rhode Island because the tribe's federal recognition came after the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. That ruling stalled land-into-trust applications for other tribes, which now have to undergo a "Carcieri analysis," a Bureau of Indian Affairs official said during the workshop.

But while Carcieri can be used to delay a project like the Mashpee tribe's plans for a casino in Taunton, it's not likely to block it completely based on comments by legal experts during the session.

Though she never mentioned the Mashpee Wampanoag specifically, Judith Shapiro, an attorney for the tribe and a speaker during the session, said opponents to Indian casinos latched on to the Carcieri decision to slow the process down, but decisions by the federal government offer tribes hope.

The Interior Department has taken land into trust for the Cowlitz Tribe in Washington state since the high court decision, she said. That trust land is tied up in legal challenges, but ultimately Shapiro believes the courts will find federally recognized tribes had relationships with the federal government before 1934.

In the case of the Narragansett tribe, she said, the tribe conceded they had never been under federal jurisdiction.

What this means for the Mashpee tribe and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), which is pursuing an Indian casino in Freetown, Lakeville or Fall River, is that if they can meet other elements of their July 31 deadline imposed by the state, they will be able to demonstrate through legal opinions that land into trust remains a real possibility.

If the state gaming commission were to determine otherwise, the Southeastern Massachusetts casino license would be put out to competitive bid.

The Aquinnah tribe is not represented at the convention, but a law firm representing it is in San Diego, spokesman James McManus said in an email.



The Carcieri fix
[Ignoring the Hawaii SCOTUS decision!]
Meanwhile, Loretta Tuell, chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Daniel Kahikina Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, said his office continues to push for congressional action, a so-called "Carcieri fix" and has undertaken a study to show the ramifications the court ruling is having on tribes not just in economic development, but housing, education and health care.

Tuell, a member of the Nez Perce Tribe, said: "We need to learn how to message the issue. Land is fundamental to who we are as people."

There can't be two classes of tribes — some blessed with land and others without, Tuell said.

Cromwell liked what he heard during the land-into-trust session. "It's rewarding and fulfilling to hear what we've always known," Cromwell said. Tribes need land to practice self-determination and self-governance and the Mashpee tribe is seeking to put land into trust in Mashpee and Taunton
[and Middleboro and Fall River and...the endless list, even though only Mashpee was listed on the application for recognition] as an initial reservation, he said.

"It's not just about gaming," Cromwell said. "It's about land."

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