Overwhelmingly opposed by voters in Lakeville and Freetown, the Aquinnah persist
in Reservation Shopping!
To date, only Taunton has been uninformed enough to support Predatory Gambling in
their community, believing the propaganda.
Aquinnah take pursuit of casino license to court
The Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah is taking its pursuit of a casino license to federal court, filing a motion on Friday to intervene in an existing lawsuit that challenges the state’s 2011 casino law.
The Martha’s Vineyard-based tribe argues that the outcome of that lawsuit — filed last November by KG Urban, a company seeking to build a commercial casino in New Bedford — could deprive the Aquinnah of an opportunity to pursue a tribal casino.
“There are issues being decided in this case that will be very important to us,” said John J. Duffy, a lawyer representing the tribe. The Aquinnah argue they should be allowed to participate in the case because the tribe cannot depend on the state or KG Urban to protect its interests in court.
The Aquinnah’s effort to join the case could complicate what is already an unsettled fight for casino development rights in Southeastern Massachusetts.
KG is challenging language in the casino law that delays any bidding for a commercial resort casino in the southeast to give a federally recognized tribe the chance to make progress toward a tribal casino.
Native American tribes are entitled to pursue gambling under a 1988 federal law, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
If a tribe is successful in winning federal approval for a casino in Southeastern Massachusetts, the state is not expected to license a competing commercial gambling resort in the region.
In suing the state, KG Urban is seeking the right to compete for a commercial license in the southeast.
Chief Negotiator for the Commonwealth
Governor Deval Patrick in July reached a deal with another tribe, the Mashpee Wampanoag, over the terms for a tribal casino in Taunton. But there is no guarantee the Mashpee will ever be able to build a casino because the tribe still must overcome legal obstacles.
Patrick has refused to negotiate a casino deal with the Aquinnah, citing a longstanding position among state officials that the Aquinnah gave up their federal rights to host gambling because of a land settlement in the 1980s, when the tribe agreed to abide by state law on its sovereign territory.
The Aquinnah have long maintained that they have the right to pursue gambling. A 20-page brief the tribe filed on Friday begins to flesh out their argument.
The tribe says that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which became law after the tribe’s land settlement, is an “implied repeal” of the restrictions that would prohibit an Aquinnah tribal casino.
In February, US District Judge Nathaniel Gorton upheld the state law and dismissed KG’s challenge.
The company appealed and the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in August vacated the dismissal and remanded the case back to the lower court. The case is scheduled for a status conference on Monday.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/09/08/aquinnah_tribe_takes_casino_pursuit_to_federal_court/
Aquinnah seek to intervene in casino suit
The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) wants to intervene in KG Urban's lawsuit against the state's Expanded Gaming Act to protect its gaming rights on its sovereign land in Massachusetts.
John R. Casciano of the high-powered Washington, D.C., law firm of Steptoe and Johnson filed a motion late Friday asking that the tribe be considered an "intervenor defendant" alongside Gov. Deval Patrick and the state gaming commission.
"These are big issues, whether states can provide advantages to tribes," and the other parties in the suit will not protect the Aquinnah's interest, said John Duffy of Steptoe and Johnson. "We ought to be in there, and we ought to have our say."
A memorandum in support of the motion states: "Without a determination that a tribe in the commonwealth possesses Indian lands ... Section 91 (of the Gaming Act) is not 'authorized' by federal law and will be ... likely struck down as unconstitutional.
"As the only tribe with existing trust lands in the commonwealth, Aquinnah's eligibility to game on those lands is directly at issue."
The Expanded Gaming Act gives preference to a federally recognized tribe for the exclusive license to operate a resort casino in Southeastern Massachusetts.
The state has since negotiated a compact to allow the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe to run a federally regulated casino in Taunton, but only if the compact is approved by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and the land is taken into trust.
The state has refused to negotiate with the Aquinnah on its plans to build a casino in the Freetown-Lakeville area or on sovereign land on Martha's Vineyard, saying the tribe ceded its gaming rights in a 1980s land deal.
"We have repeatedly had a different view," Duffy said of the state's claim. "To be honest, the state has had more than one view on that."
KG, which is hoping to build a commercial casino on the New Bedford waterfront, filed suit on the day the Expanded Gaming Act was signed, saying the preference given to tribes for the Southeastern Massachusetts casino license was a "race-based set-aside" that violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.
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