Patrick favors giving Mashpee tribe more time
Gov. Deval Patrick said Friday the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe should have more time before the Massachusetts Gaming Commission pulls the plug on its exclusive rights to a Southeastern Massachusetts casino.
"I think leaving things as they are while this process of getting the compact approved in the Legislature and in the (Bureau of Indian Affairs) is appropriate, and it's not a long period, provided that the Legislature takes it up soon," Patrick said during a conference call with reporters Friday.
His comments came one day after a majority of commissioners appeared poised to open the region to commercial bids.
Commissioners refused to comment on Patrick's position through spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll.
The commission is seeking comments over the next two weeks but, barring compelling arguments, are likely to open the region to competitors.
The commissioners' actions appear to contradict what they asked for in December.
At that time, the commission gave the tribe 90 days to negotiate a new compact with Patrick. The commission wanted to avoid what Commissioner James McHugh called a "subliminal signal" that the commission believes the tribe's chances at an Indian casino are slim.
Now, with a compact before the Legislature for action, the commission is sending its strongest message yet that it believes the tribe's hurdles are insurmountable.
"They asked us for 90 days to negotiate with the Legislature, we gave them 90 days, and that's the name of that tune," Crosby said after Thursday's meeting.
But nothing in the transcript of the Dec. 18 meeting or in the public record backs up those comments. And there is no deadline in the legislation for the tribe to have land in trust.
Nor have any commissioners said progress in the tribe's pursuit of land in trust was a requirement to keep the status quo. In fact, the commissioners' comments have been just the opposite.
Resolving the land-into-trust question was going to take more than 90 days, McHugh said at the December meeting.
Still, even as the tribe was in the throes of negotiations with the state, it made progress. For example:
- The tribe has an advisory opinion from the federal bureau that its application for having land taken into trust qualifies as an initial reservation.
- It has a letter from a bureau attorney that a key hurdle — whether the tribe can overcome a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court ruling known as the Carcieri decision — is a "top priority."
- The commission was told by Kevin Washburn, assistant secretary for the bureau, that there were "no red flags" in the tribe's environmental review.
- An unidentified official from the Environmental Protection Agency told commissioners the tribe's timeline for environmental review of the casino is feasible.
"The tribe has made unprecedented progress on its trust application, everybody recognizes that," tribe attorney Howard Cooper said Thursday. "It's unprecedented to have this early initial reservation decision, and it's unprecedented to have a commitment from (the Department of the Interior) as to the timetable on Carcieri (and) to have it done in early 2013."
Since November 2011, when the gaming legislation was passed, the tribe has met its deadlines. It had to have a compact negotiated with Patrick and approved by the Legislature by July 31. That meant getting land under agreement, which it did. Once the tribe had the land, it needed to negotiate an agreement with Taunton. The tribe did that. Once it had an agreement, it had to get a positive vote in Taunton. The Wampanoag did that, too.
"The tribe is literally light- years ahead of any other person or entity getting into the ground in this state," Cooper said. "The tribe will honor the compact and expects the commonwealth will honor it as well."
Commissioners appear to believe the likelihood of protracted legal challenges and the complications of Carcieri are reasons to move ahead with commercial bids.
State Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, who helped research and craft the casino legislation, has been consulted by the commission about how long the Legislature intended to give the tribe to get federal approvals, he said Friday.
"(Commissioners) have to make the judgment based on the best information and their best judgment as to whether or not at some point they believe the tribe will not get land into trust," he said.
The tribe argues that nothing in the last three months indicates that won't happen.
In a letter to the commission Friday, Cooper demanded that the agency release the names of legislators and consultants who have given them advice.
"While the tribe continues to believe that what the commission proposes to do in Region C is legally invalid, the tribe would like to be able to respond to any information provided by these undisclosed sources," Cooper wrote.
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