Let's not forget that this location bears the greatest infrastructure costs.
Legislators wary of new compact with Mashpee tribe
BOSTON — Legislators deciding whether a gaming compact goes before the full House and Senate were worried Wednesday about how much it cost when the first agreement between the Mashpee Wampanoag and the governor was rejected by the federal government.
"We swung and missed in a pretty big way the last time around," state Rep. Joseph Wagner, D-Chicopee, co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, said about the first compact being rejected by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.
During a hearing that spanned more than five hours before a packed room at the Statehouse, the committee heard from Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe leaders, a handful of representatives and senators, a company that hopes to compete for the region's gambling dollars, and representatives of Gov. Deval Patrick.
The committee took no action on the new compact, but Wagner indicated that members will move it forward for consideration by the Legislature. The committee will take it up during an as-yet-unscheduled executive session.
The federal bureau determined that the first compact was unfair because the tribe would have paid the state 21.5 percent of gross gambling revenue without enough concessions. It also found that the state and tribe overreached in attempting to settle items not related to Indian gaming, including hunting and fishing rights and land issues.
Under the new compact, the state would receive anywhere from zero to 21 percent in gross gambling revenue depending on the extent of competition.
During testimony, Wagner asked for a full accounting of how much the two compacts cost the state to negotiate and even urged Patrick's office to seek a refund from the state's legal advisers.
He pointed out that the federal rejection included 18 pages of detailed problems with the first agreement.
"It was pretty strong in terms of the number of ways we didn't hit the nail on the head," he said.
The Expanded Gaming Act authorized $5 million to be spent in hiring legal consultants for the governor's office.
Brendan Ryan, Patrick's chief of staff, said not all of that money has been spent, though he added that a significant portion was used to negotiate the two compacts.
If the compact is approved by the Legislature, the bureau has 45 days to approve or reject it.
Tribal council Chairman Cedric Cromwell said after testifying that he's optimistic the committee, and ultimately the Legislature, will approve it.
"There are $2.5 billion in reasons why the compact should be taken up and approved," he said, referring to the estimated revenue the state will get during the 20 years of the compact.
Both Ryan and Cromwell testified that the bureau provided technical assistance in answering concerns raised with the first compact and tried to ease fears that the second agreement wouldn't hold.
The assistance included a meeting with Kevin Washburn, assistant secretary of the bureau, and his staff in Washington, D.C.
A steady stream of legislators, including two from the Cape, testified Wednesday, most of them supportive of the compact and the tribe's efforts to build a $500 million casino in Taunton.
Sen. Daniel Wolf, D-Harwich, steered clear of the particulars of the compact and said this was an opportunity for the Legislature to right a historic wrong in how Indian tribes were treated.
"Many people think history started when the Mayflower landed in Provincetown," Wolf said. "This is an opportunity to revisit that history, to correct that history, to rewrite that history in a way I think we can all be proud of."
Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, who, like Wolf, voted against legalizing casinos, said she supports the tribe's proposal for Southeastern Massachusetts and the "multiplier effect" it could have on tourism in the region.
Rep. Robert Koczera, D-New Bedford, a member of the joint committee, made the case that there is no urgency to approve a compact with the tribe, but Nick Martinelli, the governor's deputy general counsel, said it's important to act on the compact while the state and tribe's interests are aligned.
Other representatives from the southeast area of the state, as well as Marsha Sajer, an attorney for KG Urban Enterprises, a company that is competing with the tribe with a New Bedford casino, also cautioned against rushing.
"There is no obligation on the part of the commonwealth or any state to negotiate a compact absent land in trust," Sajer said.
Sajer and Andrew Stern, a principal for KG Urban, doubted the tribe would either get its land or a compact approved.
"Why would you care if we approve the compact or don't approve the compact?" state Sen. Gale Candaras, D-Wilbraham, the committee's co-chairman, said in response. "It's almost a nullity. Based on what you're saying, the vote of this committee and the vote of the Legislature is irrelevant."
Under the gaming law, commercial casinos would have to pay 25 percent of revenue to the state; meanwhile, under the compact, a tribal casino in the same region as a commercial casino would pay nothing.
"Having this compact approved with its zero revenue is going to have a chilling effect on my client to get financial backers," Sajer said.
Wagner attempted to keep the discussion on the compact and away from other federal hurdles faced by the tribe, including its application to have land in Taunton and Mashpee taken into federal trust as an initial reservation.
That proved fruitless as speakers repeatedly brought up a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, known as the Carcieri decision, that calls into question the ability of the Department of the Interior to take land in trust for tribes recognized after 1934.
The tribe has made the case that it was under federal jurisdiction in 1934, a distinction one of its Indian gaming lawyers, Arlinda Locklear, said would allow the bureau to take the land into trust and for a casino to be built. The tribe expects a decision soon.
"The final decision on a Carcieri analysis is measured in weeks, not years," Locklear said.
State Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, urged the committee to move the renegotiated deal forward expeditiously. "I understand ... your concerns of making sure we don't get up again and swing again, but we can also hit a home run here," he said. "We can also get this done."
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130516/NEWS/305160329/-1/NEWSLETTER100
Massachusetts lawmakers consider new Mashpee Wampanoag casino compact
By
on May 15, 2013
By ANDY METZGER
BOSTON — A push for legislative approval of a gaming compact between the state and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe ran into some wary lawmakers who questioned a previous compact’s rejection by the federal government and whether the current compact should be shelved until the casino approval process is further along.
The Mashpee face a few hurdles in their bid to build a 150,000 square-foot resort casino with 150 table games, 40 poker tables and 3,000 slots on an industrial park in Taunton. The first compact with the state was rejected by the Department of the Interior, and the federal government is still reviewing the necessary step of taking the Mashpee’s land into federal trust. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has decided to open up the licensing process in southeastern Massachusetts to commercial casino developers along with the tribe, while the commission waits to see how the land-in-trust and gaming compact are resolved.
According to the tribe and its attorneys, the land-in-trust application is on its way towards clearing another stage in the approval process, and the new compact will likely receive approval as federal regulators have been apprised of the negotiations.
The second iteration of the gaming compact was met with some skepticism, however, as questions remain over whether the tribe will be able to receive all the necessary approvals.
“I think we can put it on a shelf,” said Rep. Robert Koczera (D-New Bedford) as the compact was up for a hearing before the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies. He said, “We can take it up if the time comes when the land is taken into trust.”
“We swung and missed in a pretty big way the last time around,” House Chairman Joe Wagner (D-Chicopee) said, referring to the rejection of the last compact. He said it was his intention to “at some point sooner rather than later move forward this compact to a vote.” Wagner later said, “This committee is likely at a point going to move this compact forward.”
The last compact between the state and the tribe was the first of its kind that federal regulators had seen, said Brendan Ryan, chief of staff to Gov. Deval Patrick. Massachusetts is the first state to move ahead on tribal casinos and commercial casinos at the same time, Ryan told the committee, attempting to assuage concerns that the second compact would be rejected again.
“We’re as confident as can be that we addressed every concern,” said Ryan, who said the Bureau of Indian Affairs worked much more closely with the tribe and the state in the second go-around. He said, “I think it’s more likely to succeed because we got constructive feedback and addressed it.”
The November 2011 gaming law allowed for three casinos in three regions of the state and created a special process for an Indian tribe that was able to line up a vote in the host community and receive a legislatively approved gaming compact with the state by July 31, 2012, which the Mashpee accomplished.
Mashpee Chairman Cedric Cromwell told reporters the compact gives “a meaningful concession to our tribe – exclusivity” and said it is “so important to build a relationship.” The new compact creates a sliding scale for what the tribe would owe the state, ranging from 21 percent as long as it’s the only casino in the state to zero if another casino opens in the southeastern region.
If the federal government grants the tribe land in trust, the tribe will be able to put “a shovel in the ground,” regardless of any revenue-sharing agreement with the state, Cromwell said. He told the committee, “If our compact is not approved, the tribe’s going to move forward anyway.”
A tribal casino without revenue-sharing would provide fierce competition to any nearby commercial casino that would have to hand over a portion of profits to the state.
“You can’t compete with us,” Cromwell said.
KG Urban Enterprises, which wants to build a casino in the southeastern region, rehabbing a polluted former power plant along the New Bedford waterfront, has already spent $7 million on its potential venture, according to KG Managing Director Andrew Stern.
“All we’ve ever asked for is a level playing field,” Stern said. He said it was a “worthy endeavor” to attempt to clean up a “filthy” brownfield along the harbor.
KG Urban Enterprise’s gaming expert Marsha Sajer said if its reservation is approved, the Mashpee would need a compact to build a full-fledged casino, and could only go forward with a much smaller operation absent a compact.
“It simply is going to be a bingo hall or nothing more than a card room,” Sajer said. She also said that the Bureau of Indian Affairs closely reviews the environmental impacts of taking land into trust for gaming, and said it can be a six-year process.
“These are indigenous people to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” said Senate Chairwoman Gale Candaras, who said the state would have to negotiate a compact with the tribe if it obtained land in trust. She said, “All they ever got from us was smallpox, and we treated them very poorly.”
The land-in-trust application is currently under a review to determine whether the Mashpee were federally recognized before 1934, according to the tribe’s attorney, Arlinda Locklear, who said the federal government had dealt with the tribe on multiple occasions over the years.
Locklear said that in the 1820s, as the U.S. secretary of war was removing tribes along the eastern seaboard, the federal government elected to allow the Mashpee to stay, and in the early 20th century about a dozen Mashpee students were sent off to an Indian school in Pennsylvania.
Locklear told the News Service that the land-in-trust will give the Mashpee a tribal reservation, and said final approval is “months, less than years” away from final approval. It is “weeks” from clearing the historic test, Locklear told the committee.
Mashpee Vice Chairwoman Jessie Baird said Taunton was an important place in the tribe’s history, as a tribal chief during King Philip’s War was captured by the English while crossing the Taunton River and her head was put on a pike in Taunton where it stayed for years.
“We have not forgotten our territory or who we are. And I will submit to you that water always seeks its source,” Baird told the committee in the middle of a roughly five-hour hearing.
Both Ryan and Mashpee attorney Howard Cooper said Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn, who rejected the last compact, seemed likely to approve the new compact if it reaches his desk.
“They could not give us pre-approval because no such thing exists,” Cooper said.
Rep. Keiko Orrall (R-Lakeville), who now represents the area of Taunton that includes the proposed site, said she thought the federal government would not approve the compact, because the Gaming Commission’s decision to open up the licensing process to commercial bidders removes the tribe’s exclusivity.
Rep. Antonio Cabral (D-New Bedford) said that the compact would allow the tribe to decide on a completely different site for a range of reasons, allowing it to build a casino as far away as Chatham.
Rep. Kevin Kuros (R-Uxbridge) said a potential compact would still be valuable to the tribe even if it received land in trust before a compact was approved.
“There’s value in exclusivity, and that value doesn’t go away the day that land gets taken into trust,” said Kuros.
http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/05/massachusetts_lawmakers_consid.html
Lawmakers hesitate on new Wampanoag compact
A tribal casino without revenue-sharing would provide fierce competition to any nearby commercial casino that would have to hand over a portion of profits to the state
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