Multiple Choice Aquinnah amass debts

Aquinnah deal would pay $15M for 500 acres on Freetown-Lakeville line
GEORGE BRENNAN
Southcoast
April 27, 2012

The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) has agreed to pay $15 million for 500 acres in Freetown and Lakeville along Route 140.

According to the purchase and sale agreement, the Martha's Vineyard-based tribe would pay $10 million for 400 acres that straddle the town line between Lakeville and Freetown and $5 million for a separate 100-acre parcel located solely in Freetown. The 100 acres are home to an existing quarry business that would have to be relocated, according to the agreement.

The tribe signed the deal March 5 and has two years to close on it. The Aquinnah agreed to pay $10,000 per month as a down payment, but if the purchase hasn't been closed within 12 months, $100,000 of the deposit becomes nonrefundable. The tribe has also agreed to settle disputes in state court. Both towns have scheduled upcoming votes — May 29 in Freetown and June 2 in Lakeville — to see whether local residents support a proposed casino.

The terms of the land deal were released through a public records request made by the Times to the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.

The Aquinnah tribe had previously submitted a redacted version of the land deal, but the state insisted on seeing the financial terms.

In the legislation that authorizes three casinos and one slot parlor in the Bay State, federally recognized tribes are given a window of opportunity to negotiate a compact, payment in lieu of taxes, with Gov. Deval Patrick for the Southeastern Massachusetts license.

In order to open up talks, a tribe must demonstrate they have land under agreement, have a date set for a local referendum vote and disclose financial backers.

The Aquinnah tribe has not yet announced financial backers, but expects to reveal them after a tribe meeting on May 6, James McManus, a tribe spokesman, said.

The tribe will then hold meetings in Freetown and Lakeville to identify their partners, he said.

In the 25 years since the Aquinnah have been federally recognized, the tribe has had several starts and stops in pursuit of a casino.

Two previous governors entered into compacts with the island tribe only to see those deals fizzle when the state failed to legalize expanded gambling.

In the process, the tribe has accumulated debt. In its first deal with Carnival Hotels and Casinos, a company now out of business, the Aquinnah reportedly borrowed $20 million.

In a recent interview, tribal council Chairwoman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais acknowledged the tribe owes the now-defunct company money, but said not all of the spending done was authorized by the tribe — something she says is backed up by the National Indian Gaming Commission that oversees tribe-investor deals.

The tribe has also borrowed $2 million from the Tunica-Biloxi tribe of Lousiana and, when Patrick first proposed expanded gambling in 2007, the tribe had a brief partnership with the Seneca Nation, which operates tribal casinos in New York.

The tribe owes the Seneca about $400,000, Andrews-Maltais said. “We feel like we have a moral obligation to re-pay what's fair,” Andrews-Maltais said. [Should Massachusetts residents accept the 'moral obligation' to repay the debts of a Tribe with no assets?]

Both the Aquinnah and the Mashpee Wampanoag, which given a window of opportunity to negotiate a compact, payment in lieu of taxes, with Gov. Deval Patrick for the Southeastern Massachusetts license.

In order to open up talks, a tribe must demonstrate they have land under agreement, have a date set for a local referendum vote and disclose financial backers.

At issue is the state's contention that the tribe waived its rights to a casino in a land settlement agreement that was ratified by Congress in 1987. In that deal, the tribe got more than 400 acres on the Vineyard that is in federal trust.