Connecticut: Some Indians are inconvenient

Some Indians are inconvenient

Published 5:18 pm, Thursday, March 6, 2014

When is an Indian not an Indian?

In Connecticut, apparently, the answer is: When the Indian might be able to open a casino.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has asked President Obama to throw his not inconsiderable weight in blocking proposed changes in the criteria used in the federal recognition process for Indian tribes.

The troubling aspect of the objections in Connecticut -- from the governor to U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Attorney General George Jepsen -- is that they are driven by the fear that a newly recognized tribe might try to open a casino.

The heart of the question -- How are Indian tribes that were recognized by the state of Connecticut for centuries, no longer Indian tribes? -- is not at the heart of the objection.

What, pray tell, has been the function all these years of the state entity known as the Connecticut Indian Affairs Council? The state, in fact, has had a long, supportive relationship with its Indian tribes long before the federal legislation went into effect that gave federally recognized tribes the right to operate casinos.

Suddenly, some of the Indian tribes became an inconvenience.

If the possibility of casinos was not in the equation -- and potential financial complications springing from the lucrative agreements among the state and the casino-operating Mohegan tribe and the Mashantucket Pequots -- would there still be objections?

What's set off the latest barrage of official objection to the Golden Hill Paugussetts, of Trumbull; the Schaghticoke in Kent and the Eastern Pequots in Stonington, is a proposal by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs -- presumably these are the experts we've put in charge of dealing with such things -- to change the criteria they use for recognizing tribes.

If casinos are the problem, address the problem.

Don't tell a group of people you've recognized for centuries as Indians that now, with dollars at stake, you don't think so anymore. When the tattered remnants of these long-recognized tribes moved on to state reservations generations ago, it wasn't because they were plotting to open casinos.



http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Some-Indians-are-inconvenient-5294892.php

Sex trafficking of minors at Foxwoods

Increase in sex trafficking of minors getting local, state attention
By Karen FlorinPublication: The Day

Published 01/28/2014

 

Department of Children and Families to hold forum Wednesday on problem

Human trafficking sounds like a crime that takes place in a big city or exotic country, but police and child welfare experts say it occurs right here in Connecticut in increasing numbers.

In December, the state police Casino Licensing & Operations Unit charged a 24-year-old Providence woman with bringing a 16-year-old girl to the Two Trees Inn on the Mashantucket Pequot reservation for a prearranged sexual encounter. Kaieema E. Gadson, charged with trafficking in persons and promoting prostitution, posted a $5,000 bond and is due back in court on Feb. 4.

The case reached the major crimes docket in New London Superior Court around the same time the state Department of Children and Families announced a forum to raise awareness about domestic minor sex trafficking in Connecticut. On Wednesday, more than 200 people, including judges, law enforcement officers, medical providers, hospital administrators and school officials are expected to attend the day-long forum at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford.

During the past few years, 130 girls and boys in Connecticut have been identified as child sex slaves, according to DCF, and the agency has recently experienced a substantial increase in reports of suspected or actual human trafficking of children. At the forum, state and national experts will discuss the scope of the crime as well as legal and forensic treatment issues and how the state is working to combat what the agency describes as "the egregious victimization of children."

Gov. Dannel Malloy and DCF Commissioner Joette Katz are scheduled to speak, and key supporters of the event include the Judicial Branch, the Office of the Chief State's Attorney, the Mohegan Tribe and the Department of Consumer Protection.

A preliminary police report in the Mashantucket human trafficking case does not identify the relationship between Gadson and the teen-age victim, who was detained at the scene and taken to a hospital for a medical evaluation. But according to the DCF, traffickers often are friends or family members who employ a number of techniques, including physical and emotional abuse, to keep their victim in bondage.

In December, a joint task force of local, state and federal law enforcement agents conducted an investigation into prostitution at Foxwoods Resort Casino after receiving information about the pervasive use of online sites such as backpages.com to arrange paid sexual encounters. Participating agencies included the state police, Department of Homeland Security, FBI and Mashantucket Tribal Police Department.

On Dec. 19, agents identified "several individuals knowingly engaged in prostitution," at Two Trees, which is a tribe-owned hotel located near Foxwoods Resort Casino on the Mashantucket Pequot reservation. Gadson, who had been previously targeted for trafficking minor females and promoting prostitution, was arrested for delivering the teen-age girl to a prearranged locations "with intentions of waiting for the individual to fulfill a sexual encounter for a fee," according to the report.

Gadson, who was arrested without incident, had only been charged with motor vehicle offenses in the past, but could face additional charges. State police said they are preparing an arrest warrant application based on a previous sex trafficking/prostitution incident involving a minor.

http://www.theday.com/article/20140128/NWS02/301289945

 

FROM: NoPlainvilleRacino

Editorial from the Hartford Business Journal:

"Relying on gaming revenue is bad fiscal policy for a myriad of reasons. First, it continues to feed lawmaker's insatiable appetites for spending. Instead of making tough cuts to live within the state's means, lawmakers go to any lengths to raise revenue, even if it means expanding gambling activities in restaurants, places where children and families go to dine and spend time together.

Additionally, gaming revenue is typically not a safe bet. When the economy goes south, people spend less on lottery tickets and slot machines, leaving the state budget vulnerable to deficits....

We've seen that story play out a great deal since 2008. Just check the diminishing slot machine returns at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.

One of the big reasons Connecticut's budget has continued to face red ink is because its key revenue streams — income and sales taxes — take significant hits during recessionary periods. That forced Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to implement in 2011 the largest tax increase in state history."

CT’s gambling problem

State lawmakers have a gambling problem.

The Hartford Business Journal recently reported that Connecticut plans to have 1,000 Keno vendors starting Jan. 1 in bars, restaurants, and convenience stores across the state.

The bingo-like game is being administered by the Connecticut Lottery Corp. and was sanctioned by lawmakers as part of a shady, 11th hour budget deal last legislative session.

Keno was adopted to help sure up Connecticut's projected budget deficit; the game is expected to add $27 million in annual revenue by fiscal 2015.

Relying on gaming revenue is bad fiscal policy for a myriad of reasons. First, it continues to feed lawmaker's insatiable appetites for spending. Instead of making tough cuts to live within the state's means, lawmakers go to any lengths to raise revenue, even if it means expanding gambling activities in restaurants, places where children and families go to dine and spend time together.

Additionally, gaming revenue is typically not a safe bet. When the economy goes south, people spend less on lottery tickets and slot machines, leaving the state budget vulnerable to deficits.

We've seen that story play out a great deal since 2008. Just check the diminishing slot machine returns at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.

One of the big reasons Connecticut's budget has continued to face red ink is because its key revenue streams — income and sales taxes — take significant hits during recessionary periods. That forced Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to implement in 2011 the largest tax increase in state history.

Gaming revenues, which includes money from the lottery, casinos, off-track betting and charitable games, now make up a significant portion of Connecticut's $20 billion budget.

The Connecticut Lottery Corp., for example, contributed $312.1 million to the state's coffers in fiscal 2013, while Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun collectively kicked in $296.4 million.

There's also a moral issue at stake. Many studies have shown that gaming activities, like the lottery, turn out to be regressive taxes because lower income groups spend a higher percentage of their income on such activities.

Meanwhile, Mary Drexler, executive director of the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling, recently told Hartford Business Journal that Keno and slot machines are the two most addictive games for developing a problem. Additionally, Keno largely will be played in restaurants and bars where children under 18 can sit, even though they can't play directly.

“This brings a game closer to youth and younger adults,” Drexler recently told HBJ.

The irony is lawmakers are supporting a potentially addictive game to raise revenue for programs that aim to help the state's most vulnerable residents; the same residents who are most likely to spend a larger portion of their income playing Keno.

This is self-defeating policy, and most likely a reason why lawmakers adopted Keno as part of a backroom budget deal without holding a public hearing.

To be fair, the gaming industry isn't the bad guy here. Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun have been good corporate citizens, creating thousands of jobs in Connecticut over the years. The Connecticut Lottery Corp. too has contributed to the state economy. And playing casino games, or the lottery, in moderation can be enjoyable entertainment for some people.

But expanding gaming simply to raise more tax revenue doesn't seem like sound fiscal policy. It's just a bad bet.

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/20130826/PRINTEDITION/308229924/ct#8217s-gambling-problem

Recently, Connecticut proposed adding KENO which will NOT add jobs!

Connecticut's Economic Trend Worst In Nation

Only State Where Economy Shrank in 2012, New Report Shows

By MARA LEE maralee@courant.com
The Hartford Courant

9:50 a.m. EDT, June 7, 2013

A report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that Connecticut was last in economic growth last year, the only state in the nation where the combined value of goods and services produced shrank compared with 2011.

The report measures GDP, the sum of what residents, businesses and the government spend, plus investments and net exports. The value is in constant 2005 dollars, which controls for inflation. By that measure, total state GDP fell $250 million in 2012, to $197.2 billion.

Not only did the state GDP decrease by 0.1 percent in 2012, it fell by the same amount in 2011, a substantial downward revision of the last year's initial estimate of two percent growth.

It's a grim account of what's happening in Connecticut, said Don Klepper-Smith, an economist with DataCore Partners in New Haven.

"Our economic development policies and tax policies, while well-intentioned, are not serving us well," he said.

The only good news in the revisions is that the drop in 2009 was not nearly as large as first estimated.

Initially, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the state's economy shrank by 5.3 percent that year. Now the bureau says the economy fell by only 3.6 percent, just a little worse than the national GDP drop of 3.3 percent.

While nearly every sector is growing more slowly than the national average, the report reveals that the biggest factors for decline biggest culprits are government austerity and troubles in real estate businesses and financial services and insurance.

Nationally, government spending cuts subtracted 0.04 percentage points from GDP growth, and the end result was 2.5 percent growth.

Connecticut, however, subtracted .25 percentage points.That figure covers not only the reduction in state and local government and public education, but also falling revenues at the casinos.

Only in Wisconsin and Louisiana did the government sectors shrink faster. Florida's shrank at about the same pace as Connecticut.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said that the shrinking government sector was partly to blame for the state's falling GDP.

"One of the things that Connecticut has done, which is showing up in these numbers, is shrink the size of government faster than just about every other state," Malloy said. "That is not generally understood. So that has a negative impact [on the economy] and specifically had a negative impact in 2012."

Nationally, the finance and insurance sector rebounded, growing 3.6 percent, which contributed 0.28 points to the 2.5 percent growth rate. Only the durable goods manufacturing sector fared better.

In Connecticut, finance and insurance shaved 0.57 percentage points from the state's GDP, according to this first estimate. The size of the drop in that sector was so dramatic that it almost swamped the combined total in economic growth in construction, retail and wholesale trade, temp services, private education, arts, restaurants and hotels.

The number of jobs in Connecticut finance and insurance has continued to fall in 2013. In April, the most recent data available, there were 2,300 fewer jobs than there had been a year earlier.

Klepper-Smith blamed Connecticut's hedge funds, banks and insurance companies on decisions by corporate executives to locate work in other states with lower salaries, insurance costs and taxes for the weaknesses.

He said executives believe officials' approach to businesses is "borderline antagonistic."

Klepper-Smith also blamed the poor growth on Connecticut's cost of doing business, which was ranked by one group as No. 5 in the country.

The same report said that Massachusetts is No. 2, but the state economy grew at 2.2 percent, a rate better than that of Kentucky, where the cost of doing business is the lowest in the country. California has the most expensive cost of doing business and the state economy's growth of 3.5 percent puts it in the Top 10 for growth..

Klepper-Smith said, "There are no simple answers here, we're talking about complex problems here."

The best-performing sectors in the state, according to the report, in 2012 were durable goods manufacturing, a category that covers consulting firms and private equity firms and information, which includes both information technology and companies such as ESPN.

Nationwide, only agriculture and government were in decline. In Connecticut — in addition to the big drops in finance, insurance, real estate and government — there were declines in economic activity in utilities, nondurable goods manufacturing, transportation, professional services, health care, social assistance and other services.

Andrew Doba, a spokesman for the Malloy administration, said Thursday afternoon that Klepper-Smith is wrong in characterizing the state's business climate as "borderline antagonistic."

Earlier in the day, Malloy acknowledged the report is not good news and admitted a need for improvement. But he pointed to the 8,600 jobs added in 2012 and the 14,300 jobs added in 2011 as reason to trust his economic policies. If it weren't for government and casino job losses those years, the two-year total would have been more than 26,000.

Klepper-Smith said that Malloy's aggressive wage subsidies, grants and subsidized loans to companies were misguided.

"Economic development at its best is not about picking winners and losers," he said. These approaches, he said, "have put us behind the eight ball to the point where we have to rethink those economic policies. If this isn't a call for that, I don't know what is."

Capitol Bureau Chief Christopher Keating contributed to this report.


http://www.courant.com/business/hc-connecticut-economy-worst-in-nation-20130606,0,7451623.story


 

CT: Keno Should Come With More Help For Gambling Addiction

Creating more Addiction and shirking responsibility!

Keno Should Come With More Help For Gambling Addiction

7:17 p.m. EDT, June 4, 2013

Connecticut can't stop its addiction to gambling. The legislature is adding keno to a mix that includes lotteries, scratch games and off-track betting, not to mention the many offerings of mega-casinos Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun.

Though this page has long opposed gambling as a government-enrichment scheme, we recognize that it's irresistible to a state facing an enormous budget hole and desperate for new ways to pay the bills.

If there must be keno, let there at least be antidotes to the pathologies it creates. No additional money has been budgeted for addiction programs, however.

Keno, a form of electronic bingo, will bring gambling into bars, clubs and even family restaurants, where children are naturally going to want to play. Its instantaneous results make it highly addictive, especially when alcohol is involved. The state should prepare for the social costs. They will be compounded by three new casinos coming to Massachusetts.

Keno was shunned by the Connecticut legislature just three years ago, but is welcome now because of the new competition on the casino front that will cut further into the state's shrinking take from slots at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. The state is betting keno will contribute up to $27 million annually.

Altogether, the state collected nearly $659 million in 2012 from casinos, off-track betting and lotteries, the Associated Press has reported. Yet problem gambling services got just $1.9 million. That amount hasn't changed in close to a decade.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy had recommended last year devoting 1 percent of revenue from new gaming ventures toward fighting problem gambling. That would be a very small start.

http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-ed-keno-gambling-addiction-20130604,0,632309.story

 

Connecticut's Gambling Addiction

 

More gambling the wrong way to raise money

Published 6:28 pm, Friday, May 31, 2013

State officials starting with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy need to buckle down on the matters of cutting spending and increasing revenue as they try to assemble a state budget.

But the first thing they should do is drop a proposal to include Keno, the fast-moving video gambling game, as a way to raise some $28 million for a budget gasping for revenue.

It's a sad, desperate option for a state that should be concentrating on improving the climate for businesses to encourage job growth, not grasping at a get-rich-quick scheme.

The perils of gambling addiction are well-documented, and play havoc with thousands of lives every year.

Even short of addiction, the effects of gambling on the state populace are unhealthy in the extreme.

After all, it's not people who are already well-off who get in trouble with the lottery. It's people who need cash, and are hoping against great odds to strike it rich.

Legalized gambling is nothing less than a tax on poor people.

Walk into any Connecticut Lottery outlet in the state and watch an elderly man or woman turn over bits and pieces of a Social Security or retirement check in pursuit of the big score.

While adults certainly have the right to make their own decisions, it's a fact that a certain percentage of the adult population has a problem with gambling.

If it's fair to say that opening up new avenues for gambling will increase revenue for the state, then it's also fair to say that it will create new opportunities for those who have a problem.

The governor's enthusiasm for this type of revenue is disappointing.

We can only hope that this proposal goes the same way as similar ones made by former Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who in 2009 floated the idea of legalizing Keno. She eventually abandoned the idea.

Since his days on the campaign trail, Malloy has harped that the state's future is in job creation. And he's right.

That's where the administration's energy should be spent.


Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/More-gambling-the-wrong-way-to-raise-money-4566917.php#ixzz2UzCcS1U8

Protecting the illusion

In the past, victims have stepped forward to indicate police refusing to accept crime reports. Statements are made by law enforcement officials denying connections between increased crime and Predatory Gambling to protect the revenue stream.

Frank Fahrenkopf and AGA deny any connection that a reasonable person would make.  

To save $$$ for the 2 Connecticut tribal casinos mired in debt, it has been proposed to employ tribal police, effectively reducing the safety of patrons.  

Not much crime at Connecticut casinos?
By David CollinsPublication: The Day

Published 03/06/2013

 

In the world of keeping the public informed and issuing press releases, police are traditionally much more forthcoming in reporting arrests than reporting crimes.

It makes sense, of course.

Everyone would rather report on successes than on possible failure. Police would rather tell you about crimes they've solved than talk about the bad guys who might get away.

One exception are the cases in which the public is asked to help. In this category, press releases often include surveillance photos of the suspects and a suggestion that the public might report whatever is known.

A report on an attempted rape at the Mohegan Sun casino this week seems to fall into this category.

State police released surveillance photos of the suspect and asked that anyone with information about him call.

Still, police don't often issue press releases about unsolved crimes at the casinos, especially rape.

Crime watchers tend to agree that relatively little crime seems to get reported at the Connecticut casinos, given the number of people and the large amounts of liquor and cash sloshing around the places. Not a great deal is prosecuted anyway.

Norwich police not long ago turned up some serious allegations of casino-related prostitution and suggestions of human trafficking in an investigation that occurred completely off the reservation.

It's hard to know whether the candor from the state police this week has anything to do with police union opposition to Gov. Malloy's proposal, now pending before the legislature, to move much of the casino policing from the backs of state police, reimbursed by the tribes for casino police coverage, to tribal police.

In any event, it's a timely reminder of the importance of keeping a full complement of state police troopers at the two casinos.

Surely if you could aim a crime-seeking satellite monitor on the state, the casinos would glow a bright red.

The serious crime reported this week at Mohegan Sun was the kind of thing that I think people should expect Connecticut police to respond to, no matter how well trained tribal police may be.

Wouldn't state citizens feel more comfortable if state police, rather than tribal police, were investigating an attempted rape in which the suspect fled the casino and presumably the reservation?

Wouldn't it be better to leave it with investigators who know no geographic boundaries?

According to police, the incident occurred a little after 3 a.m. Saturday when a man approached a woman inside the casino and offered to sell her drugs. She got money from an ATM and followed the man outside to a parking lot, police said.

The suspect then grabbed the woman by the arm and dragged her into a wooded area, the police press release said.

The woman managed to escape after the attempted assault began and ran back into the casino to report the incident, police said. She was treated at the hospital for what police described as minor injuries.

It would be nice to think that such crimes are rare indeed at the casinos and that the reservations would hardly turn even pink under the scrutiny of some crime-seeking satellite.

But I suspect the relatively low level of casino crime is odd, especially the lack of prosecutions of white collar crimes related to the gambling. It wasn't that long ago that police reported active organized crime activity here.

If I were Gov. Malloy I would be pushing more chips on the table toward increased Connecticut police coverage at the casinos, not less, especially when the tribes are clearly required by a court-imposed compact to pay for it.

This is the opinion of David Collins

http://www.theday.com/article/20130306/NWS05/303069928/-1/NWSelection

 

 

With casinos slumping, Conn. tribes that once fought bitter war work as allies

By Associated Press, January 22, 2013

 

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — At sunrise one day last spring, the leaders of the Connecticut tribes that own two of the world’s largest casinos stood together at the site of a 1637 massacre, commemorating the Pequot War attack in which one of their tribes took part in nearly wiping out the other.

The Mashantucket Pequots, who own the Foxwoods Resort Casino, hold the event annually to celebrate survival from the slaughter of so many of their forebears. Last year was the first time they invited a member of the Mohegan Tribe, which owns the Mohegan Sun casino, to participate in the fireside ceremony in Mystic, Conn.

“That was pretty big,” Mohegan Chairman Bruce “Two Dogs” Bozsum said in an interview last month with The Associated Press.

The commemoration was a symbolic moment in the close relationship between the two chairmen. With their rival casinos each struggling through slumps, the men see each other not only as friends, but also as allies in a relationship that may be a key to their tribes’ future prosperity.

Although the tribes once kept their external affairs entirely separate, Bozsum and the Pequots’ chairman, Rodney Butler, have sought to speak in a single voice on issues of mutual interest. In joint talks with Connecticut’s governor, they have won concessions including a reduction in the presence of state police at the casinos to lower the amount they have to reimburse the state.

They are also exploring the possibility buying goods and services together to reduce costs for their massive casinos, which are only seven miles apart in rural southeastern Connecticut.

“It was only good fortune, or good misfortune, that both of us were going through the same economic challenges at the same time,” Butler said in a separate interview this month. “How much more successful can we be simply working together?”

Bozsum, 52, first met Butler years ago when he would play golf with Butler’s father, but they became close in recent years after each was elected chairman. The friendship has influenced relationships between the tribes, which hold intertribal socials more than ever. Bozsum and Butler, 35, are golfing partners, their families have socialized together, and they speak frequently over the phone.

When talk turns to business, they have plenty of shared challenges to discuss.

Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun opened after the Pequots won federal recognition in 1983 and the Mohegans followed in 1994. After years of success, they have struggled with a steady decline in gambling revenue brought on by the economic downturn and new competition in neighboring states.

The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, which owns casinos in Uncasville and Wilkes-Barre, Pa., announced in March it had refinanced debt of about $1 billion, and the Pequots said in October that creditors had signed on to its plan to restructure $2.2 billion in debt.

Bozsum said the two men discuss industry trends and joke together about their marketing and other strategies, but they do not share proprietary information.

“We do our own thing, but we watch each other. And we both probably adjust to what’s happening across the street,” Bozsum said.

One area where they have not agreed is how to handle Internet gambling if it is legalized. While the Pequots have expressed interest in running online versions of casino games, Bozsum has argued that legalizing online games other than poker will hurt brick-and-mortar casinos. Bozsum said that he believes the matter should be handled through federal legislation, but that if it becomes a state issue, he and Butler would probably “lock wrists for a while until we figure it out.”

The ceremony last spring marked the 375th anniversary of the massacre in which the Mohegans, in alliance with the English and the Narragansett tribe, killed 150 elderly men, women and children in a May 26, 1637, raid on a Pequot village.

Mistrust stemming from that massacre had been the biggest impediment to better tribal relations until now, according to both chairmen, and some members in each tribe have expressed skepticism of the new relationship.

“You’d be surprised how long people hold a grudge,” Bozsum said. “We’re both fighting for the same things, sovereignty, protect your sovereignty, do what’s right for your people and make sure we’re here 300 years from now. People can say what they want.”

A meeting between the two tribal leaders and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy soon after he took office in 2011 was said to be the first of its kind in hundreds of years. The governor’s office, which has renegotiated the agreements requiring the tribes to reimburse the state for public safety services and increased their free-play allowance to boost promotions, said it is eager to help the tribes because their casinos contribute so much to the economy.

“The more we can help them, the more they can help the employees they have and help our state,” Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman said in an interview.

Butler said he is eager to find other areas to cooperate with the state and the Mohegans. Despite challenges both casinos are facing, he said Bozsum’s participation in the ceremony in Mystic showed obstacles can be overcome.

“It was just this amazing, spiritual, emotional moment of, What if we can all stand here together on the grounds of where your people slaughtered our people and say, ‘This is a beautiful day, and we’re celebrating together? Then we can get past anything,’” he said.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-01-22/business/36477761_1_rival-casinos-pequots-tribes

CT: Removing Protection at Casinos

Gov. Malloy: Don't withdraw police from casinos
By David CollinsPublication: The Day

Published 01/20/2013

For those of us who do not belong to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, it should be none of our business that tribal officials don't seem to be at all rattled by criminal history or criminal charges.

For example, last week the tribe named as its new chief of staff - in charge of, among other things, its police department - a tribal member who has a substantial criminal history.

Antonio Beltran had some fairly recent run-ins with the law, in 1999 and 2000, including alleged drunken driving and speeding and some other motor vehicles charges related to two hit-and-run accidents in Preston.

But it was his earlier crimes, as a young man, that likely would disqualify him for a management role in most any gambling jurisdiction in the country.

Beltran was 17 when prosecutors said he was out on a joy ride with friends and told them he wanted to "kill a white boy." The victim, found walking alone down a dark street, was stabbed in the back and paralyzed.

Beltran later denied the racial remark and told a reporter in 1998 that he was "angry at the world, about my upbringing and poverty" but said only that night that he wanted to stab someone.

After being led from the California courtroom in which he was sentenced as an adult for the stabbing, according to press accounts, he told the victim, who was in a wheelchair: "You may be smiling … but at least I'm walking."

He also later denied having said that, although witnesses stood by their reporting.

Beltran was arrested some 10 years after the stabbing incident on aggravated assault charges following a confrontation in a bar.

Beltran's criminal history surfaced in Connecticut when he was elected to the Tribal Council in the late 1990s.

But tribal officials said then that, given their sovereignty, they had every right to elect whoever they wanted to run their government. They are free to forgive and forget.

Tribal Chairman Richard A. Hayward, even then a bit of a recluse, went out of his way to praise Beltran in a rare interview as respected and hard-working. Hayward said Mashantucket is a place where tribal members, many deprived earlier in life, could make new lives for themselves.
Tribal officials were right then. And they are well within their rights now to defend another councilor who recently came under a criminal cloud of his own.

Pequot Tribal Chairman Rodney Butler reportedly told members this month that the tribe will pay for the legal defense of Steven Thomas, the treasurer of the Tribal Council, who has been indicted on federal charges of stealing from the tribe. The allegations arose from a period of time before Thomas served on the council.

But while the tribe, like any family, is free to help and come to the defense of any member, this reaction is by no means any kind of legal extension of its sovereignty.

The federal government has clear and unambiguous jurisdiction on the Mashantucket reservation, and tribal officials are just as subject to prosecution as government or corporate leaders anywhere else in Connecticut.

I suspect, though, that if a board member of any major corporation here was indicted after a lengthy FBI investigation, the board would not likely rally around and pitch in for the accused member's defense.

What is worrisome about what can look like a casual treatment of criminal charges on the reservation is the movement by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to retreat from the state's obligation to police Connecticut's two casinos.

The compact that gives the state's two tribes the right to allow casino gambling on their reservations clearly calls for the state to have a substantial police presence at the two casinos and for the tribes to reimburse the state for what that costs.

It is hard to imagine how the governor can continue to explore the idea of withdrawing state police from the casinos, especially now that the tribal police department at Mashantucket is overseen by someone with a substantial criminal record.

Never mind that tribal police don't even have the right to arrest non-tribal members. They can only try to detain the bad guys and wait for state authorities to arrive.

Pequot tribal members have every right to decide who will run their government.
Connecticut residents, too, can elect their own leaders.

And in coming elections, they should pay attention to any of those leaders who choose to abandon police powers in the state's two biggest petri dishes for crime culture, where big crowds mix daily with lots of cash, gambling and free liquor.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

http://www.theday.com/article/20130120/NWS05/301209928


Even more interesting considering this recent article:

UPDATED:Three people stabbed on Mashantucket reservation
By Kathleen EdgecombPublication: theday.com

Published 01/20/2013

Online gaming: Expanding Bad Public Policy

Our View: Online gaming: A difficult question for lawmakers

By RAY HACKETT

The Bulletin

Posted Sep 22, 2012

Norwich, Conn. —

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell signed legislation in June making his state the first in the nation to legalize online casino gambling.

 Lawmakers narrowly approved the measure as a means of protecting the state’s embattled casino industry that is coming under intensive competition from the neighboring states of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and posing a serious threat to Delaware casino jobs and state revenues.

Delaware’s Internet gaming — which will be limited to Delaware residents only using geolocation verification software — will be available to patrons through casino web sites and is expected to be up and running next year. Those web sites will offer slots, roulette, blackjack and poker.

Which raises the question, will Connecticut be next?

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy floated the idea of legalizing online gaming last year, citing a U.S. Department of Justice ruling in late 2011 that opened the door for states to take that next step. But that idea was quickly put to rest by legislators in Hartford unwilling to take up such controversial issue in a short legislative session.

However, with Delaware moving forward with its online gaming initiative, and other states expected to follow suit, we expect the issue will resurface in the upcoming legislative session — and for exactly the same reasons that Delaware officials acted: Connecticut’s casinos are just as much at risk from competition and a stagnant economy.

We have not looked favorably upon the prospects of expanded gaming in the past. We opposed the idea of allowing the state Lottery Commission to introduce Keno games in bars and restaurants, and we strongly opposed efforts to allow the two casinos to extend the time to serve liquor as a means of encouraging patrons to gamble longer.

However, we do appreciate what is at risk today from increased competition in neighboring states, the potential loss of thousands of jobs for Eastern Connecticut residents, and hundreds of millions in state revenues.

We’ve seen the impact on slot revenues due to the economic downturn. Connecticut receives 25 percent of the slot revenues from Foxwoods Resort Casino and the Mohegan Sun, both of which reported a continuation of declining slot revenues again last month.

However, allowing for online gaming also has risks. That too could put thousands of jobs on the line if casino patrons opted to satisfy their gambling interests from the confines of their home. Online gaming also poses serious and costly social risks with the potential of increased problem gambling and under-aged gambling.

The threat of casino competition from neighboring states is still years away from reality. Connecticut’s two casinos have long established themselves as destinations offering much more than just gaming. New casinos coming online will be unable to match that for years to come.

But that advantage will not last forever.

What’s the right course of action to take? We’re not sure.

We’re not yet convinced that expanded gambling through the Internet is the right answer, yet we’re not willing at this point to simply dismiss the idea out of hand. We don’t know yet if the advances in gaming technologies are sufficient to provide the necessary safeguards to protect consumers while avoiding adding to the damaging personal social consequences.

We look forward to the debate.

 

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/Opinion/x224943001/Our-View-Online-gaming-A-difficult-question-for-lawmakers#axzz27PBBWPk5

Retiring foe of gaming addiction warns against online gambling

Retiring foe of gaming addiction warns against online gambling
By Keith M. Phaneuf

The retiring chief of the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling used one of his final appearances before the legislature to press Monday for several new safeguards to accompany any new online gaming program.

Executive Director Marvin Steinberg and his successor, Mary A. Drexler, also praised Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for recommending that a portion of any revenue from new gaming initiatives be dedicated to fight gambling addiction.

"The green light is on," Steinberg told the Finance Revenue and Bonding Committee during an information meeting, referring to growing speculation that new gaming proposals could be raised during the 2012 legislative session, which starts Wednesday, Feb. 8. "And with that comes an enormous responsibility."

Malloy has spoken several times over the past two months on the need to strengthen existing gaming operations here, both as Congress considers easing restrictions in this field, and particularly in light of a recent U.S Justice Department ruling that reversed many longstanding roadblocks to gaming on the Internet.

The state expects to collect just over $640 million this fiscal year from its share of video slot revenues from the two Indian casinos in southeastern Connecticut and from lottery games, but it dedicates just $1.9 million to fight gambling addiction.

Steinberg said he originally planned to recommend doubling funding to assist problem gamblers and their families, but said he also likes an idea offered Monday morning by the governor.

Malloy said Monday that if any new gaming ventures were approved this session, state government should dedicate 1 percent of that new revenue to fight problem gambling.

"The more money you spend on gambling, the more revenue you make, the likelihood is greater you are going to have more problems," Steinberg said, adding that the relationship between the two is inescapable. "So if you tie (anti-addiction spending) to revenue, that would be great."

An affiliate of the National Council on Problem Gambling, the state council is barred because of that link from recommending for or against adoption of any new form of gaming, Steinberg said.
"It's not our business whether to tell you to legalize something or not," he said, adding that his group wants state government to recognize that with gambling comes social harms that can cost more to address -- particularly if the state has failed to plan for them.

But Connecticut cannot plan effectively unless it is willing to explore problems that, in the past, many leaders haven't been anxious to look at, Steinberg said, a reference to mandated studies on problem gaming that were postponed numerous times throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
"It's human nature not to want to know too much about the downside once you've committed yourselves to something," he said.

Problem gambling can lead addicts beyond depression into theft, and even to suicide, Steinberg said, adding that this creates trouble not just for the addict, but for family members and society in general. "It's a personal problem," he said. "It's a family problem. But it's also a community problem."

Drexler, who is taking the post Steinberg held for 31 years, said online gambling is one of the most dangerous forms of gaming for addicts for several reasons.

It is more likely that minors -- most of whom have easy access to computers -- will be able to gamble illegally, and they may be particularly drawn to it because of a similarity with video games. "Research shows," Drexler said, "the earlier gambling begins, the more likely a gambling problem is going to develop."

Other reasons that online gaming presents particular challenges, Drexler said, include:
Convenience: Anyone with a computer or even a smart phone can reach gaming Internet sites;
Fewer checks and balances: Operators of such sites have less control to stop self-destructive gamblers who are on the verge of risking too much. And because it is likely a game that users will play alone, relatives or friends who might urge them to quit after sustaining significant losses might not be present to stop the online gambler;

No cash involved: Online gamblers only have to use a credit card, and don't ever have to withdraw funds from an automated teller, or reach for cash to buy chips. "The loss of money may not feel as real," Drexler said.

In addition to recommending that lawmakers dedicate more money to fight problem gambling, Steinberg suggested that state officials take the time to survey Connecticut residents on how they feel about expanded gaming. He noted that a March 2010 poll by Quinnipiac University in Hamden found that 70 percent of Connecticut voters opposed allowing Keno in restaurants, bars and convenience stores.

"I think we need to do more referendum kinds of activities to find out what constituents think," he said.

Steinberg also recommended that Connecticut do more research into online gambling. Recalling the Keno debate of 2010, Steinberg said one state official said he felt confident about legalizing that game since special revenue officials in three other states said that adding Keno had posed no problems in their states. "If that's scientific research, I'm going to give up my degree."

Other steps Connecticut should take to accompany any online gaming expansion, he added, include:

Studying effective counter-measures to problem gambling used in other states, particularly focusing on steps to safeguard minors;

Mandating a study on the impact of new gaming to be conducted shortly after implementation. "We don't want to wait five years for the next state-sponsored study," he said.

Sen. Gary LeBeau, D-East Hartford, noted that Connecticut might be facing a considerable challenge to its gaming revenue not just from online operations, but from new casinos planned in Massachusetts and New York. Legislative analysts have warned this could cost Connecticut more than $130 million per year in gaming revenue by 2013-14.

"The tide is moving toward beating your neighbors," Steinberg conceded, but quickly added that rushing without preparing to deal with the social costs of problem gaming ultimately would prove more expensive.

Rep. Sean J. Williams of Watertown, ranking House Republican on the finance panel, pressed Steinberg's group to reconsider its neutral position on whether to expand gaming here.
"Why are you just giving up that battle?" Williams said.

But the retiring executive director said that despite the limits on his organization, his personal position goes beyond trying to cope with problem gambling. "As a citizen, I am not in favor of this much dependency on gambling funds," he said.

Drexler, who assumes her new post later this week, is now assistant director for the state council as well as a member of the Connecticut Partnership for Responsible Gambling. She has more than 30 years' experience in the social services field, holds a master's degree from the University of Connecticut School of Social Work and has served on the council of delegates for the American Association of Suicidology.

Online gambling has social costs

Online gambling has social costs, lawmakers told
Ken Dixon, Connecticut Post

HARTFORD -- If Connecticut legalizes online gambling, it must prepare for the consequences of more addicts stealing and putting stress on their families, lawmakers were told Monday.

Officials from the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling backed away from offering support or opposition to online wagering, which was recently cleared for legalization by the U.S. Department of Justice.

But Marvin Steinberg, executive director of the council, told the General Assembly's Finance Committee that even if surrounding states adopt online wagering, Connecticut families will suffer some of the added social costs, including increased suicide attempts among failed bettors.

Earlier in the day, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, while also being non-committal on whether he'll support online gambling, told reporters that at least 1 percent of new revenue should be added to the effort to address problem gamblers.

"If we were to go any direction, and by the way this is a legislative question, if we were to go any further with respect to types of gaming, I think an appropriate factor would be 1 percent, a full 1 percent of any increase," Malloy said after the monthly meeting of the State Bond Commission. "I am going to say to you that regardless of what Connecticut does, this is likely to be a bigger problem because the landscape has changed very significantly."

Steinberg, a Ph.D. who retires from the council next month after 32 years leading the nonprofit, said that more gamblers, including teens and young adults who are Internet savvy, could be in danger of developing addictions if the online opportunities become legal.

"People who have problems encapsulate themselves in a little bubble and don't let anything else in," Steinberg said. "They don't get up to go to the bathroom. We need to be alert to even more problems.

Currently, the state spends about $1.9 million a year to tackle problem gaming, most of which is administered by the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. The Council on Problem Gambling, which was formed in 1980, gets about 5 percent of the $1.9 million.

In a 2009 study, the council estimated that 1.2 percent of the state population, about 32,000 people, fit the profile of problem gamblers, with 192,000 a year considered at-risk for addiction. The two Indian casinos, Off Track Betting and the lottery bring in about $640 million a year in revenue for the state.

According to the American Gaming Association, 85 countries have legalized Internet gambling, with about 2,700 sites owned by 665 companies, as of June 2010 including sports, casino games, bingo and poker.



Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Online-gambling-has-social-costs-lawmakers-told-2844821.php#ixzz1l8N5KmNv

Connecticut Budget Deficit Grows To $144.5 Million

State Budget Deficit Grows To $144.5 Million
By CHRISTOPHER KEATING
The Hartford Courant

In more bad financial news for the state, the legislature's nonpartisan fiscal office now says the state budget deficit has grown to a projected $144.5 million.

The Office of Fiscal Analysis released new numbers Wednesday night that say the state is spending more than expected and collecting less revenue than projected.

Only two months ago, the same office was estimating a surplus of about $100 million in an overall state budget of about $20 billion. But the state is not collecting tax money as quickly as expected, partly because Wall Street bonuses were lower than expected at Christmas. As a result, some major taxpayers in Fairfield County are not paying as much in taxes as originally hoped.

Fairfield County Overall, the state expects to collect $8.38 billion from the state income tax and $3.88 billion from the sales tax – the two biggest revenue generators by far. The tax on corporate profits is expected to generate $707 million in the current fiscal year, while another $444 million would be collected in cigarette taxes.

The income, sales, corporation and cigarette taxes were all increased last year by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the Democratic-controlled legislature in an attempt to close the state's budget deficit that started growing deeper with the collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment bank and the huge Wall Street downturn during the recession. The state economy remains sluggish as unemployment remains relatively high and real estate sales are far below the peak days of several years ago.

State officials are struggling to balance the budget through "lapses," which means that agencies are being ordered to spend less money than is allocated in their budgets. In other words, if an agency had a budget of $10 million, it might be ordered to spend only $9.5 million because of the difficult fiscal times and then essentially return $500,000 to the state.

"The budget is heavily reliant on budgeted lapses to achieve balance,'' the nonpartisan fiscal office said in a three-page summary. "Of the $777.9 million budgeted [for lapses], we have been able to identify $651.4 million in lapses. About five months remain in the fiscal year, and the remaining $126.5 million may still be achieved through various savings or budgeting mechanisms.''

The fiscal office noted that its projections were made before Malloy said this week that he was using his unilateral authority to make budget cuts of $78.7 million in order to keep the state in the black for the current fiscal year.

Republicans have complained that Malloy's strategy is flawed because he enacted the largest tax increase in Connecticut history and the state is still facing a deficit. Malloy has pledged that the state will finish the fiscal year on June 30 in the black.