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Source: Mashpee Wampanoag end contract with former congressman

By Tanner Stening
Posted Jul 22, 2019

MASHPEE — The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is no longer paying The Delahunt Group LLC, but the longtime lobbyist will continue working for the tribe on a pro-bono basis, according to sources.

The Delahunt Group, which is led by former Cape and Islands congressman Bill Delahunt, D-Quincy, filed a termination report on July 3 as a lobbying disclosure. The group received $30,000 during the first quarter of 2019 for work connected to the tribe’s ongoing effort to pass federal legislation that would protect the tribe’s sovereignty status and off-Cape land claims.

Last year, the tribe paid the firm $120,000, according to the lobbying database filings.

The Lobbying Disclosure Act requires that lobbyists file quarterly reports with the government if a client’s spending exceeds $3,000.

The tribe hired The Delahunt Group in March 2011 after working closely with the congressman in the tribe’s bid for federal recognition a decade earlier. Delahunt did not return a message requesting comment on the firm’s relationship with the tribe.

Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell could not be reached Monday through a spokesperson. He told the Times previously that Delahunt originally helped the tribe pursue gaming and navigate the federal bureaucracies for health care, housing and education for tribe members.

“He supported us in our pursuit of federal recognition,” Cromwell said. “He understands the tribe’s sovereign rights and the fight we had for 30-plus years for federal recognition.”

At the time, Delahunt had decried a federal government “replete with bureaucracy, impasse, inertia, and sometimes outright hostility” to tribes.

Delahunt’s lobbying firm has helped to identify and facilitate grants, sources said.

The tribe still has an arsenal of high-powered lobbyists working for it, including Dentons US LLP, Gavel Resources LLC and Ballard Partners, among others.

Lobbying disclosures reflect a $50,000 payment from Genting Malasia, the tribe’s financial backer, to Ballard Partners during the second quarter of the year, according to a July 17 filing.

Ballard Partners is run by Brian Ballard, who was President Donald Trump’s Florida finance chairman for his 2016 campaign. Dubbed “the most powerful lobbyist in Trump’s Washington” by Politico, Ballard has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican causes over the past two years, according to data from the Federal Election Commission’s website.

But because of the tribe’s ongoing financial woes — and because Genting has stopped providing the tribe with loans — it is unclear if the lobbying firms are being paid for the work.

The Malaysian-based casino developer had fulfilled its contractual obligations to the tribe, according to tribal leaders, but is still backing efforts to stop a legal effort threatening the tribe’s 151 acres of reservation land in Taunton, where the tribe is looking to build a $1 billion casino.

ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS DONE IN MASSACHUSETTS WAS THE PUSH TO EXPAND ALCOHOL SERVICE....IT WAS PREDICTED THAT BEFORE THE INK WAS DRY, LOBBYISTS WOULD SEEK TO AMEND THE LEGISLATION.....
JUST WAIT.....

Conn. ended push for 24-hour bars at casinos after crash

State had hoped to collect more slot machine profits

DRIVER CHARGED A sailor, Daniel E. Musser, 24, is charged with manslaughter and driving under the influence and faces up to 19 years in prison.

By Gregory B. Hladky

Globe Correspondent / March 22, 2009

HARTFORD - Officials looking to help solve Connecticut's multibillion-dollar deficit thought they had found an easy way to raise another $5 million a year: allow casinos to serve alcohol 24 hours a day.

A sailor, Daniel E. Musser, 24, is charged with manslaughter and driving under the influence and faces up to 19 years in prison.

DRIVER CHARGED

More hours of bar service would mean more gambling, they figured, which would mean the state could collect more slot machine profits.

But the proposal by Governor M. Jodi Rell's administration came to a sudden end at about 3:30 a.m. on March 7, when a car leaving the Mohegan Sun casino turned the wrong way down Interstate 395, headlights off, and slammed into a van full of college students on their way to Logan International Airport. They were scheduled for a flight to Uganda, where they had plans to help out at an orphan age over spring break.

Elizabeth Durante, a 20-year-old pre-med student at Connecticut College in New London, was killed.

The car's driver, Daniel E. Musser, 24, a sailor from the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, was charged with manslaughter and driving under the influence and faces up to 19 years in prison.

The next day, Rell called Durante's death "an unconscionable tragedy" and pulled back her budget proposal to make alcohol available 24 hours at the casinos.

"Even though this accident occurred under the laws as they have been for many years, the governor said it does give one pause to question the wisdom of extending liquor service hours at the casinos," Christopher Cooper, Rell spokesman, said recently. "We don't believe the bill is going to move forward this session."

Chuck Bunnell, chief of staff for the Mohegan Tribal Council, agreed.

"The Tribal Council in general has taken the position that it's time to pause and mourn the loss of this very bright light of humanity," Bunnell said, "that it's not appropriate to have those discussions right now."

Bunnell said the tribe was originally "approached on a bipartisan basis" by lawmakers looking for ways to increase state revenue.

Lori A. Potter, a spokeswoman for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, said analysts at the tribe's Foxwoods Resort Casino stand by their prediction that extending casino bar hours would result in an increase in state revenue.

"It is important to note that it would be impossible to find a more heavily regulated serving establishment in the state of Connecticut than the two casinos," Potter said.

Connecticut law requires the casinos' bars to stop serving by 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and by 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. One of the arguments originally used in favor of allowing longer serving hours was that their competitors in Atlantic City serve alcohol 24 hours a day.

Legal hours for bars to serve alcohol vary greatly across the United States, according to Steven Schmidt, vice president for public policy at the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association.

In Massachusetts, for example, state law allows service until 11 p.m., but local governing bodies can extend the hours to 2 a.m. In states such as New Jersey and Nevada, Schmidt said, local authorities are allowed to set bar closing hours.

Charles H. Gartman, one of the students with Durante in the van that night, has difficulty understanding why anyone thought round-the-clock liquor at the casinos was a good idea.

"Twenty-four-hour bar service is a little bit ridiculous," Gartman said last week in a phone interview from his New York City home. "You can't trust everyone to drink and drive safely."

Gartman, 19 and a sophomore at Connecticut College, has not yet recovered from injuries he suffered in the crash.

The five other passengers also suffered injuries, some minor.

"Both my legs were pretty banged up, and at first I couldn't walk," he said. "I have pretty severe lacerations on my chin."

Nor has he recovered from the loss of Durante, of West Islip, N.Y. Gartman said it was Durante who got him interested in going to Uganda to aid orphaned children. "It was her enthusiasm for helping people," he recalled.

Stephanie Hinman, who was Durante's roommate and one of the students on the Uganda trip, finds it ironic that her friend would die at the hands of an accused drunk driver.

"Neither Liz nor I ever drank," Hinman said from her home in Norfolk, Conn.

"We lived together in the substance-free dorm."

In a 2007 interview with a college publication, Durante said she wanted to become a surgeon and work in Africa with Doctors Without Borders.

For Janice Heggie Margolis, executive director of the Connecticut chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Durante's death provided tragic evidence of why casino liquor hours should never be expanded.

She said the potential price to society of more fatal crashes is simply too high, no matter how much money might flow to the state. "This is exactly the reason why," Heggie Margolis said.

"You can never put on paper the cost of a life."

http://archive.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2009/03/22/conn_ended_push_for_24_hour_bars_at_casinos_after_crash/

Casino construction in Taunton shifts from building to filling trenches

Posted Aug 5, 2016

By Charles Winokoor
Taunton Gazette Staff Reporter

TAUNTON — It appears as though the Mashpee Wampanoag's construction project in East Taunton has gone from building a casino and hotels to filling in holes.

The scale and scope of construction work at the site where the Cape Cod tribe hopes to open a $1 billion resort casino has shifted in the aftermath of a court ruling that throws the project’s future into question.

Instead of plowing forward to construct three hotels and a modern gambling casino — with an initial opening planned for summer of 2017 — a press release Friday indicates that the $1 billion endeavor is about to assume a holding pattern.

“The work on the Tribe’s reservation has turned to filling in trenches that have been excavated, implementing measures to avoid soil erosion, dust control, and securing equipment and materials, such as 2,000 tons of steel worth an estimated $8.2 million,” the press release states.

The news comes one week after a U.S. District Court Judge in Boston sided with an anti-casino group of residents, who in February filed a lawsuit — claiming the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2015 had no legal standing approving the tribe’s request to place “in trust” 151 acres in Taunton and 170 acres in Mashpee as sovereign, Indian reservation territory.

A press release issued Friday by Regan Communications Group, which represents the 2,000-plus-member tribe, quotes tribal chairman Cedric Cromwell as saying the proposed First Light Resort & Casino — which he’s said will create 2,600 permanent jobs and 1,000 construction jobs at the location adjacent Liberty & Union Industrial Park — is “a juggernaut you don’t stop on a dime.”

But instead of claiming that the massive construction project will continue unabated — while the Department of Interior considers a circuit-court appeal to Judge William Young’s ruling — Cromwell is quoted as saying that “the on-site activity now is only to render it safe and to secure tribal assets.”

The press release also insists that Genting Group of Malaysia, which is financing the project, is not cutting its losses.

The president of Resorts World Massachusetts, a Genting subsidiary, is quoted saying that “Genting Group remains committed to First Light and stands with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and the City of Taunton.”

Taunton, as per an agreement with the tribe, is guaranteed a minimum $8 million annually. The tribe also is committed to paying for infrastructure upgrades such as new traffic signals and other improvements at some off-site intersections.

One of those improvement projects currently in progress is the installation of water mains and pipes along Stevens Street from Pinehill Street leading into the construction area.

That work, the press release says, “is on schedule to be completed by the end of August.”

The tribe and its supporters in the city, including Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr., were dealt a blow by Young’s decision rejecting the land-in-trust decision by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Young said the language of a Supreme Court ruling in 2009, commonly called the Carcieri decision, makes clear that only tribes recognized by the federal government in 1934 — the year the Indian Reorganization Act became law — are eligible to have land placed in trust.

If First Light were to open, the state would receive 17 percent of its gambling revenue, as compared to 25 percent from commercial casinos — two of which have been approved and are set to eventually open in Everett and Springfield.

Backers of the First Light project have included former Congressman Bill Delahunt, who worked as a lobbyist to represent the Mashpee Wampanoag as they worked toward attaining land in trust.

The press release also notes that other Indian tribes are supporting the Mashpee Wampanoag's effort to retain the land previously placed in trust.

"United South and Eastern tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund (USET and SPF) an alliance of 26 tribes has filed an amicus brief in support of the Interior Department authorizing re-establishment of the Mashpee tribe's homelands."

http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/20160805/casino-construction-in-taunton-shifts-from-building-to-filling-trenches

Mashpee Wampanoag/Genting face new obstacles

Don't forget to check out Reel Wamps

Tribe's casino bid faces new obstacle

 

By George Brennan

April 05, 2013

 

BOSTON — The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's plan for a $500 million casino in Taunton could soon face competition from commercial bidders.

 

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission stopped short of opening Southeastern Massachusetts to commercial casino bids Thursday, but that's clearly how a majority of commissioners are leaning.

 

After a nearly two-hour discussion, retracing well-worn paths over the question of timelines and potential legal tangles for a tribal casino, the commission agreed by consensus to put its plan to accept bids out for public comment over the next two weeks.

 

"I do understand that we don't want to drag this out, and it's important that the region not fall behind," Commissioner Gayle Cameron said.

 

But because the plan is different from what's been talked about, Cameron said it's important to hear from the public.

 

Vote scheduled

Unless new dramatic information "comes out of the woodwork," commission Chairman Stephen Crosby said the commission will vote April 18 to begin seeking bids in the region with an eye toward licensing a casino by December of 2014.

 

If the region is opened up, the tribe could still pursue the federal process or could even apply for a commercial license while they leave the door open to clear federal hurdles, Crosby said.

 

"All these choices are lousy, but among lousy choices, the tribe has more options than anybody else," Crosby said.

 

Commercial applicants would have to decide if it's worth the risk of plunking down the $400,000 nonrefundable application fee while there is a potential for a tribal casino in the region.

 

KG Urban Enterprises, a developer with hopes of building a New Bedford casino, declined to comment on the commission's leanings through spokesman Andy Paven. KG Urban has a pending lawsuit that seeks to end the tribe's exclusive hold on the region. A hearing on that case is scheduled for Thursday.

 

Thursday's commission meeting drew a contingent of stakeholders, including tribal lobbyist and former U.S. Rep. William Delahunt and tribe lawyer Howard Cooper, who was scribbling notes on a legal pad throughout the discussion.

 

 

From: Wampaleaks

 

Cezar Froelich, a lawyer for the city of Taunton, where the tribe plans to build a casino, wrote a sharply worded letter to the commission Monday, saying the action contemplated by the agency would subject it to "significant time-consuming and expensive litigation."

 

Compact vs. legislation

 

Outside the meeting, Cooper reiterated what he said in his letter to the commission last week, that commissioners lack the lawful authority to open Southeastern Massachusetts, known as Region C in the legislation that opened the state to gaming, to competitive bid.

 

"All too often in our history there has been a tendency, and worse, to ignore the rights of Native Americans, and the complete absence of discussion about those rights this afternoon by the commission members is highly disappointing," Cooper said. "More importantly, the failure to appreciate the government-to-government relationship between the Mashpee Wampanoag and the commonwealth of Massachusetts is somewhat astonishing."

 

At issue is language in the compact that prohibits the commission from seeking commercial bids in the region unless the tribe is deemed unable to have land taken into federal trust. The tribe has an application to have land in Taunton and Mashpee taken into trust that's under active review by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.

 

The compact has been signed by Gov. Deval Patrick and tribal council Chairman Cedric Cromwell, but still requires Legislative approval to become law. Whether the compact would supersede the language of the Expanded Gaming Act, which lacks that strong language, remains unclear.

 

An initial compact approved by the Legislature was rejected by the bureau, sending Patrick and Cromwell back to the negotiating table. The new compact has been filed by Patrick, but was sent to committee and is not yet scheduled for a vote.

 

What remains unclear is if any portion of the original compact remains law. "That's an interesting legal question," Cooper said, a strong indication that this is headed for a legal showdown.

Commissioner James McHugh, a retired judge, offered a different view during the meeting. "It strikes me as unlikely that it can do so," he said of the compact overriding the state gambling law.

 

In a follow-up interview, Crosby said it may require the courts to decide whether the compact trumps the Expanded Gaming Act.

 

"The only person who can resolve this ultimately is the courts," Crosby said. "We have read (the law), asked for advice, we talked to legislators and know what they meant, but if somebody wants to sue us, they can sue us."

 

Under the terms of the newly negotiated compact, if the commission licensed a commercial casino in Region C and the tribe ultimately got land in trust for an Indian casino, the tribe would not have to pay the state a penny.

 

"The scenario that the commission is talking about going forward with today risks leading to that result," Cooper said.

 

The state would get 17 percent of gross gambling revenue if the tribe's exclusive rights to Region C remain intact.

 

The Mashpee Wampanoag presented letters from the bureau that its application is a "top priority" and that a key decision will come in early 2013, but in the end, the commission was unmoved by the tribe's optimistic outlook.

 

In his opening remarks, McHugh painted a scenario that would tie up the region for four years, even if the tribe were successful in getting land in trust because of legal challenges.

 

"There's the likelihood there would be no construction or gaming revenue in Region C for some considerable time, though the length is impossible to determine with the information we have now," he said.

 

That's something legislators from the New Bedford and Fall River area have been pleading with the commission to avoid because of double-digit unemployment in the two cities.

 

"I thought they were going to pull the plug today," state Rep. Antonio Cabral, D-New Bedford, said Thursday. "I think the decision is inevitable. I'm optimistic that in two weeks they'll actually make a decision to open up the region."

 

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130405/NEWS/304050341/-1/NEWSLETTER100

Massachusetts Sells Itself Cheap

If this surprises anyone in Massachusetts, they haven't been paying attention to the millions the Predatory Gambling Industry spreads around elsewhere to buy support.

And this is merely the beginning.

Lobbyists score $1.1M in state’s casino battle

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

 

By

Dave Wedge / Boston Herald

Seven casino developers battling it out for lucrative state gaming licenses shelled out a combined $1.1 million to lobbyists last year, nearly half of which was spent by the Wampanoag tribe that’s fighting for federal approval of its proposed gaming palace.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, which was given an exclusive shot at a southeastern Massachusetts casino, has shelled out more than $500,000 to several lobbyists, including $180,000 to former U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, a Herald review found.

Delahunt’s Capitol Hill contacts could come in handy as the tribe seeks federal approval of its casino deal. The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs rejected the deal the tribe struck with Gov. Deval Patrick last year, but a new compact is being negotiated. Delahunt and a Wampanoag spokeswoman did not return messages.

Of the 11 companies competing for the other two resort casino licenses and the state’s lone slots license, MGM spent the most, doling out $150,000 to Boston law firm Brown Rudnick, records show. Others who reported lobbying payments:

•     Mohegan Sun, which is seeking a casino in Palmer, paid $73,800 to O’Neill and Associates, while Northeast Gaming Group — which owns the land of the proposed Palmer site — paid $45,000 to The Suffolk Group, no relation to Suffolk Downs;

•     Suffolk Downs spent $120,000 on three lobbyists, including $60,000 to former Massachusetts House Speaker Charles F. Flaherty;

•     Penn National, which wants to build a casino in Springfield, paid $50,000 to Shanley Fleming Boksanski & Cahill;

•     Plainridge Racecourse, a harness horse track in Plainville seeking a slots license, paid $73,000 to three lobbying firms: Bartley Law Office, Burke Strategies and Kraus & Hummel; and

•     Massachusetts Gaming and Entertainment LLC, a newly formed company tied to Chicago casino tycoon Neil Bluhm’s Rush Street Gaming, shelled out $80,000 to Boston strategists Rasky Baerlein. Bluhm has yet to say if it is seeking a slots or casino license, nor has it revealed a site.
Boston College public policy professor Richard McGowan said lobbyists will be key for gaming companies to monitor the state gaming board, as well as new laws or regulations.

“The industry realizes that the Legislature has never been able to stay out of revenue producing,” McGowan said. “Look how it revised the lottery payouts once they grew more than expected. I have a feeling they realize the same is true with casinos.”

The state gaming board allows its panelists to meet with lobbyists or company executives but is crafting new rules now that applications are filed, spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said.

 

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_politics/2013/01/lobbyists_score_11m_state%E2%80%99s_casino_battle

Ignoring Opposition

Mashpee Wampanoag possibly gave too much

Adrian Walker

July 30, 2012|Adrian Walker

 

Did the Mashpee Wampanoag underplay their hand?

The Cape Cod-based Native American tribe appeared to win a major victory — however provisionally — last week, when it won legislative approval for a piece of the state’s gaming action.

The tribe is hoping to open a resort casino in Taunton.

But as detailed yesterday in a report by the Globe’s Mark Arsenault, the tribe may have made so many concessions that it will struggle to win approval from the federal Department of the Interior, which must approve its compact with the state. The worry is that the deal could be seen as shortchanging the tribe.

Two provisions are especially likely to get a close look, experts say. Under the agreement, the tribe agreed to pay the state 21.5 percent of the revenues generated by the casino. That figure is, compared with other tribal agreements, ludicrous. But it is, in theory, the price of holding exclusive rights to the gaming business in Southeastern Massachusetts.

Which leads us to the second potential problem with the compact: The tribe has agreed to pay the state 15 percent if another casino is allowed in.

In other words, it stands to pay dearly for exclusive rights to part of the state. But it would still pay a hefty percentage of its winnings even if the state allows another casino to open in the same territory.

Some would argue that it has agreed to be fleeced, and compacts have been rejected for less.

Rejection of the deal would not close the door on the Mashpee casino. More likely, it would send the tribe and the state back to the bargaining table. And of course, any proposed casino is years away from opening. But any delay would certainly come as bad news for the Mashpee’s longstanding dream of casino riches.

The Mashpee Wampanoag agreed to the deal partly in exchange for the state’s active support in winning federal approval, and it was negotiated under a tight deadline mandated by the state’s gaming law. While compromise was unavoidable, a deal that cannot pass federal muster hardly stands to benefit either side.

(Page 2 of 2)

William Delahunt, the former congressman who has been lobbying on behalf of the Mashpee Wampanoag, noted yesterday that the review period has yet to begin because the compact has not been submitted to the federal government, suggesting that concern might be premature. Cedric Cromwell, Mashpee Wampanoag chairman, could not, unfortunately, be reached for comment.

Cromwell has been an evangelist for a Mashpee Wampanoag casino for years. A Boston native, he won a hard-fought battle for chairman mostly because of his vision of what gaming could do for his beleaguered nation. He argued that the influx of dollars from gambling could help offset a host of woes among the tribe, including a high dropout rate and a prevalence of chronic diseases. That may be a lot to expect one casino to fix, and I wonder if he has any concerns that he may have given too much away at the bargaining table.

“I think we have a bright future, and casinos will be the engine of that future,” Cromwell told me a year ago. “History is written by the victors, and we have a chance to be victors and rewrite that history.”

Perhaps it was inevitable that the march to a Native American casino would hit a snag. After all, little has gone smoothly in our state’s painful pursuit of gaming. Consider the deep ambivalence of the public and politicians, the struggles to properly staff the gaming commission, and the resistance of some cities and towns to alter their historic character with a casino. Virtually every signal has been mixed.

Still, the Mashpee Wampanoag have succeeded where many expected them to fail. They have won public support from once-skeptical Taunton residents. They have navigated the back rooms of the State House, displaying, if nothing else, dogged perseverance. But in the next couple of months, they will find out if they surrendered too much in the process.

Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com.

http://articles.boston.com/2012-07-30/metro/32924227_1_cedric-cromwell-mashpee-wampanoag-native-american-tribe

The Great South Coast Hoax

The BIA has refused to produce the Mashpee Wampanoag Application.
Governor Slot Barns has refused to produce the Compact.

Everyone is salivating to commit non-existent revenues to a long term project.
Big Dig, anyone?


Planners: Casino revenue could fund South Coast Rail

By Marc Larocque

Taunton Daily Gazette

Posted Jul 03, 2012

TAUNTON —

Two proposed SouthCoast projects may find common ground.

The Southeastern Massachusetts Commuter Rail Task Force aims to discuss coordinated plans for the state’s proposed South Coast Rail project and a potential casino in Taunton, the gaming compact for which is currently under negotiation between the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and Gov. Deval [Slot Barns] Patrick.

Participants in the task force meetings said they have long hoped that a resort casino created through the Massachusetts gaming legislation, whether tribal or commercial, could help fund the proposed commuter rail expansion project, which has a price tag ranging from $1.45 billion to $1.88 billion.

 

“I think, in general, at our last meeting there was a sense that if the casino moves forward, we can’t just let it proceed on an independent track,” said Steve Smith, executive director of the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District. “The gaming legislation says that when casino proposals are reviewed, they need to consider how it supports other state priorities. The point has been made to casino backers that the South Coast Rail is one of those priorities and they should consider that. It hasn’t gone further than that at this point. But certainly it’s something that should be looked at.”

The Southeastern Massachusetts Commuter Rail Task Force is next set to meet on July 18 at 3 p.m. at Heritage State Park in Fall River. The potential coordination between a casino partner and the South Coast Rail is on the agenda as old business for the meeting.

Patrick’s administration said it’s too early to talk about funding state projects through a casino in southeastern Massachusetts.

 

[Translation: Tribal Gam[bl]ing is for Tribal economic development. Taxpayers will fund any infrastructure costs. They will be massive!]

“The South Coast Rail is a priority for this administration but it is too soon to talk about specific funding for any specific project from any gaming revenue,” said a spokesperson for the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. “Broadly speaking, the Expanding Gaming Act requires investing a portion of commercial gaming revenues in projects that support economic development and infrastructure and we are working on a compact for a tribal facility that is consistent with the principles of the Expanding Gaming Act.”

Some critics have been skeptical about the South Coast Rail because funding sources have never been identified and a timetable for construction has not been set.

Smith, of SRPEDD, said he has met with representatives of the Mashpee Wampanoags, including former Congressman William Delahunt, and that they were “excited” about collaborating on the South Coast Rail project.

“I talked to former Congressman Delahunt [lawmaker to lobbyist], who is working with them, and this came up,” Smith said. “He and his chief of staff thought, yeah, that was a good possibility.”

Smith noted that the Wampanoags’ planned location for a resort casino would be right next to a planned South Coast Rail train station in Taunton, right behind where the city’s Target department store is currently located. Smith added that planned train stations on the South Coast Rail would also be located next to the Raynham Park dog track, a potential location for a slot parlor provided through the gaming legislation, and near a spot in New Bedford that KG Urban Enterprises hopes to turn into a casino.

Smith said either way, moving forward, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission will review proposals considering dollars being contributed to the South Coast Rail and other public improvement projects. He said that if mitigation specifically for the South Coast Rail is not being offered by the tribe, other measures are available to redirect casino dollars to the train project, including the governor’s compact with the tribe that is being negotiated.

“If the Native Americans proceed differently, the governor’s compact or the U.S. Bureau of Indian affairs review could address it,” Smith said. “It could go down different tracks depending on what type of proposal we are looking at.”


Read more: http://www.heraldnews.com/archive/x425609866/Planners-Casino-revenue-could-fund-South-Coast-Rail#ixzz1zkNhZ1ig

Planners: South Coast Rail and casino could collaborate

Read more: http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x1446671239/Planners-South-Coast-Rail-and-casino-could-collaborate#ixzz1zkVB4vJE

Surrounding Towns Short Changed

Gam[bl]ing board chief looks to ease concerns

 

 

 

By By GEORGE BRENNAN

gbrennan@capecodonline.com

July 03, 2012

 

Stephen Crosby, chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, will meet next week with officials from communities surrounding the proposed Mashpee Wampanoag casino in Taunton.

The tribe and Gov. Deval Patrick have until July 31 to negotiate a compact for the $500 million project. Both the tribe and state have reported negotiations are going well and nearing completion.

The deadline was set by the state legislation that authorizes three casinos and a single slot parlor.

The commission has taken an arms-length role in the negotiations but could ultimately decide the tribe's fate. At any point after Aug. 1, the commission can put the Southeastern Massachusetts gaming license out to competitive bid if it determines the tribe has no prospect of getting the Taunton land into federal trust.

At the commission's hearing Monday, Crosby told his fellow commissioners that he agreed to meet with the officials after state Rep. Keiko Orrall, R-Lakeville, reached out to the commission for her constituents.

Crosby said the board will not be able to say much in the way of specific data. "But having said that, we are more than happy to meet with people and hear their concerns," he said.

The meeting is scheduled for 3 to 6 p.m. July 12 at the Lakeville Council on Aging, 1 Dear Crossing, Lakeville, Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the commission, said in an email.

Orrall has criticized Patrick for ignoring requests for a similar meeting before he agrees to a compact with the tribe.

"I am disappointed that the governor's office is not reaching out to the surrounding communities before finalizing the compact. I'm hopeful that will happen, but time is ticking on," Orrall said Monday.

[Native American Tribes have priority water rights. What will that do to neighbors?]

"We're happy that the commissioner is willing to hear our concerns and this is a first step in helping the state understand the needs of this region."

Mark Forest, a lobbyist for the tribe, also asked to meet with the commission saying he might have suggestions on how the board could support surrounding communities, Crosby said. Though Forest, who works for The Delahunt Group, wasn't mentioned by name during the meeting, Driscoll confirmed afterward that he had made the inquiry.

Forest could not be reached for comment.

No meeting date with Forest was set. 

[Surrounding towns have attempted to address their concerns with the Tribe as well. This is too little, too late! There is no money. And no one is listening.]

Commissioner James McHugh acted as chairman because Crosby was absent from the meeting room.

Crosby did participate by conference call and, once again, the meeting was streamed live on the commission's website.

In other business, the commission told Gary Loveman, chief executive officer for Caesar's Entertainment, not to start counting his chips. Loveman boldly told the Boston Globe that he expects to be the lone bidder for a casino license in the Boston region. Caesar's has proposed a $1 billion casino at Suffolk Downs.

"There may be an impression that there may not be much competition in Eastern Mass. and that is a perception that is not in the public interest," Crosby said.

Competition is likely to enhance the job creation and revenue generated by various projects, McHugh said. The commission as a whole issued a statement to that effect after the meeting.

Commissioner Enrique Zuniga floated the idea of accepting bids in the most competitive region first, which so far has been Western Massachusetts, and then allowing developers who don't win the license to bid in the other regions.

No decision was made, but Crosby pointed out the commission is authorized to license up to one casino in three distinct regions. It's not required to issue one per region.

"If we don't have many options to choose from, then somebody, some region runs the risk of not having anything," he said. "For a lot of reasons, it's in everybody's interest I think to have as much competition as possible."

The gaming commission voted unanimously to hire JuriStaff, a national search firm with an office in Boston, to conduct a search for the permanent executive director of the commission.

The company was picked from four firms who submitted applications to conduct the search. Two other firms — New Leadership Group and Isaacson, Miller — were pre-qualified by the commission to conduct other employment searches.

Commissioners are still discussing whether to create a subcommittee to interview candidates, which would fall under the state's Open Meeting Law, or whether to have a single commissioner interview candidates with the search firm to protect the confidentiality of applicants as long as possible.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120703/NEWS02/207030335/-1/NEWS01

Taunton: Another taxpayer funded project!

The Slap Dash planning for the next Mashpee Wampanoag Folly in Taunton failed to include taxpayer funded infrastructure improvements [among numerous other things].

Just when you think the bill to the Commonwealth can't get much higher than the Suffolk Downs Follies, all you hear is Cha Ching! Cha Ching!

Big Dig anyone?

In another case of the blind leading the blind, it comes as no surprise to anyone that Senator Pacheco, long known for his unwillingness to listen, should be in the midst of yet another fiscal fiasco.

And where was Senator Pacheco the evening of the BIA Hearing? At a fund-raiser around the corner.
The drawings released of the next phase of the Mashpee Wampanoags Follies fail to indicate close proximity to homes, schools, a church and the narrow roads.

Mashpee Wampanoag tribe addresses concerns

By George Brennan

gbrennan@capecodonline.com

June 21, 2012

TAUNTON – Traffic, water supply, effects on a nearby river, archaeology, and proximity to an elementary school are among the concerns that were raised by several dozen people at a public hearing held on the Mashpee Wampanoag's proposal for an Indian casino in the city.

Wednesday night's meeting at Taunton High School kicks off review of the proposal under the National Environmental Policy Act and will determine the range of environmental issues to be considered and what needs to be done to mitigate them, said Chet McGhee, regional environmental scientist for the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.

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The tribe's environmental engineer David Hewett from Episilon Associates was on stage to hear the public comments and outlined the various stages of the process where the public's input will be heard.

The BIA is reviewing the tribe's application to have the federal government take 146 acres in Taunton and an additional 170 acres in Mashpee into trust for an initial reservation.

The tribe is proposing to build a $500 million casino with three hotels, restaurants, retail shops and a water park in the Liberty and Union Industrial Park.

Tribal council Chairman Cedric Cromwell said the tribe has a strong tradition of protecting natural resources.

“We will consider initiatives and incorporate specific measures into the project to maximize energy conservation and energy efficiencies in all buildings, utilize materials and equipment that will maximize reuse and conservation, integrate creative landscape designs to maximize open space, water conservation and reuse while minimizing overall building footprints,” Cromwell said.

“Sustainable design and development principles will be a central focus for the tribe as we develop this project.”

City leaders also spoke in favor of the project, but the bulk of the night's comments came from casino critics and stretched more than four hours.

Members of the Pocasset Wampanoag tribal council, also known as the Pokanoket, renewed their objection to the Mashpee tribe seeking a casino in what they say is their ancestral land.

The Pocasset tribe is a state-recognized tribe but has not yet been recognized by the federal government.

William Gray, a Pocasset member, said historic maps clearly show the Mashpee don't have ties to the land.

“You have those maps,” he said. “You need to check that and do the right thing.”

Faries “Dreaming Bear” Gray, a member of the Massachusett tribe, also criticized the Mashpee Wampanoag's invasion of Pokanoket territory.

“They don't care about the environment,” he said. “They care about money.”

But the Mashpee tribe got some support from a sister tribe. Bill “Little Flying Feet” Allen, a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) gaming corporation, spoke out in favor of the Mashpee application.

He said the Aquinnah and Mashpee are the only federally recognized tribes with aboriginal rights to Southeastern Massachusetts.

“We acknowledge and support their right to game,” he said.

One of the requirements of applying to take land into trust is to show historical and cultural ties to the property. The Mashpee tribe has not publicly disclosed how it plans to show those ties, but in his remarks Cromwell said the tribe has a “long shared history with the city of Taunton.”

The Mashpee Wampanoags haven't figured out that secrecy fails.

Wednesday's hearing also attracted tribe opponents from Middleboro, where the Mashpee Wampanoag had a previous agreement to build a casino.

Middleboro Selectman Alfred Rullo Jr. said the Taunton project will have “devastating impact” on traffic in surrounding towns, and Selectman Allin Frawley said the project will have an adverse effect on the Taunton River.

James Mulcahy, who lives near the proposed casino, asked the tribe be required to mitigate light pollution caused by the casino and protect birds by limiting the amount of glass used on the buildings that might result in bird strikes.

Laura Wixon urged the protection of vernal pools and rare and endangered species. “It is wrong to destroy this habitat,” she said.

Tribe lobbyist William Delahunt, a former congressman, watched part of the proceedings from the back of the auditorium.

The BIA will hold a similar hearing at 6 tonight at Mashpee High School on the tribe's application to take 170 acres in the town into federal trust for housing and government buildings.

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120621/NEWS/120629965