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House moves closer to affirming Mashpee Wampanoag reservation

By Tanner Stening
Posted Apr 29, 2019

Tribal bill set for Wednesday markup.

MASHPEE — Federal legislation that seeks to clarify the status of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s reservation will be marked up and considered Wednesday by the House Committee on Natural Resources.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act, introduced by Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., earlier this year, is scheduled for a full committee markup to potentially advance the bill to the floor for a vote. Lawmakers use the markup to consider changes to legislation, proposing and ultimately voting on amendments to it.

The bill would end a legal challenge to the tribe’s 321 acres of reservation land in Mashpee and Taunton and prevent future legal challenges to the land.

Keating crafted the bill in response to a lawsuit brought by neighbors of the tribe’s proposed $1 billion casino in Taunton in 2016 in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. That lawsuit resulted in the U.S. Department of Interior reversing a decision it made the year before to take the Mashpee and Taunton land into trust on the tribe’s behalf.

Read previous stories about the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.

A federal judge ruled that the Secretary of the Interior did not have the authority to take the land into trust because the tribe was not under federal jurisdiction at the time of the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934, and therefore did not qualify under a definition of “Indian” used by the Interior Department.

Interior’s Sept. 7 reversal put the future of the tribe’s reservation in jeopardy — though it remains in trust until a final court order is issued. The tribe has since filed a lawsuit against the agency challenging that decision.

On April 3, the subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States held a hearing on the bill that opened a rift between Rhode Island politicians who oppose the Taunton casino and its supporters. The Ocean State delegation has garnered opposition to the legislation, claiming a tribal casino would curb the state’s gaming revenue and undermine competition.

“An Indian casino in Rhode Island’s gaming catchment area poses a serious threat” to that revenue, Claire Richards, executive counsel to Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, previously told the subcommittee. Keating responded by pressing Richards on the specifics of Rhode Island’s opposition, noting the bill’s purpose is to protect the tribe’s reservation and that Massachusetts already has approved a casino in that part of the state.

The markup comes amid a move by tribe members to recall Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell and Vice Chairwoman Jessie “Little Doe” Baird.

https://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20190429/house-moves-closer-to-affirming-mashpee-wampanoag-reservation?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The%20Cape%20Cod%20Times%20daily%202019-04-30&utm_content=GTDT_CCT&utm_term=043019

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House may fast-track Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe bill

By Tanner Stening
Posted Mar 18, 2019

MASHPEE — Under a suspension of the rules, the U.S. House of Representatives will look to fast-track a bill aimed at ending a legal challenge to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s reservation, according to sources close to the process.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act could be taken up by lawmakers as early as Monday, the sources said. The bill was reintroduced in January by Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., after floundering in the previous legislative session.

Bills considered under a suspension of the rules require a two-thirds supermajority vote of lawmakers present for passage, are limited to 40 minutes of debate and cannot be amended on the House floor.

In a statement issued Monday, Keating expressed optimism about the process.

“I have been working with members across the aisle, with members in both parties on the committee of jurisdiction, and with Democratic leaders in charge of floor action,” Keating said. “I feel very positive about the bill’s progress toward a vote.”

The bill would end ongoing litigation challenging the Mashpee tribe’s reservation by reaffirming the land and barring any legal challenges to it in the future.

In 2016, a lawsuit brought by neighbors of the tribe’s proposed $1 billion casino in Taunton resulted in the Department of the Interior reversing a decision it made the year before to take 321 acres of land into trust on the tribe’s behalf.

A federal judge ruled that the secretary of Interior did not have the authority to take the land into trust because the tribe was not under federal jurisdiction at the time of the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934, and therefore did not qualify under a definition of “Indian” used by the Interior Department.

On Sept. 7, the agency reversed its finding, throwing the future of the tribe’s reservation into jeopardy — though it remains in trust until a final court order is issued. The tribe has since filed a lawsuit against the agency challenging that decision.

The move by House Democrats to put the bill on a fast track to passage comes amid increasing political turmoil among tribal leaders. This week, tribal council will vote to expel three of its members for a variety of complaints that stem from accountability concerns brought to light by the accused leaders. They claim the charges amount to retaliation.

Should the bill succeed in Congress and be signed into law, its passage couldn’t be more timely for the tribe, which is contending with a final installment of loan dollars from its financial backer, Genting Malaysia, according to one source familiar with the tribe’s finances.

Expenditures in 2018 left the tribe with $83,670 in its general fund, according to a statement of its expenses and revenue for the year obtained by the Times.

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell said in a statement that he applauds the “bipartisan effort to protect our reservation ... by moving our bill expeditiously through the House Committee of Natural Resources.”

“The honorable Congressman Keating has led this endeavor and told our story throughout the halls of Congress,” he said, thanking the committee leadership.

The possible House vote also comes after the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) — a sister tribe of the Mashpee tribe — declared its opposition to the legislation. In a letter sent to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission dated Jan. 22, Aquinnah Tribal Chairwoman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais said the bill’s passage would have a “very real potential to have a serious adverse effect” on her tribe’s ability to acquire additional land within the Wampanoag Nation’s ancestral territory.

The legislation is backed by Taunton and Mashpee. On Monday, Mashpee Town Manager Rodney Collins said he appreciates “all the efforts to move this bill along.”

“I am hopeful that the bill receives congressional approval, whether through the House or the Senate,” he said.

https://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20190318/house-may-fast-track-mashpee-wampanoag-tribe-bill?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GHM_Daily_Newsletter_Cape_Cod_Times&utm_content=GTDT_CCT&utm_term=032019

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Source: Mashpee tribe members thwart expulsion hearing

By Tanner Stening
Posted Mar 20, 2019 

MASHPEE — An expulsion hearing Tuesday for Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council member Carlton Hendricks Jr. descended into chaos as tribe members confronted their leaders for attempting to take the matter into executive session, according to sources present during the meeting.

Tribal council met in its chambers at the tribe’s government center at 5:30 p.m. to address a complaint lodged by Treasurer Gordon Harris against Hendricks for improper conduct. Hendricks was also accused of inciting a riot and breaking rules of decorum, which includes prohibited behavior and improper conduct — charges he dismissed as “frivolous and baseless.”

After a roll call vote to move the meeting into executive session passed, the tribe members gathered inside the chambers refused to leave, the sources said. There were between 30 and 40 tribe members inside the room at the time.

“We stood our ground,” one member said.

Others said they saw the move against Hendricks, who was recently re-elected to the council, as antithetical to the tribe’s democratic process. Hendricks retained his seat in February’s annual election, receiving 232 votes.

“They’re taking away our vote,” another member said.

Sources said nearly 70 tribe members watched the meeting from inside the building’s gymnasium on a livestream feed.

“People were crying,” a tribe member said of the atmosphere inside the meeting room. “It was very emotional.”

Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment. Tribal council meetings are generally closed to non-tribe members.

Sources said Cromwell listened to tribe members’ grievances and, after nearly two hours, he adjourned the meeting.

Conflicts between tribe members can be resolved through a peacemaking process by the tribal judiciary, called the peacemakers court. Members questioned leadership over why they didn’t pursue the peacemaking channel, sources said.

While public information about special meetings is typically scant, the tribe’s website notes that Thursday’s meeting will include three executive session items to deal with “council member issues.” Councilman Brian Weeden, Secretary Ann Marie Askew and Councilwoman Edwina Johnson-Graham are also named in the meeting notice. An emergency tribal council meetings was scheduled for Wednesday night that also included an executive session for a personnel matter, according to the website.

Sources previously told the Times that council members Hendricks, Aaron Tobey Jr. and Rita Gonsalves were facing expulsion.

Gonsalves is charged with a breach of executive session, though the specifics are unclear; her hearing is scheduled for Thursday, according to sources with knowledge of the meetings.

Charges against Tobey arose after he sent a letter to tribal council members March 2 after a council vote to deny the resignation of its vice chairwoman, Jessie “Little Doe” Baird, who relinquished her seat Jan. 25, according to emails Tobey provided to the Times. The council’s reasons for the denial were not clear.

In his letter, Tobey says he presented a motion for reconsideration of Baird’s resignation, citing a provision in the tribe’s constitution stating that council seats be deemed automatically vacant “upon death, resignation or conviction of a major crime.” Tobey said Cromwell denied the motion. He alleges Baird is guilty of malfeasance for remaining in power after tendering her resignation, and the council is guilty of nonfeasance for denying her departure.

The three council members accused of wrongdoing can be expelled by seven votes from other members under the categories of malfeasance, or “wrongful conduct,” and nonfeasance, or “nonperformance,” according to the tribal constitution.

Tobey and Hendricks both allege the effort to remove them from power is retaliation.

Hendricks said he believes the leadership is retaliating against him for questioning the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Gaming Authority’s spending, a five-member board overseeing the tribe’s proposed $1 billion casino-resort in Taunton. As of January 2017, the gaming authority had accumulated more than $375 million in debt, according to a recently published 2016 audit, which referred to the oversight board as a “discretely presented component” of the tribe.

Overall tribal debt is in excess of $500 million, Hendricks said previously. Tribe members and critics of Cromwell, who is president of the gaming authority, have long questioned the administration’s gaming-related spending.

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March 17, 2019

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March 3, 2019

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Loans to Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe halted

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Loans to Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe halted

By Tanner Stening
Posted Mar 3, 2019

Genting Malaysia had provided financial support to Mashpee Wampanoag to help run its government

MASHPEE — Genting Malaysia, the company behind the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s proposed $1 billion casino project in Taunton, is no longer loaning the tribe money to pay for its government operations, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the tribe’s finances.

The Malaysian-based casino developer has fulfilled its contractual obligations to the tribe and is no longer providing financial support. The company is still backing efforts to thwart a legal effort threatening the tribe’s 321 acres of reservation land in Mashpee and Taunton, which is necessary for the project.

“They have no financial responsibilities to us,” newly elected tribal council member Aaron Tobey Jr. said about Genting.

“They’ve fulfilled their obligations ... and now they’re helping out with the land-in-trust (issue),” Tobey said, referring to the ongoing litigation challenging a decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior that found the tribe is ineligible to have land taken into trust.

In 2015, under President Barack Obama, Interior took the land in trust, creating the reservation.

In December, Genting announced that it had suffered an “impairment loss” of roughly $440 million on its investment in promissory notes issued by the tribe. The Malaysian casino giant has been backing the tribe’s efforts to pursue gaming since at least 2009. It previously helped bankroll the Mashantucket Pequot tribe’s construction of Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Connecticut.

Documents detailing Genting’s contractual obligations to the tribe are not publicly available, but the casino developer has been loaning the tribe cash to support its government operations for several years. The remaining loan dollars are going to finance the government fund through March 31, at which point future funding for operations becomes uncertain, according to another source with knowledge of the agreement. In 2017, Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell said the tribe’s annual operating budget was about $12 million.

In May, Tribal Council approved a budget that saw far fewer loan dollars from Genting than in previous years. The tribe received $5.4 million in loans from Genting in fiscal year 2018, which is less than half of what it received for fiscal year 2017. That year, the tribe received $11,944,567, an increase of approximately $250,000 over fiscal year 2016, according to budget documents obtained by the Times.

The tribe began 2018 with $6,369,258 in the fund, and spent $6,285,589 as of the end of the year, leaving it with roughly $83,670 in its general fund, according to the documents.

The programs and services funded by the Genting have been cut, though it isn’t clear which departments were affected, Tobey said. Cromwell alluded to the cuts in a statement issued on Jan. 7.

The difficult financial situation has precipitated a number of changes to paid positions within the tribal government, including on the Tribal Council. Only three high-ranking officials — Treasurer Gordon Harris, Secretary Ann Marie Askew and Cromwell — are still receiving salaries on the tribal council, according to sources. Payouts for the 12 legislative personnel, including fringe benefits, totaled $938,206, according to the tribe’s budget for fiscal year 2018.

Cromwell’s slice of that pie amounted to $181,794 in 2018, according to the budget, which was down from $219,186 in 2017.

The Council’s vice chairwoman, Jessie “Little Doe” Baird, has since forfeited her salary also, and at one point offered her resignation, the sources said. She previously made $134,439, according to the most recent budget.

https://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20190303/loans-to-mashpee-wampanoag-tribe-halted

Federal agency denies Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s allegations

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Federal agency denies Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s allegations

By Tanner Stening
Posted Feb 20, 2019

MASHPEE — The Department of the Interior has responded to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s lawsuit challenging its Sept. 7 decision, denying allegations that the federal agency contorted and ignored facts to engineer a decision against the tribe.

“Except as expressly admitted, all allegations are denied,” department attorney Sara E. Costello wrote in the Feb. 19 filing.

The tribe’s suit disputes the Department of the Interior’s decision to reverse its 2015 finding that the tribe satisfied a definition of “Indian” required under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act to qualify it for trust lands. Trust status is a designation in which the federal government holds title to tribal property, exempting it from state and local regulations.

The tribe’s suit contends that the Department of the Interior “erroneously determined” that the tribe was not “under federal jurisdiction” at the time of the law’s passage, a requirement spelled out in a 2009 Supreme Court decision known as Carcieri v. Salazar.

David L. Bernhardt, Acting Secretary of the Department of the Interior, and the agency itself are named as defendants in the case. The department’s response to the tribe’s suit follows several extensions that federal officials requested in light of the 35-day partial government shutdown.

The department’s response also comes just days after Taunton residents who successfully sued the agency over whether the tribe qualified for trust-protected reservation lands motioned to intervene in the case as intervenor-defendants aligned with the department, according to court filings. The tribe has plans to build a $1 billion casino-resort in Taunton.

David and Michelle Littlefield brought the initial legal action against the department in 2016 after it took the tribe’s 321 acres of land into trust. U.S. District Court Judge William Young ruled that the tribe was not under federal jurisdiction and instructed the department to further review its decision.

The department considered whether Massachusetts’ authority over the tribe could be considered in place of federal jurisdiction, but ultimately decided against the tribe, reversing the land-in-trust decision.

The tribe alleges the decision represented a failure on behalf of the Department of the Interior to “properly exercise its delegated authority under the (Indian Reorganization Act)” in the context of the department’s “general trust obligations to the tribe.”

Tribal officials have repeatedly warned that the decision could result in the termination of the tribe’s reservation, its sovereign status and its ability to self-govern.

https://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20190220/federal-agency-denies-mashpee-wampanoag-tribes-allegations

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Wampanoag Tribe election winners include Cromwell critics

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Wampanoag Tribe 

election winners 

 include Cromwell critics

By Tanner Stening
Posted Feb 10, 2019

MASHPEE — The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s annual election Sunday saw three tribal council seats change hands, including a return to power of Aaron Tobey Jr., chairman Cedric Cromwell’s longtime critic.

Brian Weeden, Rita Pocknett Gonsalves, Carlton Hendricks Jr., Winnie Johnson-Graham, Yvonne Avant and Tobey were elected to the council seats, according to a tribal spokeswoman. Hendricks and Avant were incumbents, receiving 232 and 187 votes, respectively.

Weeden topped the ticket with 346 votes, followed by Gonsalves with 309; Johnson-Graham received 212 and Tobey received 201.

Joanne Frye and Denise Johnson-Hathaway were unseated, and Marie Stone lost by 10 votes.

The election comes as the tribal council struggles to secure the tribe’s reservation land, save an embattled casino project and quell internal doubts about its current leadership.

Last month, Cromwell was temporarily stripped of his fiduciary powers after news surfaced of problems with his personal finances, including $37,000 he and his wife, tribal council member Cheryl Frye-Cromwell, owe the IRS, and business interests subpoenaed in the course of their divorce proceeding. On Wednesday, the tribal council reversed course, voting to restore Cromwell’s fiduciary responsibilities and to rescind a vote of no confidence in his leadership.

Tobey promised to ramp up the pressure on Cromwell by supporting an investigation into alleged mismanagement of tribal money.

“He’s been very lucky to avoid any accountability, but now it’s about time he’s held accountable,” Tobey said previously.

Hendricks is also a sharp critic of Cromwell, and has called for more oversight of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Gaming Authority, a five-member board, headed by Cromwell, that a recent audit described as a “discretely presented component” of the tribe responsible for overseeing its stalled gaming operation.

In an interview, Hendricks said tribal debt has risen to roughly $507 million, over $60 million more than the last figure reported by the backer of the tribe’s casino plans, Genting Malaysia, and that none of that money was ever put aside for tribe members.

The tribe’s planned $1 billion casino resort in Taunton has languished since neighbors there successfully sued to overturn a decision by the Obama administration to take land into trust for the tribe. A federal judge remanded that decision to the Interior Department, which declined to take additional action on it. A bill pending in Congress would secure the tribe’s reservation land and bar additional legal challenges, but it faces significant opposition from competing gambling interests. The Rhode Island congressional delegation has also come out against it.

https://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20190210/wampanoag-tribe-election-winners-include-cromwell-critics

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Mashpee tribe leader’s financial powers reinstated

By Tanner Stening
Posted Feb 7, 2019

MASHPEE — The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council has moved to restore Chairman Cedric Cromwell’s financial powers, three weeks after it decided unanimously to remove them and took a vote of no-confidence in him.

On Wednesday, council members voted 7-0 to rescind the no-confidence vote and reinstate Cromwell’s fiduciary responsibilities as chairman of the tribal council and president of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Gaming Authority, according to a statement issued by the tribe. The gaming authority is a five-member board overseeing the tribe’s long-stalled gaming operation.

The reversal comes four days before the tribe’s annual election. Cromwell is not up for re-election.

“Now that we’ve had time to look at this more carefully, based on evidence and documents, the Tribal Council made a conscious, collective decision to reinstate the Chairman’s power back,” Tribal Council Secretary Ann Marie Askew wrote in the statement.

It’s unclear what evidence the council reviewed before making the decision and a spokesman for the tribe said specifics about the evidence were not available.

The initial vote on Jan. 23 came after revelations that Cromwell and his wife, tribal council member Cheryl Frye-Cromwell, owe the IRS $37,000 in back taxes. The pair are going through a divorce proceeding in Taunton.

In addition, an unrelated financial audit of the tribe’s government services department for 2016 that was completed last year and posted to a publicly available federal website found numerous record-keeping flaws, including “material weaknesses and significant deficiencies” in the tribe’s internal control over its financial reporting and over major programs paid for by federal grants.

The audit also pointed out that the gaming authority had accumulated $375 million in debt as of January 2017. It described the gaming authority as a “discretely presented component of the tribe.” Tribal debt has since risen to more than $440 million as a result of loans provided by its casino backer, Genting Malaysia. That debt does not have to be paid back if the tribe’s $1 billion casino project in Taunton does not move forward, according to tribal officials.

The tribal council did not reinstate Cromwell’s financial authority because he asked them to, according to Askew.

“We did this on our own. We worked it out and we are tired of beating a dead horse. There is no evidence of any financial impropriety on the part of any tribal officer,” Askew wrote. “Our ancestors are twisting in their graves over people running to the news media to try and divide us.”

The tribe has been fighting a multiyear legal battle to secure its reservation. Neighbors of its planned resort casino sued the U.S. Department of the Interior after the federal agency took 321 acres of land into trust on the tribe’s behalf in 2015 under the Obama administration, effectively creating the reservation and seemingly paving the way for the gaming facility. A federal judge sided with the neighbors and sent that decision back to the Interior Department, which declined to take additional action, putting the future of the casino project at risk.

U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., has reintroduced a bill in Congress that would secure the land and bar future legal challenges to its status but it faces stiff opposition from a variety of interests.

In a statement, Cromwell wrote that it is difficult to see his credibility questioned, but that he remains committed to moving forward in an effort to secure the tribe’s reservation by pushing for the legislation.

“Of course it’s painful for personal attacks and innuendo to be flung in my direction, but this struggle is bigger than me or any one person,” he wrote. “So I will continue to fight for my people as best as I know how.”

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January 24, 2019

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council strips chairman of financial control

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January 13, 2019

https://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20190207/mashpee-tribe-leaders-financial-powers-reinstated