Bellicose Bumpkin

As Massachusetts continues it’s headlong rush to casino gambling, Senator Scott Brown has taken a break from obeying his party overlords to interject himself into the local casino issue. As we all know by now, the House voted for two resort casinos and slots at the tracks. The state Senate voted for three resort casinos and no slots. The two bills have gone to a House/Senate conference committee that will try to come up with a compromise. That’s where Brown comes in – making a personal plea for the slots portion of the bill that would benefit a personal friend … aahhh politics. From the Boston Globe:

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During a recent meeting with Governor Deval Patrick and House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Brown reportedly made a personal pitch for slot machines at the Plainville track owned by his friend, Gary Piontkowski. Patrick invited Brown to Beacon Hill to seek his support for some $686 million in Medicaid funds that state leaders needed to help balance the budget. According to people with knowledge of the conversation, Brown used the opportunity to raise the slots issue.

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Being a liberal Democrat, Brown was going to have to work hard to win me over and unfortunately he’s been just as terrible a senator as I thought he would be – and pro-casino to boot. So far I see him as unresponsive and basically toeing the party line.
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Whenever I hear that the Republicans and Democrats are going to “compromise” I start getting frightened. It reminds me of the great compromises during the Reagan administration where the president got more military spending, the Democrats got more social spending and we entered into the modern age of staggering budget deficits. How much do you want to bet that the “compromise” will be all the slots that DeLeo wants and all the resorts that Patrick/Murray want? The good ‘ole taxpayer will foot the bill while all the casino money gets sucked out of local business and whisked offshore to the Cayman Islands. Yay casino!.
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All DeLeo really cares about is Suffix Downs since the same parent company owns Wonderland – the other track he cares about. The magnanimous “compromise” we’re waiting for will probably be a slots gimme to Suffix Downs and inside track on one of the resort licenses. The rest of the tracks will be left to compete for the two remaining resort licenses – one of which seems earmarked for Fall River.
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Come on folks – you didn’t expect that this was going to be an honest transparent process did you? Didn’t Middleboro teach you guys anything?

I have to tell you that hearing these sorts of uniformed scare tactics repeated is really tiring. This from Senate president Therese Murray:

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Senate President Therese Murray said yesterday that a new directive from the federal government makes Native American gambling parlors all but inevitable in Massachusetts, whether or not state lawmakers authorize full-fledged casinos.

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Murray is referring to a memo from SOI Ken Salazar to Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Echohawk _{hawk hawk hawk} that instructed the BIA to “move forward with processing applications and requests for gaming on Indian lands within the context of objective statutory and regulatory criteria“.
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Senator Murray is either woefully misinformed, or intentionally exaggerating the likelihood of a class two Indian casino to further her Ka-genda. There is no statuatory or regulatory ability for the SOI to take land into trust for tribes that were federally recognized after 1934. None. This has been decided already in Carcieri v. Salazar.
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Let me restate what everybody in Massachusetts state government should know by now. First – there is currently no likely path for the Mashpee to get land into trust. Second – even if they did a class two casino is not viable.
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The state is pulling a Middleboro – rushing through a complex deal with questionable economic benefit without doing it’s due diligence. It is using the longshot of a Mashpee indian casino to sell commercial casino legislation. They are trying to marginalize casino opponents by writing off their arguments as moralistic or painting them as anti-jobs. The fact is that the modest revenues being projected will be eaten up by costs – which is why the state has done a benefit analysis but not a cost-benefit analysis.
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Why can’t casinos ever be discussed on the basis of their merits and their problems? Instead we get distortion, rush jobs, and refusal to look at the costs.

I have to admit, that some of the artists rendition’s of proposed casinos look pretty cool. Just check out this drawing of a Fall River casino being proposed by the Mashpee Wampanoag. It’s much cooler then the simple outline drawings we saw in Middleboro. The colors, the soft hues and the incredible amenities make the whole thing look very compelling. In fact it seems that you need little more than fancy drawing to be considered a serious contender for a casino.
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Then it hit me. Since current versions of the Massachusetts gambling bills don’t include a tribal preference – that means that the Fall River casino is up for grabs. Anyone could be awarded the license. Even me. I am officially announcing my intention to compete for one of the casino licenses. Although I don’t have any backers or investors – that is actually a strength. This will be the first casino financed entirely by PayPal donations. I do have the most important requirement – a spiffy drawing. Sure it’s not quite as polished as some of the other casino artist renditions – but I think you’ll agree that the amenities in my casino can’t be matched by the competition. You can click on the image for a larger version.
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And now we start getting into my marketing plan – something for everybody. The casino theme will include magic, Sci-Fi, dinosaurs, and beer. I’ll crush the competition. The first thing you’ll notice is the unicorn farm. Sure other casinos have promised the magic but mine will deliver using my yet-to-be-developed technology for mating ponies with narwhals. Notice that the main casino is shaped like the Starship Enterprise with a grand staircase that leads to the entrance in the shuttle bay – how cool is that? And folks, it won’t just be about gambling. This will be the only casino in the US to offer jetpack rides. Admit it – you’ve wanted one since you first saw a jetpack on Gilligan’s Island or Lost In Space. To keep the chips flowing into the slots there will be a free beer volcano. I have to admit that the idea for the beer volcano is not entirely original. Last but not least will be a zoo with real dinosaurs. This will be part of Phase Two and requires some technology that does not yet exist …. YET.
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And like the other proposed casinos – my casino will only generate money and jobs. There will be no costs of any kind. Just benefits, unicorns, jetpacks and dinosaurs.

I have to admit that the twists and turns in the Middleboro casino saga have left me bewildered. The Mashpee Wampanoag entered into an agreement to buy 300 acres in Fall River and told Middleboro that they don’t intend to pursue a casino in town. Early drafts of casino legislation all had a tribal preference in one form or another – until the last one. The bill gives no particular preference to tribes but does include lots of language to prevent sovereign indian casinos.

Now I’d been hearing that the Fall River thing was a double-secret probation done deal between the tribe and the state. I always had trouble with this idea because I couldn’t see any reason for the state to give preferential treatment to the tribe. Without trust land the tribe has no horse in this race. There is no indication that they will get trust land any time soon …. or at all. Without tribal preference, I can’t see any reason for an investor to back the tribe for a commercial casino.

But back to point. This lack of tribal preference has set Cromwell off:

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The chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe is fuming over a Senate bill that does not reserve a casino license for an Indian tribe.

“If the state gives a commercial license to another casino operator, we won’t pay the state a cent when we build a casino in Southeastern Massachusetts once expanded gaming is approved,” said Cedric Cromwell. “We will destroy the competition because we won’t pay licensing fees or taxes and we will provide a great player experience with more wins.”

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I think he should have also mentioned that the tribal unicorn farm would give them an advantage in tourist draw. This next statement has me a bit perplexed:

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If the state allows casinos, federal law would allow the tribe to build a casino on land taken into trust, Cromwell said. The tribe had previously applied to place land into trust in Middleboro and have notified the Interior Department that they intedn to change the application to the Fall River site.

But last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the Secretary of the Interior could not take land into trust for tribes that were recognized after 1934. The Wampananogs were recognized in 2007.

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I’ve been under the impression that applications could not be altered – any changes would require them to withdraw the application and submit a new one. Either way, applications to the DOI to take land into trust for tribes recognized after 1934 cannot be acted on. Keep in mind that Cromwell will do and say anything to get a casino. Every statement must be fact checked. The strategy of Cromwell and prior tribal leaders is to set up an air of inevitability by sprinkling grains of truth in with liberal doses of what-ifs, best case scenarious, and outright fabrication – like when the tribe said that the Carcieri decision didn’t apply to them.
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So as usual, I’ll try to make sense of the facts based on my understanding of the casino situation.
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Facts: There is no tribal preference, no propect for land into trust, and Cromwell is pissed.
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Analysis: The state has wisely decided not to play ball with the Mashpee Wampanoag. If the unlikely happens and the tribe does get land into trust, the state has a bunch of options if the tribe refuses to waive sovereign immunity. One thing is clear to me – Massachusetts has zero interest in giving the Mashpee a casino – particularly a sovereign one.
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This turn of events has also given Middleboro a lot of leverage though history shows that BOS will refuse to act. The pro-casino majority on the Middleboro Board of Selectmen has blocked any sensible action since the deal was signed in 2007.

Kathleen Conley Norbut with Jim Braude on NECN.

Kathleen’s the real deal and has been studying this issue for years. As the public face of the anti-casino effort, she’s also taking a lot of slings and arrows – something I can related to.

On your average day, I get up with no particular thought about what, or even if, I’ll post on my blog. I read my email which includes a handful of google alerts. By the way – if you have google alerts for yourself, you are probably a socio-path – but I digress. A lot of my posts come from my morning read of the news: I read something that ticks me off or piques my interest and hit the keys to post about it.
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In that last couple of days there have been articles about DeLeo’s plan to introduce 6 casinos in Massachusetts – a plan that hasn’t been vetted to see if it makes economic sense. In many of these articles there is the obligatory quote from the Mashpee Wampanoag about how this legislation makes their already inevitable(guffaw) casino even more inevitable. Super duper inevitable I guess. Today is no different. In this Globe article we have:

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Cedric Cromwell, chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, released a statement saying, “Once gaming is expanded, we intend to move forward with our plans to build a full resort-style casino in Southeastern Massachusetts under the rights afforded to us as a sovereign Indian tribe.’’

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I have no particular bone to pick with the Mashpee Wampanoag though I do have some issues with their leadership over the last few years. I guess that started when they elected a lying rapist embezzling valor-stealing flim-flam man and sent him to Middleboro to tell my town that they were going to put a casino here whether we wanted it or not and rushed the Middleboro into a deal that gives insufficient compensation to cover the effects. All that said, I don’t dislike the Mashpee Wampanoag or even their current leadership. I even like them in a Stockholm Syndrome kind of way. And since I do, I feel required to say this.
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Dear Cedric,
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I know that you want the best for your tribe – I get that. But I have to tell you that you just look uninformed when you make statements like this. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but you can’t move ahead with any casino without a Carcieri fix. Even if there is a Carcieri fix, there are numerous hurdles to overcome not the least of which is the Fifth Circuit court decision in Kickapoo(love that name) v Texas that says the state cannot be compelled to enter into a compact because it would be a violation of state sovereignty.
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If you’ve read the writing on the wall like I have, you know that the state of Massachusetts has no interest in giving you a sovereign casino and has no intention of doing so. As evidence of that refer to the 100+ pages of objections that the state submitted in opposition to your land into trust application. Also refer to proposed legislation that says that any preference for a tribal casino would require that you have sovereign land(you don’t) that is eligible for gaming under IGRA(you don’t) and that you waive sovereign rights.
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Your carefully prepared statement says that you plan to build in “Southeastern Massachusetts”. If you intended to build in Middleboro, you would have said “Middleboro” .. but you didn’t. My town has spent a lot of time and effort supporting this casino and I think you owe it to us to be honest and tell the Board of Selectmen that there is no way Middleboro is getting a casino and that the deal in place is unworkable because of the $250M in infrastructure it requires(Thank you Ruth Geoffroy. Thank you, thank you, thank you.). But most of all Cedric, I honestly want you to stop embarrassing yourself by statements like this. You are not in position for a sovereign casino and it’s doubtful that you’ll be given a commercial one since there is a line of experienced casino operators in front of you. The best thing for your people and mine is to admit that this turkey is done and move one.
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As Englebert Humperdinck(love that name) said – “Please release me, let me go”
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Sincerely,
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Mark Belanger (call me – we’ll do lunch)

The Middleboro ca-bingo emporium and 5 star albatross around my town’s neck continues to bubble up in the news – most recently in reports about DeLeo’s casino plan. Let’s look at a couple of cherry-picked facts in no particular order to set the mood before I talk about DeLeo.
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There was the legislator who said to one of my peeps. “There’s not going to be an Indian casino in Middleboro. Rt. 44 is a state road. If we have to we’ll turn it into a *&$##@ one way”.
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We have 100 plus pages of objections Governor Patrick submitted to the BIA opposing land into trust for the proposed Middleboro casino land – land that the tribe STILL doesn’t own by the way.
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We have the tribe refusing to give us any money to get started on the infrastructure.
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Then there was Calter, Canessa, Pacheco (who all represent Middleboro) signing on to legislation that would put the casino anywhere in the known universe except Middleboro.
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We have the tribe fishing around Fall River to locate a casino there.
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So that’s where we are in my estimation.
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In today’s Enterprise we have a column from Alice Elwell that puts a Middleboro perspective on the news that Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo will introduce legislation for four slot parlors and two resort casinos. Note that most news reports are calling this a plan for two casinos when in fact it’s a plan for six. Nowhere in DeLeo’s speech was Middleboro mentioned. I have to admit that I took no notice of that until reading the Elwell column.

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Local officials said House Speaker Robert DeLeo sidestepped how an Indian casino in Middleboro would fit into the gaming plan he laid out in his speech to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
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“Funny, he didn’t mention the Middleboro billion-dollar resort,” said Finance Committee Richard J. Pavadore.
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΄I noticed that,‘ said Selectman Muriel C. Duphily. ΄How come?‘
Ed: Mimi – that’s because it’s not coming
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Mark Belanger of Middleboro, a casino opponent, criticized the House speaker’s proposal.
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Belanger said there is no evidence expanded gambling would do anything except transfer jobs from the general economy into the casinos, and coupled with social costs, the net effect likely would be negative.
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Also, he said, consumers’ discretionary income would be diverted from other forms of entertainment to a resort casino, hurting such places as concert halls, museums and restaurants.
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“It will create jobs but a similar number will be lost in the general economy,‘ Belanger said. ΄It doesn’t make economic sense.

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That Mark Belanger guy sounds like he really knows what he’s talking about. I’ll bet he’s good looking.

I want to sell you a Magic Widget. It’s terrific and I’ll make a huge profit it on it. You’re not really convinced so I’m going to pay your friends and employers money to help convince you that you need to buy the Magic Widget. What’s that you say? You don’t want something like that if I have to pay people to tout it’s benefits. That’s basically what’s happening with millions of dollars in lobbying money pouring into Massachusetts to grease the legislative skids in the state house for expanded gambling.
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Back to my Magic Widget analogy. So you’ve finally been convinced to consider taking a Magic Widget but want to check on a few things. You want to make sure that the money you spend has the value you expect. Woah – hold on I say – that’s just crazy talk. If you want my Magic Widget you have to take it sight unseen and just trust that it’s everything I say it is. That’s what House Speaker DeLeo is asking us all by refusing to have an independent cost/benefit analyis of casinos in Massachusetts. Isn’t that a bit like buying a house but the seller won’t allow a home inspection?
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This is the sort of thing that always accompanies casinos. When Middleboro was being intimidated and threatened with a casino in 2007 we were told that the casino was coming whether we wanted it or not and that we would get nothing if we didn’t sign a deal with the Mashpee Wampanaog. An insider to the negotiations told me recently that when Middleboro wanted to bring in a professional gaming attorney, the tribe’s representatives said they would walk away from the deal if we did. Well, we did, they didn’t walk, but that’s not the point. Can you imagine entering into a multi-million dollar agreement and being told that the deal was off if you brought in a professional attorney? That’s what happened here folks and it’s anyone’s guess why Middleboro didn’t go running in the opposite direction.
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Money to influence lawmakers – Check
Refusal to do cost benefit analysis – Check
Rush to introduce legislation – Check
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Hope that’s what you want folks – cause that’s what DeLeo is going to give you.
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Enjoy.

Refusing to do an honest cost/benefit analysis of expanded gambling, House Speaker Robert DeLeo has unveiled his plan to file legislation that would bring slots to the racetracks and resort casinos. He also felt compelled to dazzle us with the depth of his character by announcing that “I’ve always been a slots person”. Personally I’ve always been a “let’s see if this makes sense” person. Refusal to do an honest accounting of the costs of expanded gambling – particularly slots – is just plain wrong.
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Clyde Barrows, who annoys me more every day, was quoted in the article – but of course what article on Massachusetts casinos would be complete without Barrows’ inciteful analysis? What cracks me up is that Barrows was the author of a study that called for just three resort casinos as the best way to “maximize the economic impacts of expanded gambling in Massachusetts, while minimizing or mitigating its social impacts”. Now he’s on board with the slots-4-all bill being proposed by SlotMan DeLeo and Not-In-My-Town Therese Murray:

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while the state would stand to rake in more money from casino gaming, revenue from slot machines would come in a lot sooner. “They can get licensing revenue almost immediately, and they could even get some slot revenue this fiscal year,” Barrow predicted.

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Good ‘ol flip-flop Barrow called the Middleboro casino agreement a “bad deal for Middleboro” in 2007 now softens that analysis by calling it “the most lucrative local host deal ever executed in the United States”. Get off the fence dude and make up your mind.
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As far as how this will affect Middleboro and the area:

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After establishing the slot parlors, “they could start rolling out the casino licenses, probably at Suffolk (Downs) first and then Western Mass. If a Southeastern Massachusetts license is last, that will give them some breathing room to see what the Wampanoag are going to do.”

The Mashpee Wampanoag have proposed a $1 billion casino on sovereign land in Middleboro, but the tribe has run into a few roadblocks, not the least of which is a Supreme Court ruling preventing it from taking the land into trust.

As a result, Barrow said, “they seem to have eased their position” on pursuing a commercial casino license rather than operating a sovereign casino. “There seems to be a willingness to negotiate some kind of commercial deal if that will get them to market faster.”

Barrow speculated that the Middleboro site would be less attractive to the tribe if slot machines were allowed a stone’s throw away in Raynham. “If they put slots at the tracks, that would siphon off a lot of the convenience gambling that would go to Middleboro.”

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Clearly something is afoot. As things stand, the Middleboro casino is not feasible due to the massive infrastructure required in the IGA. The tribe has been nosing around in the Fall River area and the Commission on Indian affairs is talking about taking the Wampsutta Reservation into trust for the Mashpee Wampanoag, even though it seems to be Pocasset tribal land. As I’ve said before, it blows my mind that anyone would consider giving the Mashpee Wampanaog a casino at this time given the problems they’ve had managing themselves and their lack of experience in casino management. Meanwhile, the Middleboro BOS remain blissfully unaware of the goings on and the Middleboro Albatross Casino continues to stunt local development by keeping us all in a state of perpetual limbo.

With all the stories of the Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag seeking a casino in the Fall River area – this story seems to play into that:

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The state’s Commission on Indian affairs has requested that a 100-acre parcel of the Watuppa Reservation be put into trust, part of a plan, the Pocasset Wampanoag Indians say, to build a casino. …. But Pocasset Indian officials said this week that the Mashpee Tribe and their hunt for a casino site is behind the push to put the land in trust.

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I had heard that the Mashpee were going to pursue a tribal casino in Fall River but couldn’t understand how that was going to be possible since they had no land or application to put land into trust. If true, this explains it. What is not explained is who in their right mind would give the Mashpee a sovereign casino – or any casino for that matter. For my money they have not demonstrated the ability to run a small tribe let alone a $1B facility. But I digress. The article continues:

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“It’s clear of Mashpee’s intentions to get a casino in Fall River. They tried to do the same thing in Middleboro on land they didn’t own. The Mashpees don’t have any ties to this area. This is a tribe that basically never left the Cape,” said Pocasset Tribal Council Vice Chairman Daryl Black Eagle Jamieson.

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This echoes many of the comments made in March 2008 at the BIA hearing in Middleboro by casino opponents and members of the Massachusett tribe.

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Jamieson said the Pocasset Tribe does have interest in creating economic development opportunities on the site, including wind turbines and other renewable energy. But he said their plan is to not upset the environment.
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“We don’t want to take away from the beauty of this land, but we have always talked about doing something here. It’s always just been a matter of funding,” Jamieson said.

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Imagine an indian tribe wanting to do an environmentally responsible project??? I’m sure the Mashpee would call that crazy talk.
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Interesting development.
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It’s worth restating at this point that casino being proposed in Middleboro is not economically feasible. The tribe miscalculated when they agreed to be responsible for $260M in infrastructure – wrongly believing that the state or federal government would pay for that infrastructure. They won’t. The tribe knows it and are looking for an alternative project. It appears that they have found it.

I’m a strong support of alternative energy in general and Cape Wind in particular. I was skeptical when the Aquinnah and Mashpee Wampanoag partnered with the Cape Wind opposition group Save Our Sound. The objection was that the turbines would disrupt a sacred sun greeting ceremony. I did a podcast with the Communications Director of Cape Wind and started reading up on it. One thing that I’ve never been able to understand is how the sun greeting ceremony fit into the Wampanaog belief system. The Mashpee Wampanoag are Christian and have been for hundreds of years. While following the Middleboro casino issue, I often see tribe members refer to the “Creator” in talking about tribal rituals, pow-wows etc.
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Shortly after the Cape Wind opposition became big news, I spoke to Gil Solomon Sachem of the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag. While he supports the Mashpee opposition to Cape Wind, he said it was “inconsistent” for them to support a Middleboro casino and oppose Cape Wind. I also asked him how the sun ceremony fit in with their religion since I thought they were Christian. He basically said “don’t go there”. I’m sure the forcing of Christianity on the Wampanaog is a real sore point, but I think opposition to Cape Wind would seem less incongrous if the tribe’s culture was understood.
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The reason I’m writing this now is because of this blog post in Cape Cod Today that raised some of these issues and floated the idea that Mashpee opposition to Cape Wind could work against their casino ambitions:

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Anyone who has lived on this sandspit a few decades knows that our Native American Mashpee Wampanoags are impossible to differentiate from the rest of the Cape’s population.
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They shop at the same stores, drive the same cars and trucks, send their kids to the same schools and… go to the same churches.
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They don’t run down to South Cape Beach to watch the sun come up any more than they still live in wigwams or hunt buffalo.
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The Mashpee Wampanoags are Christians like most of the rest of us. They have been since the mid-1700s when they were converted and given land for the switch in what we call Mashpee today
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If the tribe kills Cape Wind and stops the state from prospering, the state will stop the tribe from propering.
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Hopefully some of my Wampanaog readers can fill in the blanks about how their Indian traditions fit in with their Christian ones.

From Herald article:

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Angry that the governor has refused to meet with them, the Mashpee Wampanoags are threatening to build a casino in Middleboro and not share any revenue with the state.

“If the governor refuses to deal with us and distributes licenses to other casino operators, we won’t give the state a cent when we build a gaming facility in Southeastern Massachusetts,” tribal chairman Cedric Cromwell told the Herald.

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This is basically the same story that worked so well when our “partners” first came knocking on the door in Middleboro. The selectmen, and others, thought the casino was inevitable and tried to protect the town by signing an agreement that pays us half of what the deal was worth. Patrick knows better and is not going to make the same mistake Middleboro made – namely the mistake of rushing into a deal when there is no need to do so, and disenfranchising a signficant portion of the voting public.

The funny part is that after all this time, and all that has happened, there is still a core – including a majority of the BOS – that are ignoring all that has happened since April 2007. Their behavior and persistent inaction are puzzling indeed – almost as if they haven’t picked up a newspaper since July 2007.

A recent CCT article pointed out a recent run of good luck for the tribe’s casino dreams – a possibility that the Obama administration would rethink the distance limits for off-reservation gambling and a proposed Carcieri fix floated by Sen. Dorgan. In theory, these are good things for the tribe.

But as I always say – “There’s nothing more sad than watching a good theory get mugged by a gang of facts”.

It looks like the run of luck is is over. For the last couple of months, the forces of Inevitability have been telling us that Mass would pass a casino bill in the fall. Now the papers are reporting that the Mass legistlature won’t take it up until 2010.

Is that good news or bad news for the tribe’s plans? I’ve been thinking about that and have decided it’s bad news. The word through the grapevine is that the agreement between the investors and the Mashpee Wampanoag is about to run out, and that the investors are going to take their ball and go home. Judging by their investor’s actions so far, it’s apparent that they are more than capable of doing something dumb like pouring millions of dollars into a project that has very slim chances of success – I was a little worried that a sudden rush to commercial casinos would keep the investors hanging in there. Now that doesn’t seem likely.

What does seem likely is that the investors will sever their agreements. If I was pro-casino I might say “No problem, the tribe will get new investors”. Another great theory about to be mugged by a gang of facts. The obvious problem is the land – which is owned by the investors. If the BIA ever act on the Mashpee’s land into trust – they have no Middleboro land to put into trust. The investors would have to transfer title of the Precinct St. land to the tribe. According to my magic eight ball, the chance of that is “not bloody likely”.

See the thing about gambling is that every hot streak eventually comes to an end. Color this hot streak “over”.

Back in June ’07 at the meeting where the Healey agreement was squashed and we first saw Dennis(you must have seen that on the CERA website) Whittlesey, I told the BOS that “we are driving this bus”. Since then, with the BOS’s help, that bus has driven over us leaving the town in shambles following two years of squandering precious resources for a project that never had a great chance of success.

Hooray for us.

From the Cape Cod Times

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Dorgan, chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs committee, proposed an amendment to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which would give tribes recognized after that date the same rights to put land into federal trust as those acknowledged before that date.

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Typically, whenever there is the slightest positive news, the old “sign now” and “it’s coming” crowd get all excited. If this bill makes it through Congress – which is far from certain – it might look very different. One serious option being discussed is to allow the SOI to take land into trust, but not for off reservation gaming.

REELWamps has a more sober view of some possibilities.

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Because of the legislative process, There are problems:
1–There are 27 states that are fighting hard to eliminate Indian gaming competition for tribes like Mashpee.It’s the economy! They have many lobbyists, and 175 million more voters than the 3 million Natives and 1641 Mashpee.
2–There are tribes like the Mohegans that are already preparing to set up commercial gaming facilities in Palmer.
3–The amendments to limit tribes to reservation building only will be part of the torpedo’s launched.
4–Typically, Dornan’s bill will become an unrecognizable Frankenstein or the 18 month old naked baby in a room devoured by 27 hungry wolves.
5–The bill could move quickly through the Senate and the House in tact.
6–The bill could be buried for 1,2, 3,6,9 months, and still come out favorable.
7–The Dorgan staffer never mentioned our lobbyist ” working really closely with us,” like they normally do. That’s because we don’t have a presence there.
8–The Mashpee don’t even have lobbyists on Beacon Hill to get a state set aside for a casino.
Here’s the biggest problem.
The Environmental Impact Statement of the land into trust application for Middleboro was never completed.

On Oct 1, the tribe is done. The investors are free and clear.

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So don’t panic folks. There are so many hurdles left to go. There is no Carcieri fix. There is a proposal for one. Gaming tribes, you know the ones with all the money, have a vested interest in preventing non-gaming tribes from getting casinos. The states are against it. There is still the fact that it may be unconstititional to violate state sovereignty by LIT. There is the Kickapoo decision, there is significant opposition by the state of Massachusetts.

This turkey is still done whether or not someone decides to turn the oven back on.

An unamed source just gave me this video from the first executive session that talked about the Middleboro casino.

This Enterprise article has a couple of interesting points – the Mashpee Wampanoag have been cut off by the investors and that FinCom has advised against spending any more casino planning money:

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While the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe got federal money last week to fund a housing development in Mashpee, tribe officials say they’ve been cut off from funding by the investors of a proposed casino in Middleboro.

Aaron Tobey, vice chairman of the Mashpee Tribal Council, said the tribe is going forward in its bid to take land in Mashpee and Middleboro into trust.

But Tobey said the deal with the investors of a proposed casino in Middleboro, Sol Kerzner and Len Wolman, has stalled, and that “nothing’s been resolved.”

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According to the REELWamps, the investors are unhappy with the current tribal leadership.

Meanwhile, the Middleboro Finance Committee – ever a voice of fiscal sanity in the casino fairy tale – have issued recommendations for spending – or rather not spending – the casino planning monies. Their advice is similar to what I and others have been saying – though much more cogent and intelligently worded.

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The Town of Middleboro Finance Committee voted on August 10, 2009 to recommend to the Board of Selectman to place a hold on spending money from the Casino Pre-Planning Fund. This is due to concerns about the potential liability which exists unless the MashpeeWampanoag Tribe and their investors certify in writing all past expenditures. We strongly recommend all future spending of preplanning monies for the casino be put on hold until the following occurs;

• The MashpeeWampanoag Tribe and its investors, Trading Cove Associates Mashpee (TCAM) certify in writing to the town that all money spent to date (approx. $190,000) is approved and meets the criteria of the Tribe and its investors as being related to the casino pre-planning.
• The MashpeeWampanoag Tribe and its investors (TCAM) certify in writing to the town that the plan for spending future money is pre-approved as meeting the criteria of the Tribe and its investors as being related to the casino pre-planning.
• The MashpeeWampanoag Tribe and its Investors (TCAM) certify in writing their confirmation of Chairman of the Tribe, Cedric Cromwellâs verbal agreement to the Middleboro Board of Selectman stating that neither the Tribe nor the investors will demand the return of any spent or unspent preplanning money should the Inter-Governmental Agreement be terminated for any reason.

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I have also been advocating that we plan for the likely outcome of no casino and figure out if there is a way to get the land back.

As this saga contines to unwind, or more accurately – unravel – I find myself more and more amazed at the inability of the Middleboro BOS to assess the situation in an unbiased fashion. Amazed. From the beginning, their actions and words seem to be based on wishful thinking instead of reality.

Without running down the list(land sale, rushed agreement, gavelling down opposition, running otherwise unqualified pro-casino candidates, planning money spending, etc, etc), I can’t think of a single aspect of this “project” that wasn’t botched.

Nice opinion piece in the Enterprise – whose coverage of the Middleboro Casino and Magical Unicorn Stable has improved in recent months. This piece echoes what I said in a recent Gazette column(sadly not online).

The short version is: This thing ain’t coming and Middleboro should be saving the pre-payments instead of spending them on planning for a project that is, at best, a wild longshot.

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A series of setbacks has made it clear that Middleboro officials and the Wampanoag Indians who want to build a $1 billion casino complex over 500 acres have no special standing. Their plans are no more likely to come to fruition than gambling dreams in any other community in the state. In fact, the odds may be greater.

The town already has collected $1 million in payments from the tribe and is still sitting on more than half of it, debating whether to spend it on needs directly related to a casino. Our advice is to sit tight for now. Spend some of it as needed, but don’t rush to spend any more money on casino needs when a casino is looking less likely each passing day.

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This excerpt from my Gazette colum of 7/2/2009 sums up my position on the pre-payment monies:

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I try. I really try not to write columns about the casino that’s not coming. It’s a personal failing that I can’t keep quiet when I see my town’s action, or inaction, affecting our community. What I’m seeing right now, is town leadership that is foolishly spending the pre-payment money for a casino project that has little chance of ever happening. Simply – we need to start protecting the land, the payments we’ve received so far, and the payments that haven’t been spent yet.

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The Mashpee are entering the final phase in their casino campaign – a desperate attempt to convince the world that they were under federal jurisdiction and thus are not subject to the Carcieri v. Salazar decision. This recent Supreme Court decision ruled that the Secretary of the Interior could only take land into trust for tribes under federal jurisdiction in 1934.

But here’s the bad news folks. Even if the tribe were under federal jurisdiction in 1934, and they absolutely were not, the Secretary of the Interior can’t take land into trust for the Mashpee Wampanoag. Can’t.

This Enterprise article reveals the next stage in the pro-casino campaign. Up until Carcieri v. Salazar, the strategy has been “It’s inevitable, just cut a deal or we’ll steamroll over you and you’ll get nothing”. This fear caused Middleboro to sign a rushed deal that provided insufficient payments and protections and included a double-secret-probation promise that the we would get 2% in the state compact.

The Carcieri decision has essentially made it impossible for the tribe to get land into trust – I’ll explain this further on but first I want to make fun of the ridiculous statements in this article:

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Wampanoag Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell maintains the Mashpee were recognized and under federal jurisdiction prior to 1934, saying formal recognition only affirmed the Mashpee as a tribe.

“It was a racist attack on Indian sovereignty, the focus is on gaming,” Cromwell said. “The Mashpee have always been under federal jurisdiction.”

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Ever notice how our “partners” roll out the racism card whenever something doesn’t go their way? I’m sick of it.

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Dennis J. Whittlesey of the Washington, D.C., law firm of Dickinson Wright, LLC, an expert in Indian law who represented the town during the casino negotiations, said even he doesn’t know how to interpret the court ruling.

“In 1934, (the Mashpees) were recognized, just not formally and were under federal jurisdiction. … I can honestly tell you I don’t know what that means,” Whittlesey said.

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Whittlesey cracks me up. He’s been very insistent that a Carcieri fix was inevitable, that our casino was inevitiable, and that anyone who questioned the contract numbers must have gotten thier figures off the CERA web site. He doesn’t sound very sure of himself anymore. Maybe he’s heard something about Carcieri.

The Hail Mary pass
The Mashpee and Whittlesey know it’s all over. Their only hope is to convince everyone that they were under federal jurisdiction in 1934 – which they clearly weren’t. BUT EVEN IF THEY WERE…. recent court rulings are saying that state sovereignty trumps tribe sovereignty when it comes to land into trust. There’s the Kickapoo decision, the recent Hawaii decision and a whole world of state-backed litigation to look forward to if the impossible happens and the Middleboro land is put into trust.

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Congressman Barney Frank said the ruling has given the state more authority in blocking tribal casinos.

“This has everything to do with gambling,” Frank said. “The ruling gives the state a major say in whether the land can be taken into trust. … The likelihood diminishes if the state says no.”

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I think the title of this Enterprise article says it all.

Two years after historic deal, no casino in sight for Middleboro

This is one of the more realistic and sober assessments I’ve seen of the Mashpee Wampanaog casino being planned for Middleboro.

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The deal, which passed by an almost 2-1 margin, was supposed to put Middleboro on the map and make the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe rich.

Then the troubles began. Tribal Chairman Glenn Marshall resigned and was later sent to prison. The economy tanked. The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a potentially fatal blow in a ruling. The investors stopped paying the tribe.

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Very fair assessment. I guess the only thing I could add is that casino opponents were completely right, and casino proponents were completely wrong.

I also took issue with this:

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Even some of those who were the deal’s biggest supporters now say they’re close to giving up on it. Former Middleboro Selectman Adam Bond, who helped negotiate the agreement, believes the obstacles may be too many for the casino project.

“I’d say the odds are 50-50, at best,” said Bond, who was the town’s mouthpiece of support for the project two years ago.

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50-50? That’s what Wayne Perkins said recently. I don’t think the odds were ever 50-50 and certainly not today. I would put the odds at 99.9-.01.

Update – A more fleshed out version of this story came out today along with a copy of the report. It includes a sidebar with some of the details of the Lynch report.

This just in from the Cape Cod Times. A report commissioned by Halifax found that the Mashpee Wampanoag have no significant ties to Middleboro – a pre-requisite for getting land into trust for their casino(that’s not coming). This is of course what CasinoFacts.Org has been saying ALL ALONG. At some point, will the selectmen recognize that the local opponents who are seeking to protect their community have been RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING and that the tribe, investors, and pro-casino interests have been WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING? Maybe they should start trying to leverage that expertise rather than trying to silence it and ignore it.

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Lynch’s work rebuts a report done for the tribe by Christine Grabowski, a New York-based consultant, that links the tribe to Middleboro based on ties to the Pokanoket tribe and modern links like the tribe’s use of Betty’s Neck in Lakeville as a spiritual sanctuary.

“They do not have any historical or cultural connections to the town of Middleboro and neither were they historically under the control of the Pokanoket Indians,” said Lynch, who has investigated Indian land claims across the country for surrounding towns and homeowners, including in his home state.

In a letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the federal agency considering the Mashpee tribe’s application to put 539 acres in Middleboro into federal trust for gaming, Halifax selectmen urge the BIA to reject the application based on Lynch’s research.

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This jibes completely with what I was told in Summer/2007 by the head of the Pokanoket tribe who sent a boat load of information to various officials and me. Coincidentally, my last post included a video of a Massachusett Indian testifying at the BIA hearing that the land was their land – not Mashpee.

The Mashpee should give up on the Middleboro land, focus on the Mashpee, and try to grow economic opportunity in Mashpee, slowly and in a considered fashion instead of trying to drop an economic Chernobyl on Middleboro.

On a partially related topic
As an aside, I would like to point something out about this article. Most people who write about the casino, and the indian component, lack the breadth and depth of knowledge of the details and often make minor factual mistakes that annoy me. For instance, reporters will report the Middleboro/Mashpee agreement as being worth $11M because that’s what the pro-casino people said initially. When we proved that up to half of the room tax would be lost due to comping, many reporters continued to report the incorrect figure. One of the common errors now is when they report that Carcieri v. Salazar prevents the tribe from getting land into trust. Note what Brennan/Vosk say:

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This report comes as the Mashpee tribe is already facing a significant hurdle to its application to put 539 acres of land into trust in Middleboro, as well as 140 acres in Mashpee. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling issued in February no longer gives the U.S. Department of the Interior the authority to take land into trust for tribes recognized after 1934, the year the Indian Reorganization Act went into effect, though Congressional leaders are considering possibly amending the law.

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That is 100% accurate. The decision prevents the SOI from taking land into trust. A subtle point but one that shows a thorough understanding of the issue.

Now, I have my doubts about Congress making a fix that the Mashpee will like, or ANY fix for that matter. I also have my doubts that any LIT action would survive a Constitutional challenge. But that’s all beside the point. It’s refreshing to see subtle but important points reported accurately.

This NPR podcast and this NYT article report on the closing of all Russian casinos:

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The government is shutting down every last legal casino and slot-machine parlor across the land, under an antivice plan promoted by Vladimir V. Putin that just a few months ago was widely perceived as far-fetched. But the result will be hundreds of thousands of people thrown out of work.

And in a move that at times seems to have taken on almost farcical overtones, the Kremlin has offered the gambling industry only one option for survival: relocate to four regions in remote areas of Russia, as many as 4,000 miles from the capital. The potential marketing slogans — Come to the Las Vegas of Siberia! Have a Ball near the North Korean Border! — may not sound inviting, but that is in part what the government envisions.

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Even in this economic climate, and Russia’s overall touch economy, Russia is shutting down an industry that brings in over a billion dollars in revenue because they recognize that the costs outweigh the benefits.

Maybe it was stories like this or this or this.

I knew there was something about those commies that was intriguing.

Indianz.com is reporting on a recent casualty of the Carcier v. Salazar decision that prevents the Secretary of the Interior from taking land into trust for tribes not recognized in 1934 like um,,,.. err.. ahh… the Mashpee Wampanaog who have applied to take Middleboro land into trust for the purposes of building a FIVE STAR RESORT(that happens to have a casino).

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Citing the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, the Bureau of Indian Affairs is delaying a decision on a land-into-trust application for the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians (UKB) of Oklahoma.

The tribe is a successor in interest to the historic Cherokee Nation, assistant secretary Larry EchoHawk said in a June 24 decision. The historic Cherokee Nation existed in 1934, the year at issue in the Supreme Court case.

But the UKB didn’t organize as a tribe until 1950 under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act, EchoHawk said. That raises questions about the ability of the Interior Department to acquire land in trust for the UKB, the decision stated.

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Is it sixty days yet?
When the tribe met with the Middleboro Board of Selectmen on April 13th, more than 70 days ago, they told the BOS that a Carcieri fix would be coming within 60 days.

There is no Carcieri fix in sight, Rep. Barney Frank has told the tribe emphatically and in-person that there would be no Carcieri fix.

As yet another inevitable timetable passes, I feel compelled to point out that we are now 8 months past Fearsome Ferson’s magical and ever sliding 18 month timeline for land into trust.

Meanwhile, the Middleboro BOS keep merrily planning for the casino, …. wait for it ….. wait for it …… patience …… that’s not coming.

Guess who
The BOS should consider waking up and talking to anti-casino people for accurate information about the state of this project. So far they’ve been listening to the tribe, investors, and pro-casino interests exclusively.

So here’s a quiz. What group in town has been consistently right about the Middleboro casino, the value of the deal, the prospects for it actually coming, and the effect on the community?

Hint – the answer is not the tribe, Sol Kerzener, the Casino/Middleboro Friends, or the Middleboro BOS.

Ever since the news that the Middleboro casino investors had stopped payments to the tribe, there have been a number of articles and blogs dissecting the information.

It’s funny how people read a news article and are affected in different ways. Whenever I see a news report that describes the agreement as being worth $11M, I go apoplectic. I took note while reading an Alice Elwell article that described Wayne Perkins as “a chief negotiator”. I wondered what Adam Bond would think of that. Apparently not much since he wrote a blog post that lambasted Wayne Perkins for his position that return of pre-payment monies is covered in the IGA(it’s not).

Personally I don’t think the tribe would come after the money, but I fully support the notion of getting it in writing. Why wouldn’t we?

Clyde … WTF!?
So clearly that “chief negotiator” thing got Adam’s panties in a twist and here’s something from a recent news article that bunched up my knickers:

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Casino gaming specialist Clyde Barrow, a professor at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth’s Center for Policy Analysis, still believes the deal the town cut for the casino is a good one.

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In June 2007, he described the first agreement this way:

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“It’s a bad deal for Middleboro, its residents and the town’s future tax base,”

My recommendation is that they go back to the drawing board,” he said. “Let the study committee do its work.”

If it does, he said, Middleboro might get a deal more like that negotiated in 2006 between the Narragansett Tribe and the Rhode Island town of West Warwick. That agreement would pay the town $14 million the first year, up to $21 million in the 10th year — all based on the tribe paying 2 percent of its gross revenue along with local property taxes and other local fees.

Middleboro’s deal, said Dr. Barrow, agrees that the tribe will put the casino land into trust, cutting the town (and state) off from regulating and taxing any of it.

“The land-in-trust issue has not been adequately explored other than through the spin coming from (tribe spokesman) Scott Ferson and (tribal chairman) Glenn Marshall,” said Dr. Barrow.

The state, he ventured, is leaning away from tribal land in trust and toward commercial casino ventures with Indian themes and ownership. So is the federal government, he added, because a proliferation of land-in-trust deals leaves casinos springing up anywhere.

He added that the federal approval of such an arrangement is unlikely; it has been granted in only three instances.

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So when did a “bad deal” become a “good one”. Granted that Barrows was talking about the first agreement, but the financials of the second one are very similar.

It just goes to show that you never know what will piss somebody off.

I talked about the first news report that seemed to indicate that the Mashpee Wampanoag were giving the Middleboro casino investors the boot. This is being played out in the media and in my opinion is a strategy to get a better deal or to engineer a debt forgiveness clause.

Turns out that’s not really the whole story.

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The revelations come at a time when investors have put the Wampanoag deal on hold. They’ve stopped making monthly payments for tribal operations as of May, citing unforeseen circumstances, Cromwell and Tobey said. The agreement provides a deadline — undisclosed in the redacted copy of the agreement obtained by the Times — for investors to back out if the tribe hasn’t fulfilled a requirement to put land into federal trust. A recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court has clouded the prospects of that happening.

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This wasn’t mentioned in the first breaking news reports. The investors have stopped giving money to the tribe. I can only think of one reason for them to do that – they don’t see a chance of the casino getting built. Maybe their Twin Rivers disaster is taking it’s toll.

The Middleboro Gambit
Maybe the Middleboro casino project was just a gambit to get concessions from Rhode Island for Twin Rivers. Kerzner etal have been pushing RI to lower the payments and Twin Rivers is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. They’ve also been bucking for permission to turn TR into a full blown resort(that happens to have a casino). They can certainly afford the chump change it took to buy the Mashpee Wampanoag and town of Middleboro. For pocket money, they got to buy into the longshot indian casino and use that fantasy to strongarm Rhode Island. It was a good idea but Rhode Island wasn’t that dumb.

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Investors control 539 acres in Middleboro, which the tribe has applied to put into trust. The tribe has never taken ownership of the land. As part of an agreement with the town, the developers make quarterly payments of $250,000 for planning purposes. The investors intend to make their next payment, Tobey said.

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That bears repeating: The tribe doesn’t own the land. Never did. I’m glad the investors “intend” to make their next payment. It’s mighty big of them to honor the agreement. I would suspect that the next payment, if it is made, will be the last.

Middleboro should do something smart …. for a change
Instead of doing something bordering on intelligent, Middleboro will continue to have our senior planner dedicated to the project and continue paying another to do her job. The planning money we’ve collected will continue to be wasted on the mythical resort(that happens to have a casino).

Middleboro should be working to get this land back. Of course our ever hopeful board of casino cheerleaders will be the very last to realize that this project has been essentially dead for at least 6 months if not longer. What town manager Cristello and the Board of Selectmen should be doing, is looking for the mechanism that would allow us to use the planning payments for something other than casino planning – and lobbying the investors(via the media) to return the land to us as payment for all the pain, havoc, and cost the town has endured for more than two years. If the land cannot be acquired for free, we could use the planning money for it. At that point, after doing a thorough environmental review for Striar residue, we should put a conservation restriction on it and keep it as open space.

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After putting the tribe’s payments on hold, investors asked Wampanoag leaders to reaffirm a 2006 development deal. On Wednesday night, the Tribal Council voted unanimously against upholding the terms.

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Given that the casino investors have stopped payments to the tribe, this sounds like the equivalent of “You can’t fire me … I quit”.

It certainly looks like the investors are trying to cut their losses. Surely they know that there is no chance of this project ever happening. I think Marsha, Pat, and Mimi are the only people on the planet that actually think this project is moving forward. A piece of land near the casino has gone up for sale recently. As I understand it, one prominent pro has an interest in that land. She seems to have seen the writing on the wall.

It’s deja-vu all over again
The article also reports that Marshall was advised that the deal with the investors was bad. Despite that advice, Marshall negotiated an agreement in just over a week. At the end of the day, the final Middleboro agreement didn’t take much more than that. There was ample warning that the Middleboro deal was insufficient and rushed. Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council vice chairman Aaron Tobey said of the tribe’s deal with the investors – “It was almost like it was more important to have a deal than to have a good deal,”. Maybe Marshall was fed a version of “sign now or else” like Middleboro was.

I hear you brother.

I expect that pretty soon we’ll start seeing a rewriting of the Middleboro casino project where the bad actors try to recast themselves as victims of unscrupulous investors. What we really had was a bunch of incompetents who try to rush through a bad deal, stifle public comment, and worse.

I’m confused by this report:

An Illinois Senate legislative committee on Friday advanced a measure to create four new casinos throughout the state.

Senate Bill 744 would authorize four riverboat casinos – a “mega-casino” in Chicago and new boats in Rockford, Waukegan and Danville.

The bill’s sponsor, Democratic Sen. Terry Link of Waukegan, said the measure would bring in money to help the state close its $11.6 billion deficit.

How come Illinois budget problems when they already have 9 casinos ?

Hint – Illinois: Take an honest look at the costs and subtract that value from the benefits.