Bellicose Bumpkin

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.
.
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:

---

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.’’

---

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.
.
Dear Cedric,
.
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
As Englebert Humperdinck(love that name) said – “Please release me, let me go”
.
Sincerely,
.
Mark Belanger (call me – we’ll do lunch)

From the Middleboro Board of Selectmen meeting of 2/22/2010 – town manager Charles Cristello reads the draft of a letter to the Mashpee Wampanoag. The letter is prompted by reports that the tribe has been fishing around the Freetown/Fall River area for a new casino location. It’s pretty common knowledge that the sovereign casino in Middleboro is doubtful at best and most likely impossible. It is also obvious to most that the amount of infrastructure required for the Middleboro location makes the project a non-starter.

The tone of the letter is more forceful than past communications which have been mostly fawning and ineffectual. In a subsequent post I will include video of the BOS and public discussion.

Interesting Globe article about a Wampanoag tribal member who sent a letter in support of Cape Wind and called the Mashpee/Aquinna opposition a “fabricated cosmology”. Remember that the Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag, who have no issue with mega-casinos, are opposing Cape Wind on the grounds that their sacred ceremonies require an unobstructed view of the sunrise – a premise that has been questioned before. An excerpt of the letter appears in the article:

---

Jeffrey Madison, a Martha’s Vineyard lawyer, wrote in a Feb. 9 letter to US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that his father and grandfather were both medicine men of the tribe and “I am stating to you with complete honesty and knowledge that I never participated in, witnessed, or even heard of a sacred spot on the horizon that is relevant to any Aquinnah Wampanoag culture, history or ceremony. Nor did I see, or hear, either my father or grandfather conduct such ceremony.”
.
Madison also submitted a petition to Salazar with eight signatures of other Wampanoag tribal members, saying they did not believe the wind turbines would “materially interfere with any significant cultural activity.”
.
Critics of the project immediately challenged Madison’s claim because the firm he works for, Wynn & Wynn, was hired about two months ago to help strike a compromise with the tribes.

---

My religion – the worship of nature requires that my town of Middleboro not be marred by a towering hotel/casino. Can I get the same consideration that the Mashpee want for the their view of the Nantucket Sound?

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.
.
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:

---

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.

---

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.
.
As far as how this will affect Middleboro and the area:

---

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.”

---

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:

---

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.

---

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:

---

“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.

---

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.

---

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.
.
“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.

---

Imagine an indian tribe wanting to do an environmentally responsible project??? I’m sure the Mashpee would call that crazy talk.
.
Interesting development.
.
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.
.
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.
.
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:

---

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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
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
.
If the tribe kills Cape Wind and stops the state from prospering, the state will stop the tribe from propering.
.

---

Hopefully some of my Wampanaog readers can fill in the blanks about how their Indian traditions fit in with their Christian ones.

The REELWamps blog is a really interesting read. Funny, biting, and informative – or at least speculative. Today it had this interesting blurb:

---

—The Cromwell Crew asked the people of Middleboro to do a fundraiser for the Medicine Man very recently.(Wonder where that money would go?) The Administration cannot raise money for the Medicine Man in Mashpee. The tribe paid the $500 fee for a very short event that was held at Sons Of Italy because it was poorly attended and they could not cover the cost of the event.

---

I’d love to know more information about this potential fundraiser. Who was asked to run it? Why is a fundraiser needed? Has it been planned yet? When is it?

Despite my issues with tribal leadership and the Middleboro casino project in general, I’ve never had an issue with the rank and file tribal members. I’m sure many pro-community people like myself would be interested in this event, fundraiser, or whatever.

From the Cape Cod Times

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

I regularly read the REELWamps blog. It appears to be written by one or two Mashpee Wampanoag members and is highly critical of the Cromwell-led tribal council. You can never be sure with a blog just how much is accurate – hey look at mine – but two recent protests by tribal elders seem to corroborate some of the complaints I’ve seen on the blog. They run the gamut from mismanagement, misuse of tribal money, cronyism, and more.

---

Nine tribe elders staged a sit-in at Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Headquarters yesterday, a second attempt in as many days to get answers about how the tribe’s money is spent.

---

The REELWamps blog includes a time line of the protests along with some rather unflattering inside information.

All this stuff is relevant to our Middleboro casino – since the tribe’s financial condition and relationship with their investors has a direct impact on the casino project. I also find it personally interesting to see how a blog and newspaper will report on the same events. While I wouldn’t necessarily believe everything I read in a blog, they often give an untold part of the story or add nuance to an issue.

Just as some Mashpee have issues with their leaders, the same is true in Middleboro. There is another similarity. These same Mashpee have issues with their tribal website – which is light years ahead of Middleboro’s. The blog describes it as the horrible embarrassing website that frightens people with the attacking turtle.. Not quite as catchy as PTWS but pretty funny.

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.

---

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.

---

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:

---

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.

---

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.

The Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag are objecting to Cape Wind saying that they are “frustrated in their attempts to protect what they consider a sacred site”.

And from the “How do you like it” department:

---

They say the U.S. Minerals Management Service, the lead agency reviewing the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm, hasn’t fully considered issues raised by the tribe and is trying to rush them into signing off on the project.

“MMS has failed its trust responsibility,” said Cedric Cromwell, chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council.

---

Apparently, it was OK with Cedric when a convicted felon came to Middleboro and rushed us into signing off on his project – the Middleboro casino.

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander Cedric.

I find Mashpee opposition to a green project out in the middle of the ocean to be disingenuous at best. Meanwhile, the Mashpee have no issue whatsoever with a casino, the social problems they bring, the destruction of woodland, and other environmental issues. It was at the insistence of the Mashpee that a requirement for green building was removed from the IGA in favor of weak language that they would try to use green technology.

I think Dreaming Bear pointed out these inconsistencies far more eloquently than I ever could when he spoke at the BIA hearing.

If you think local Middleboro bloggers are tough on the selectmen, you should check out the REELWamps blog. I have no clue who writes it but he or she regularly takes the tribal council to the woodshed for a good ‘ole fashioned Internet whoopin. Recent posts have suggested that the casino investors have cut off payments to the tribe because they disapprove of the Cromwell regime. Who knows.

I’m sure some of it is wrong but no doubt some is accurate. Either way I find it a fascinating glimpse into the dissatisfaction of at least one tribal member.

As an aside, most of the criticism of local bloggers has been overblown exaggeration designed to discredit the message and the messengers – essentially an extension of the magic casino campaign. I’m sure REELWamp gets similar bad press from his/her peers. Judging by the take-no-prisoners style of his writing, I’m sure he/she couldn’t care less.

I came across a blog whose author bills himself as “An elder Mashpee Wampanoag Traditionalist who loves the real tribal members and knows who they are”.

The blog has some hair-raising things to say about the newly elected members of the tribal council.

Read for yourself.

Congratulations Amelia etal. Vindication is sweet.

From the excellent Cape Cod Times:

---

Two Mashpee Wampanoag tribe leaders were placed on paid administrative leave and the shunning of four tribe members was lifted at an emergency meeting of the tribal council last night.

Shawn Hendricks, the Mashpee Wampanoag chairman, and tribal secretary Desire Hendricks Moreno, were placed on leave effective Monday while the council investigates possible violations of their fiduciary responsibilities, according to tribal council member Aaron Tobey.

The personnel moves come amid scandal swirling around the tribe as former chairman Glenn Marshall prepares to plead guilty this month in federal court to political corruption and fraud charges.

The shunning of tribe members Amelia Bingham, her son, Stephen, Stephanie Tobey-Roderick and Michelle Fernandes was also rescinded immediately.

Seven tribal council members attended last night’s meeting, with six voting in favor of the two motions.

Hendricks and Moreno were not at the meeting.

---

Kudos for lifting the shunning – it’s about damn time. Casino or no casino, every group of people deserve good leadership.

Great article in the Cape Cod Times about the Mashpee Wampanoag and how they spend the money they receive from the casino investors – around $4M for FY2008. Boy those investors are going to be pissed when they figure out that there is no casino coming to Middleboro.

The article is well worth reading – but there was one thing that confused me:

---

“The investors are paying for people to speak for the tribe,” said Steven Bingham, a tribe member shunned after he filed suit seeking financial records. “The investors are controlling the tribe.”

Stephen Graham, who has been described as a consultant for the tribe and who is listed as a federal lobbyist for the Wampanoag Tribal Council, brought in $182,000 in 2008. But Graham did not disclose any income from the tribe as a lobbyist, according to federal records.

Graham did not return a call seeking comment. Andrews, in her capacity as spokeswoman, refused to comment.

---

So what does that mean? That the $182K is a consulting fee and not a lobbying fee? And what’s up with the tribal spokeswoman refusing to comment? Did anyone tell her that being tribal spokeswoman involves speaking? All very confusing.

Here are come more figures from the article

---

• Cornerstone $126,792
  
• Altoria $101,924
  
• Liberty Square Group $156,565 Is that all Scott? You’re worth twice that in comedic value alone
  
• Quinn & Morris $216,000
  
• Sher & Blackwell $60,020
  
• Sonosky, Chambers $206,512
  
• Hobbs, Straus $208,516
  
• NARF $281,824
  
• Stephen Graham $181,672
  
• Sullivan & McDermott $147,067
  
• Hendricks Enterprises $70,220 Any relation to Shawn?
  
• Weetompain Inc. $377,600 Headed by spokeswoman Gayle Andrews
  
• Grosser & Mulligan $65,347

---

The Globe’s Sean Murphy has an interesting article about William A. McDermott Jr. – a Boston lawyer and political operator who seems to be one of the people pulling the strings of the Mashpee Wampanoag in their quest to ruin Middleboro and S.E. Massachusetts with a casino.

The article identifies McDermott as the force behind the tribe’s constitution, the removal of Paula Peters from the ballot for Tribal Chairman(an election she almost won anyway), and the shunning of Amelia Bingham.

---

He helped the tribe stay on the path to toward a casino in 2005, when tribal member Paula Peters, a casino skeptic, declared herself a candidate for the post of tribal chairwoman.

Detroit businessman Herbert Strather, who at the time was the primary outside investor in the casino deal, worried in a letter to the tribe that his team would be unable to work with Peters.

McDermott found a way to scuttle her bid.

Using his knowledge of the tribal constitution that he had written, he made the case that Peters could not prove she attended prior tribal council meetings. On the technicality, her name was removed from the ballot five days before the election.

Peter’s lawyer said she had been “ambushed.” But the casino investors were satisfied.

In 2006, tribal members Amelia and Stephen Bingham sued the tribe in Barnstable Superior Court for access to records of the tribe’s deal with the developers. A state court judge ruled he had no authority in the affairs of a sovereign Indian nation. The records remained out of public view.

Even in victory, however, McDermott wrote to the tribe’s chairman explaining the tribal council could forbid Bingham, 85, and her son, Stephen, from voting, running for office, attending meetings – even going to the annual powwow, the biggest social event of the year.

When 100 tribe members voted to rescind the shunning order, McDermott said that was not permitted under the constitution, calling such a vote an impermissible challenge to the tribe’s “political integrity.”

---

Given the leadership problems this tribe has had and all the outside influences of investors and Boston political insiders, I’m sure Governor Patrick is very enthusiastic about letting this group operate an essentially unregulated billion dollar enterprise.

One of the things that really sticks in my craw is the shunning of Amelia Bingham. Bingham and others were shunned – forbidden from participating in their tribe – for having the unmitigated gall to ask their leaders about agreements the tribe had with outside investors. When did it become OK to have a government that wasn’t answerable to the people they purport to govern? After Marshall’s fall from grace, more than 100 tribal members voted to undo the shunning. Despite the fact that the shunning is clearly unpopular within the tribe, it has not been rescinded and is indefensible in my mind.

With all the posts I’ve made about Amelia Bingham, you might think she is anti-casino. Not so. She is not against economic opportunity for the tribe, she just wants the tribe to have full knowledge of their economic agreements and doesn’t want non-tribal interests controlling the tribe.

From the Cape Cod Times:

---

The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe has attempted to distance itself from the Jack Abramoff scandal over the past three years, but the latest indictment in the wide-reaching federal probe hits closer to home.

Kevin Ring, a former Abramoff associate who lobbied for the tribe for years, pleaded not guilty this week to charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and fraud.

Ring is accused of conspiring with Abramoff to obtain benefits, financial and otherwise, for himself and his clients through corrupt means, including providing gifts to public officials, according to the indictment, unsealed Monday.

---

Here is another article from the Washington Post.

I went looking at lobbyists for the Tribe. Here are the federal lobbyists according to opensecrets.org:

2000 – Steptoe & Johnson, Zane & Assoc
2001 – Steptoe & Johnson, Zane & Assoc
2002 – Graham, Stephen J
2003 – Graham, Stephen J, Greenberg Traurig LLP, Steptoe & Johnson
2004 – Graham, Stephen J, Greenberg Traurig LLP
2005 – Barnes & Thornburg, Cornerstone Government Affairs, Graham, Stephen J
2006 – Barnes & Thornburg, Cornerstone Government Affairs, Graham, Stephen J, Sher & Blackwell
2007 – No info available
2008 – Cornerstone Government Affairs, Graham, Stephen J, Hobbs, Straus et al, Sher & Blackwell

It looks to me like Kevin Ring worked on Team Abramoff at Greenberg Traurig until 2005 when he went to Barnes & Thornburg. You can see that the list of Wampanoag lobbyists tracks with this move.

Something I found curious: One name that keeps popping up as a lobbyist for the Mashpee Wampanoag is Stephen J. Graham but the web site shows him being paid $0. Is this a normal thing in lobbying circles? Curious. Does anyone know who this guy is and what is his arrangement with the Tribe?

The Cape Cod Times reports:

---

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe members held a march and gathering yesterday afternoon in a show of support for shunned tribe members.

More than 20 people showed up for yesterday’s event, with about half making the 1½-mile walk from Mashpee town park to the Old Indian Buria

---

Back in January

---

Members of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe yesterday voted overwhelmingly to rescind the shunning of four members, according to tribe members.

---

This is the sort of thing that makes tribal leadership look exceeding bad (along with rape, lying, steroid usage, and restraining orders). These four members were stripped of their tribal rights because they asked to see the agreements the tribe had with casino investors and eventually filed suit.

So come on Shawn Hendricks. Your members want this questionable shunning to be removed. What better time to do it with the Pow-wow coming up? Do the right thing. How is it that Glenn Marshall is not shunned but Amelia Bingham is?

And tell Scott Ferson(still waiting to do lunch Scott) that CFO has no plans to protest the powwow … just like we had no plans to do it last year.

From the Cape Cod Times:

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council chairman Shawn Hendricks is no longer prohibited from seeing his estranged wife and children after a probate court judge vacated a June 12 restraining order.

Hendricks’ clean criminal history was cited as the reason for yesterday’s decision.

In his testimony during the hearing in Barnstable Probate and Family Court, however, Hendricks admitted to using steroids in the past and to a tug-of-war battle over his young son on a baseball field earlier this month.

Married for 16 years, the Hendrickses have been separated since early April, and Elizabeth Hendricks has filed for divorce.

In court yesterday, she spoke of her husband’s violent temper, which she says escalated over the past three years, and even more so since he stepped into the role of tribal council chairman last August when his mentor, Glenn Marshall, was forced to resign.

Federal investigators launched a probe into the finances of Marshall, Hendricks and other tribal council leaders shortly after Marshall stepped down.

“It’ll be a spur-of-the-moment rage that he’ll burst into,” Elizabeth said. “Most of his (anger) is directed toward me.”

When her attorney, Stephen Swaye of New Bedford, asked her how she felt about that, she said “scared to death.”

In his testimony, Hendricks denied directing his anger toward his wife or children, but when pressed, admitted to smashing his arm through a glass door during a fight with his wife.

Elizabeth Hendricks was granted the restraining order after a June 6 incident at a baseball field; she accused her husband of screaming profanity and threatening that “I couldn’t touch him but he could hurt me,” according to her affidavit.

The Cape Cod Time is reporting that the wife of Tribal Chairman Shawn Hendricks has taken out a restraining order that requires Hendricks to stay away from her and their three children.

---

“My husband is a fourth-degree black belt and has firearms,” she wrote in an affidavit with her restraining order filing. “He has a very bad temper toward me and enjoys intimidating me.”

She also alleges Hendricks uses anabolic steroids and provides details of his allegedly violent tendencies, from throwing a plate of food at her to putting his arm through a glass door.

---

Divorces are notoriously messy things but if the allegations are true, this tribe needs to do some soul-searching.

Steroids + Firearms + Temper + Karate = Yikes?
Running a casino like the one being planned for Middleboro is serious business. As with any venture that involves large sums of money and inusfficient oversight, the potential for wrongdoing is huge. Middleboro needs a partner it can depend on and trust. First we were sent a convicted rapist and serial liar in Glenn Marshall. Now, if the Mrs. Hendricks charges are true, we have a gun-toting blackbelt with a foul temper who’s all jacked up on mood altering steroids. He sounds like an anti-hero from some bad action movie.

But this is not a movie. If these allegations are true, Middleboro and the region have to be very concerned about the inability of this tribe to put solid leadership in place. If the tribe is sending us people like Marshall at a time when they really need to be on their best behavior – what is going to happen when they are flush with cash, operating on sovereign land, and beholden to no one?

At this time I will point out that nothing has been proven and Hendricks has not been convicted of anything. But I have to believe that restraining orders are not given out lightly, and I think Middleboro needs to be concerned about the leadership track record of this tribe.