November 19, 2010
Mr. Paterson and the (Latest) Casino
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Gov. David Paterson of New York has only a few weeks left in office. But that hasn’t stopped him from making a bad deal with an out-of-state Indian tribe to build a casino in the Catskills.

Mr. Paterson clearly hasn’t learned enough from his disappointing tenure. The deal was mostly done in secret. Never mind that less than a month ago, the state’s inspector general issued a scathing report on the haphazard way a company was chosen to create another gambling facility at the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens.

The governor, who was accused of basically handing off that decision to incompetent Democratic leaders in the State Senate, had to rescind the selection. That should not give anybody confidence in this new deal.

The agreement is supposed to get the Stockbridge-Munsee, a Wisconsin-based tribe, to drop its claims against New York State lands. In return, New York would support the tribe’s application to convert 330 acres to tribal territory to build the 584,000-square-foot casino. Under the deal, the tribe would pay the state and local community far less than nontribal casinos and certainly not enough to cover the social damage gambling leaves in its wake.

The location, 90 miles from New York City, means the new casino would compete for patrons with gambling operations in Monticello and Yonkers and the yet-to-be remodeled Aqueduct “racino.” Other New York-based tribes that have been looking for similar land swaps are furious.

Environmentalists have also vowed to fight the construction. The Natural Resources Defense Council has warned of “a dramatic spike” in air and water pollution in “one of the most important freshwater ecosystems” in the country.

The deal will need a revised environmental impact statement and approval from the federal Interior Department. And it will almost certainly go through the courts. Those hurdles are really the only good news about this whole last-minute Catskill deal from a departing Governor Paterson.

Gov. David Paterson, Stockbridge-Munsee band eye $700 million Catskills casino, end of land claim in Madison County
Syracuse.com, Wednesday, November 17, 2010, 7:16 PM
Staff writer Mike McAndrew and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Syracuse, NY - Gov. David Paterson confirmed today he is working to reach an agreement to approve construction of an Indian-owned casino in the Catskills that would settle a Wisconsin-based tribe’s land claim in Madison County.

The potential deal with the Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohicans would allow a $700 million casino to be built in Sullivan County, provide millions in annual revenue to New York, and $15 million per year to Sullivan County.

In exchange, the Stockbridge-Munsee band would end its suit over 23,000 acres in Madison County, including most of the town of Stockbridge and small portions of neighboring towns.

The Stockbridge-Munsee would continue to own nearly 2 acres of park land in Madison County, said Kimberly Vele, the tribe’s president, in a statement.

The band now owns 122 acres on West Road in the town of Stockbridge.

Paterson and other officials, including U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, are planning to be in Sullivan County Monday to announce the signing of a state compact with the Stockbridge Munsee band.

A casino would bring jobs to the economically depressed area, and hundreds of millions of dollars a year to the cash-strapped state, but it faces significant federal and legal hurdles, including opposition from American Indian tribes in New York.

Three consecutive governors have failed to get Indian-owned casinos built in the Catskills during the past decade.

The Oneida Indian Nation of New York, which has argued in court that the Stockbridge-Munsee band has no right to land in Central New York, is already objecting to Paterson’s casino plan.

“We, and presumably every other Indian nation, were stunned to learn that the state of New York would invite an out-of-state tribe into the state to conduct gaming, which means that all of the profits will be drained from New York and returned to their home in Wisconsin,” said Mark Emery, a spokesman for the Oneida Indian Nation, which operates Turning Stone Casino in Verona.

“The idea that the state was settling a Stockbridge land claim is laughable, as the claim relates to Oneida Nation homelands and nobody honestly believes the Stockbridge ever had a legitimate claim here,” Emery said.

Several substantial issues would have to be addressed before Paterson could seal a deal by the time he leaves office Dec. 31. The federal government would have to give its approval for an out-of-state tribe to build a casino in New York.

In 2008, the U.S. Interior Department rejected applications by the the Stockbridge-Munsee band and the St. Regis Mohawk Nation to build casinos in Sullivan County, despite then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer backing the plans. It ruled the Catskills site was too far from the tribe’s territories.

The federal Indian gaming act does allow the Interior Department to approve casinos as part of a settlement of a land claim case.

In recent years, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. District Court judges dealt serious blows to land claims filed by New York tribes.

The 2nd Circuit dismissed the Cayuga Indian Nation’s claim in 2005. Earlier this year, District Court Judge Lawrence Kahn dismissed suits by the Oneida Indian Nation of New York and the Onondaga Nation.

Kahn put the Stockbridge-Munsee’s land claim on hold pending the outcome of the Oneida Indian Nation’s appeal.

“The fight isn’t done yet,” said attorney Don Miller of Boulder, Colo., who represents the Stockbridge-Munsee band. “The state still has substantial litigation exposure in all of these cases.”

Contact Mike McAndrew at mmcandrew@syracuse.com or 470-3016.

Paterson: NY near Catskill casino deal
Wall Street Journal, Nov. 16, 2010
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ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. David Paterson confirmed Tuesday that he is working to reach an agreement to approve construction of an Indian-owned casino in the Catskills.

The potential deal would allow a casino to be built in Sullivan County as part of a land claim settlement with the Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohicans. The Wisconsin-based tribe has long considered the Catskills their ancestral land.

A casino would bring jobs to the economically depressed area, and hundreds of millions of dollars a year to the cash-strapped state.

The idea, however, faces significant federal and legal hurdles and has eluded agreement for more than a decade.

"The Paterson administration is working to reach an agreement with the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, Band of Mohican Indians, the secretary of the interior and a number of local governments to resolve a long-standing land claim," said Paterson's acting communications director, Jessica Bassett. "This agreement would clear the way to bringing much needed economic development to Sullivan County.

Several substantial issues would have to be addressed before Paterson could seal a deal by the time he leaves office Dec. 31. For example, the federal government would have to give its approval for an out-of-state tribe to build a casino in New York. The federal government also would have to decide if a tribe should be allowed to build a casino on land it owns, but which isn't part of a reservation.

Still, the allure of a full casino in the once-thriving resort area within driving distance of Manhattan has kept the idea alive. The Catskills' storied history as the Borscht Belt that attracted top comedy and musical acts has since been replaced for New Yorkers by casinos in Atlantic City and Indian casinos in Connecticut.

"We, and presumably every other Indian nation, were stunned to learn that the state of New York would invite an out-of-state tribe into the state to conduct gaming, which means that all of the profits will be drained from New York and returned to their home in Wisconsin," said Mark Emery of the Oneida Indian Nation in Central New York.

"The idea that the state was settling a Stockbridge land claim is laughable, as the claim relates to Oneida Nation homelands and nobody honestly believes the Stockbridge ever had a legitimate claim here," Emery said.

Paterson's stepped-up effort was first reported by The Buffalo News.