Latest Indian Decision Worries Connecticut

By John Christoffersen

Associated Press

The federal government’s decision to recognize the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation as a fourth Indian tribe in Connecticut has some worried the state may change into a gambling mecca in the Northeast and lose its cherished tradition of local control.

“It would just change our town entirely,” said Dolores Schiesel, the first selectman of Kent, a bucolic town of 3,000 where the tribe has its reservation. “We feel it’s changing the face of Connecticut dramatically. All of a sudden we’re a state where our whole economy is premised on gambling.”

Federal recognition gives the Schaghticokes the right to negotiate a gaming compact with the state, and the tribe has expressed interest in developing a casino in western Connecticut.

Three southeastern Connecticut tribes have federal recognition. Two of them, the Mashantucket Pequots and the Mohegans, own very successful casinos. The third, the Eastern Pequots, received recognition in June 2002; the state is appealing that decision and plans to appeal the Schaghticoke ruling.

Jeff Benedict, president of the Connecticut Alliance Against Casino Expansion and author of a book critical of the Pequots, said his group is planning a series of forums in Fairfield County to fight the possible casinos. Mr Benedict said gambling creates a host of problems, including addictions, more crime, and traffic.

If more casinos are built in Connecticut, he said, “I think this state becomes Las Vegas East. This is the place you go to gamble east of the Mississippi. That’s a course of self-destruction.”

But others note that the two tribal casinos, the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino, have poured billions of dollars into the state’s treasury and created thousands of jobs at a time when southeastern Connecticut badly needed them.

Schaghticoke Chief Richard Velky said a casino could generate thousands of jobs and economically boost an urban area depressed by loss of factories and state neglect.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who has opposed recognition for the Schaghticokes and other tribes, agreed that the existing casinos have generated substantial jobs and taxes.

He contends, however, that the Schaghticokes did not meet the government’s criteria for recognition.

“Federal recognition of a tribe has profound and far-reaching ramifications,” Mr Blumenthal said.

Marc Ryan, Gov John G. Rowland’s budget director, said one of those ramifications could be the loss of revenues from the state’s two existing casinos. That is because the state would have to reopen its current gaming compact with the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans, which guarantees Connecticut 25 percent of all slot machine revenue.

“They may try to negotiate down the percentage,” he said.

Mr Blumenthal said the state’s appeal and other issues will likely take years to resolve and delay any new casinos.

Last January the legislature repealed the state’s Las Vegas Nights law, which was used by the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes to open their casinos. Supporters of the repeal said eliminating the law could block attempts to build a third gambling facility.

Mr Rowland said he thought the law would hold up if appealed.

“We do have the rights to set our own laws and regulations here in the state of Connecticut,” Mr Rowland said.

With federal recognition, the Schaghticokes will seek to expand their 400-acre reservation by annexing 2,200 adjacent acres.

Velky has said the additional land is not meant for a casino, but would allow 315 tribal members who are scattered across Connecticut to finally assemble in one place.

“We will gather when we please in our sovereign land,” he said.

Connecticut has a strong tradition of home rule, with no county government. Tribal recognition creates entities not subject to local taxation, zoning, and other regulations.

The BIA decision recognizing the Schaghticokes has buoyed the hopes of other tribes seeking recognition. Golden Hill Paugussett Chief Quiet Hawk said Friday he is more confident his tribe will be successful after the decision on the Schaghticokes.

The Paugussetts want to open a casino in Bridgeport, which has expressed interest in a casino as a way to bolster its economy.

Two bands of Nipmuc Indians from Massachusetts — the Chaubaunagungamaug and Hassanamisco — are expecting a decision on recognition in April. The groups were rejected in a preliminary decision, but have submitted additional information.

Mr Rowland again on Friday promised to work with Mr Blumenthal to “do all we can” to appeal the decision.

“It is going to be difficult for them in the short term to bring a casino to the state of Connecticut,” he said.

(Associated Press writers Noreen Gillespie, Susan Haigh, and Donna Tommelleo contributed to this report. )