ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
REEL WAMPS
WAMPALEAKS
GLADYS KRAVITZ
carverchick
Regulators want briefing on Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s casino status
By Colin A. Young / State House News Service
Posted Oct 24,2019
Gaming Commission appears in no hurry to act on Region C license.
BOSTON — Gaming regulators want to know the exact status of federal litigation around the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s quest to secure land in trust before making a decision about the state’s third casino license, although Gaming Commission members appeared in no rush Thursday to begin accepting applications for a Southeastern Massachusetts casino.
The state commission agreed to have its executive director and legal team work up a comprehensive briefing on the ongoing legal wrangling over the decision to grant the tribe land in trust, which was approved by the Obama administration but overturned and thrown into doubt by the Trump administration. The tribe planned to build its $1 billion First Light Resort and Casino on tribal land in Taunton, a project that would have a significant impact on the state’s commercial casino industry.
“The commission’s staff, our legal department, have been following the status of the federal legislation and litigation that relates particularly to the complicated tribal matter ... I think it’s probably a good time to actually update us more formally through a memorandum. It’s very complicated,” Chairwoman Cathy Judd-Stein said. “I do think probably that needs to be formalized, because it’s an important part of the overall Region C evaluation and discussion.”
The uncertainty of Region C — the commission’s name for Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket counties — has been an issue for years. In 2016, when it appeared a tribal casino in Taunton was likely, regulators rejected a proposal for a commercial casino in Brockton. A federal judge’s ruling later that year nullified the decision to grant the Wampanoag a 320-acre reservation on which the tribe planned to construct a resort casino, and President Donald Trump’s administration last year officially reversed the Obama-era declaration.
Since then, the tribe’s efforts to secure its land-in-trust status have been tied up in federal court. U.S. Rep. William Keating, who represents Mashpee, has pushed legislation that would use the power of Congress to reaffirm the 2015 decision by the Interior Department to take land into trust for the tribe, though Trump has opposed it.
On Thursday, Sen. Marc Pacheco told the commission he has been trying to get clarity on where things stand with the tribe’s legal battles and the congressional efforts to address its concerns.
“I made a call before I came over to try to figure out what was happening at the federal level, and my sources tell me we probably won’t know too much until the end of the year,” Pacheco said.
Pacheco, who lives in and represents the city where the tribe hopes to build its casino, said he supports the commission’s plan to gather more information before making a decision one way or the other.
“I’m here to ask the commission to continue with your thoughtful deliberation about everything that is going on and to not make a decision, even though it may be in our best interest, because it’s within your jurisdiction under existing law to go out for a commercial casino if the commission chooses to,” he said. “If I know that there is absolutely no way that a Native American casino can come to be in Region C, I’d be one of the first people here to urge you to do so. But if that uncertainty still looms out there at any level, it will have a significant effect on those that even bid.”
The concern, as expressed by Pacheco and others, is that commercial casino operators might not be willing to invest the minimum $500 million in a project that would have to compete with a nearby tribal casino. If the Gaming Commission opts to go ahead with licensing a commercial casino in Region C and the tribe is allowed to open its own casino under federal law, Massachusetts would receive no tax revenue from the tribal casino.
Although the commission took no formal vote related to Region C, the decision to seek more information suggested it is in no hurry to make a ruling on the one remaining casino license.
Commissioner Enrique Zuniga stressed that it will be crucial for the commission to conduct its own economic analysis of the Region C market, noting that the two resort casinos that already have opened in other regions of the state are coming up short of their own revenue projections.
“I currently feel no sense of urgency ... if we have not seen the levels that the applicants themselves predicted, because they did predict certain revenues from year one and they’re not currently seeing those revenues,” Zuniga said. “I would rather, frankly, see how it goes, do more analysis and understand better how they’re competing in the market. It’s early, in my opinion.”
A spokeswoman for the Mashpee tribe did not respond to a request for comment Thursday night.
Federal investigations stop everything
Cedric was not alone in selling us out. His Council cronies voted with him on every money transfer and bad deal ever made.
The tribe’s outside auditors had some bad news for the Council. They were not able to complete their audit because of the federal grand jury investigation. The current Treasurer, Gordon Harris, former treasurer Robbie Hendricks and according to our sources Cromwell business partner and former treasurer Mark Harding have all been subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury and it has possession of tribal financial records. The auditors do not have access to those documents. And the auditors querries got a donut from the feds
IT GOT WORSE
That tricky Gaming Commission. It was a dumping ground for millions of dollars each month. NO ONE EVER KNEW WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT MONEY or How it was spent.
So now the bill comes due. The auditors couldn’t get much intell out of the feds…actually nothing. But they
Yvonne, 30 years a council member never used her education or experience to help. Her silence was lethal as ever. Slithering into her hiding place like an eel.
know about these things. There’s a clause in the financial agreement with the investors that says that if there’s “bad faith” actions (and the auditor put it like this) :
” I’m not saying it happened, but let’s just say someone in the gaming commission took between $100,000 and $1m….then the tribal assets are at risk.”
That means what land we own etc. would go to Genting for payment. A drop in the bucket compared to what we owe them. Cedric and his ouncil Cronies knew about the fine print so why didn’t the tribal attorneys or any of them tell us? Well, they had to keep getting that money…at any cost.
So now we’re in a really bad place. Reel Wamps has to confess that pounding on Cedric Cromwell was not
enough. He didn’t create this horror show alone. He had a lot of help from the Council cronies. A really sorry lot. Jess$e Big Doe and Mark(ie) Poo Harding leading the parade. The ancestors are spinning in their graves. Everything Cedric did came with their vote of approval. Their complicity was tantamount to their participating in the felony murder of the Tribe. Just because you didn’t pull the trigger does not absolve the guilt. You must have proof that you tried to stop the crime. They were cowards all the way. They should be held accountable.
If we know the feds do too.
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