U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has sponsored legislation that would allow the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe to move forward with the $1 billion First Light Casino and Resort in Taunton that it had started building before a federal judge halted it.
Critics accuse the senator, who is on any number of short lists for the Democratic presidential sweepstakes in two years, of trying to repair her relations with tribes that have occasionally been strained by her claims many years ago that she has Indian lineage but has been unable to provide any proof of.
Her ancestry has prompted President Trump to refer to her as “Fauxcahontas” wordplay on the historical figure Pocahontas who played a pivotal role in the founding of the Plymouth colony in 1620.
According to speculation the senator’s bill is an effort to put this controversy behind her before the 2020 election preliminaries begin.
The 2,600 member Mashpee tribe achieved federal recognition several years ago, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs action that put its land in Taunton into trust was challenged by residents of East Taunton. A federal judge ruled that the land into trust decision was flawed and ordered the BIA to find a different legal route to put the land into trust. It has, so far, been unable to do so, and the land in Taunton lies fallow, while the tribe’s debt to the Genting Group has grown to $400 million, which it has no way of repaying. If the project is allowed to go forward Genting would make its money back through a management contract.
Sponsoring the Mashpee bill is a somewhat unusual turn for the senator, who has previously opposed gaming. In 2014 she commented “For me personally, based on 25 years of work I’ve done with these families, I just can’t support it.”
In a joint comment issued by Senator Ed Markey, the co-sponsor, the senators stated “Our bill is about recognizing the Mashpee Wampanoag tribal homelands and the tribe’s right to keep their reservation. The federal government should not renege on yet another deal with Native Americans.”
