Plaintiffs who have sued the Bureau of Indian Affairs over its decision to put land into trust for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts are objecting to allowing the actual target of their lawsuit to join it as defendants.
Last week attorneys for the 25 residents of East Taunton filed papers arguing that the Mashpees had been real if not official participants in the case, but from the sidelines, fighting the legal battle in the newspapers and airwaves, if not in court.
Lead plaintiff Michelle Littlefield declared last week, “The tribe made a tactical decision to stay out of the litigation that they now regret.”
The court filing states: “During that time, the Tribe aggressively advanced its casino interests by engaging in a highly-publicized ground breaking ceremony (April 5, 2016) and brazenly declaring that ‘no federal lawsuit will stop this project,’”
In July U.S. District Court Judge William Young ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, stating that the Bureau used faulty reasoning when it put 300 acres, including 151 acres in Taunton, into trust for the tribe so that it could build the First Light Resort & Casino.
The judge wrote that the Bureau of the Department of the Interior didn’t take into account the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2009 ruling in Carcieri v. Salazar that held that under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 that tribes not recognized as being under the authority of the federal government at the time of the act cannot put land into trust. The Mashpees obtained official recognition in 2007.
The plaintiffs argue that the U.S. Department of Justice, which has joined the suit, is capable of protecting the interests of the tribe.
The tribe has said that the federal government has its own interests and those are not necessarily those of the tribe, which is why it needs to be party to the suit.
Although the tribe broke ground on its $1 billion casino in April and had planned to open it a year later, the plans are now largely dead in the water, although its backer, the Genting Group, has so far remained rock solid in its support of the tribe, at least publically.
And the tribe isn’t alone in being frustrated.
Metro South Chamber of Commerce CEO Christopher Cooney told the Boston Globe last week, “We’ve been talking about getting a casino in this region for more than 25 years, and all of a sudden we’re the region that doesn’t have anything.” He added, “It’s extremely frustrating.”
In April the Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted against giving a license for the southeastern gaming region to a $677 million proposal for Brockton, in large part because the Taunton Indian casino was seen as filling that role. The action in effect granted the tribe exclusive rights to the region. Judge Young’s ruling throws that decision to the winds now since the tribe could be facing years of litigation before the question is finally decided.
Because of that, Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter said last week that the MGC should reopen the issue of the Brockton casino. He told the Boston Globe, “I hope the Gaming Commission would give reconsideration to our application. That would be the fair and equitable thing to do. We are a poor, majority-minority city with a lot of families that need the kind of jobs a casino would create.”
But the region’s window of opportunity is closing, he and others argue. Rhode Island’s casinos are becoming more competitive and the state could open a new one in Tiverton if voters approve in November. To sit by idly while the state next to you grabs the market, that would be hard to justify to taxpayers,” said Carpenter.
Neil Bluhm, the gaming developer who first proposed the Brockton casino says that he is “very interested” in reviving his bid. Through a spokesman Bluhm said, “A casino in Brockton will be a catalyst for economic development and also contribute badly needed tax revenue to the commonwealth.”
The commission’s original reason for rejecting the Brockton casino remains intact as long as the Taunton casino is a possibility. Nevertheless, the Brockton casino is tantalizing because Bluhm had said he was ready to break ground if granted a license.
In a statement last week the commission kept its options open. “The statute is clear,” it said. “The Gaming Commission has the authority at any time to choose to conduct a commercial process for the award of a license in Southeastern Massachusetts.”
During a radio interview commission Chairman Stephen P. Crosby said, “We do what we’ve been doing for five years, try to wait and figure out what’s happening with the tribe.”
