New York Gov. George Pataki (R) threatened to cut off dealings with two out-of-state tribes for their support of a bill to settle their land claims in exchange for casinos in the Catskills.

Pataki's top Indian affairs lawyer sent an e-mail to the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans and the Oneida Nation. In it, the lawyer said Pataki will hold them responsible if their support of the bill ends up killing another settlement with the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe.

"Please be advised that ... if your clients or their representatives succeed in their current efforts to prevent passage of the Mohawk settlement legislation, the state will engage in no further settlement negotiations with out-of-state tribes," the e-mail stated, The Syracuse Post-Standard reported.

Pataki previously settled with the out-of-state tribes but introduced a bill earlier this month that left them out. In response, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, a Republican whose son is lobbying for the Oneidas, expanded a bill to include the two tribes.

Pataki has said he won't accept the expanded bill and is playing hardball to get the Mohawk settement passed, the paper said. Tribal representatives wouldn't comment on the record but privately said they were "staggered" by the governor's tactics.

Get the Story:
Winners, losers at finish (The Albany Times-Union 6/24)
Land claim talks may be shut down (The Syracuse Post-Standard 6/24)
Casino deals all but dead (Ottaway News Service 6/24)
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Hinchey favors one casino -- in Sullivan County (The Kingston Daily Freeman 6/24)