New York governor lobbies Kempthorne on casino

Tuesday, February 27, 2007  

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) began lobbying Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne about the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe's proposed off-reservation casino.

Spitzer supports the casino, which he said will create jobs and revenues for the tribe and for state citizens. He signed a compact with the tribe to share revenues from slot machines and to apply state laws at the casino site in the Catskills, about 90 minutes north of New York City.

But since the casino is hundreds of miles from the reservation, the project is controversial for Kempthorne, who opposed off-reservation gaming as governor of Idaho. Spitzer spoke with Kempthorne at the National Governor's Association winter meeting in Washington, D.C., and he plans to set up a more formal meeting at the Interior Department.

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