New York | Opinion

Opinion: Deal for Catskills off-reservation casino going nowhere

Friday, December 3, 2010

"Gov. David Paterson recently revealed a land claim "settlement" with the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians. And yes, this is the same governor who thought that the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) had won a lawsuit against the state when it released its decision to take some 13,000 acres of land into federal trust for the New York Oneida Indians. There was no lawsuit, and there was no need for a lawsuit.

Overlooking the deciding factor that there is no need to settle a land claim that hasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of going in favor of the tribe, informed observers (don’t read "the press" here) will justifiably ask: Where are the New York State Legislature and the U.S. Congress in all of this mess? By all indications in press stories both are completely left out of the picture. Neither the settlement nor the gaming compact for the proposed casino to be built in the Catskills region can legally go forward without the consent of the state legislature. Before the DOI considers approving the gambling compact, the state legislature needs to see and ratify the negotiated agreement.

The press reported that the agreement must be approved by the DOI, and that Gov. Paterson was confident that it "would be signed off on." What about the U.S. Congress? Indian land claim settlements become law and are found in Title 25 of the United States Code. Are we to believe that a handful of DOI bureaucrats can now make laws? "

Get the Story:
Scott E. Peterman: Latest Indian settlement isn’t going anywhere (The Rome Sentinel 12/2)