Leaders of Passamaquoddy Tribe pushing for casino measure

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Leaders of the Passamaquoddy Tribe are hoping Maine voters approve a gaming referendum that's on the November ballot.

If approved, Question 2 authorizes slot machines at a racetrack facility in Washington County for the tribe. It also authorizes a non-Indian facility in the city of Biddeford, whose developers are bankrolling the Putting Maine To Work initiative.

"We are locked in with them," Clayton Cleaves, chief of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point, told The Portland Press Herald. "Being financially indigent, we are not able to fully campaign."

The tribe has sought voter approval for gaming in the past but has been rejected. Joseph Socobasin, chief of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township, hopes this year is different.

"I think public sentiment is slowly changing, that tribes have been left out. It's a fairness issue," Socobasin told the paper.

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Two racinos vying for votes (The Portland Press Herald 10/13)