Anti-gaming ruling clouds Oneida Nation land-claim suit

Apr. 12, 2001

R. PATRICK CORBETT
Observer-Dispatch

Oneida and Madison county leaders said Wednesday that a State Supreme Court ruling against the gaming compacts with Indians could help break the deadlock over the Oneida land claim.

The status of the Oneida Nation’s Turning Stone Casino Resort was clouded Tuesday when Judge Joseph Teresi ruled that only the state legislature can approve Indian casinos.

Oneida County Executive Ralph J. Eannace Jr. and Madison County Board of Supervisors Chairman Rocco DiVeronica huddled with their lawyers and advisers Wednesday afternoon to discuss how the ruling might affect the Verona casino and the Oneidas’ federal court claim to 250,000 acres in the two counties.

Teresi upheld a Saratoga County challenge to the 1993 compact signed by then-Gov. Mario Cuomo that permitted the Mohawk Indians to operate a casino on their land near the Canadian border.

Oneida Indian Nation spokesman Mark Emery said that the Turning Stone compact “remains valid,” though.

Emery said, “Our compact is the subject of separate litigation and we fully expect to prevail in that case.”

But Teresi also declared void “any tribal-state gaming compact” that was not approved by the legislature, which would appear to include the Oneida casino pact also signed by Cuomo in 1993.

State officials said they would appeal Teresi’s ruling to protect the governor’s power to negotiate agreements.

Eannace said, “The fact that this decision, if upheld, could mean the closing of the Turning Stone Casino makes it all the more imperative that the Oneida Indian Nation and all parties return to the negotiating table.”

Emery emphasized that the Nation’s economic impact has to be considered, too. He said even as the court cases proceed, “We also expect ... to add ... more jobs and expand the other economic benefits created in the region by Turning Stone Casino Resort.”

The Oneidas employ about 2,200 people at the resort and about 800 in other tribal businesses.

When informed of Teresi’s ruling Wednesday, Upstate Citizens for Equality Chairman Scott Peterman said, “I think it’s great.”

The local citizens’ group has been challenging the Turning Stone compact for two years, but Peterman said Wednesday that the Supreme Court has “been giving us the runaround.”

The UCE case is now before Judge James McCarthy in Oswego County, UCE lawyer Leon Koziol said. He added that even if UCE were to get a favorable ruling, too, the issue is far from settled.

“I have no doubt (the gaming compact cases) will end up before the high court of the state (the Court of Appeals),” he said.

Assemblyman David Townsend, R-Lee Center, who has asked to be included in the case on the side of the UCE, said he was pleased with Teresi’s ruling, too.

“It allows the governor to sit back down with the Indian Nations and address issues such as property tax, sales tax (and) land claim boundaries that we haven’t been able to settle through negotiations.”

The Oneidas do not pay property or sales taxes and the Oneidas and the two counties have not been able to agree on how much land the tribe should get to settle the land claim.

Mediated talks collapsed last summer after the Oneida Indian Nation walked away from a $500 million settlement offer.

DiVeronica said Wednesday that principals in the land claim met last week in Albany with a federal magistrate to begin setting motion and hearing dates for a trial.

He said the counties are wary of the latest development. The state appeal, in particular, is “one more issue that will be added to all the others surrounding the Oneida Indian Nation, their land claim and their enterprises,” he said.

Peterman said if negotiations on a gaming compact are reopened, the state also could demand a share of casino profits, something not included in the Cuomo agreement.

The state of Connecticut negotiated a cut for taxpayers when it worked out an agreement with the Mashantucket Pequot tribe for Foxwoods Casino in eastern Connecticut.

Longtime Oneida Nation critic Gary Chamberlain said that is not enough. “(The casinos) probably should be shut down,” he said Wednesday as he and 15 other people walked a picket line in front of the Oneidas’ SavOn service station on Route 5 in Sherrill Wednesday.

The SavOn stations are a favorite target of Oneida Nation opponents.