Casino issue a sure bet to be a mess
Mar 3, 2005

O-D Albany Bureau

If the public hearings are any indication, casino gambling in the Catskills could be one of the most explosive, most expensive frays at the Capitol this year.

A line of gambling opponents, Catskills residents, Native American leaders and well-heeled lobbyists snaked outside the auditorium like rush-hour traffic. Upwards of 150 people asked to be heard, said Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mt. Hope, Orange County, who convened the hearing. He limited it to 16 witnesses -- triggering casino opponents to charge that the "deck was stacked" against them.

Not so, Bonacic said. Restricting the roster was the only way to make the proceedings productive, he said. At issue is a plan by Gov. George Pataki that calls for:

E Increasing the number of authorized Catskill casinos from three to five. Three were originally authorized just a month after 9/11 as the economy dropped off. However, none has been built yet.

E Settling land-claim lawsuits with five tribes, with each getting rights to one casino: the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin, the Akwesasne Mohawks, the Stockbridge-Munsees, the Cayuga Nation of New York, and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma. The settlements would clear disputed land titles covering roughly 300,000 acres in Seneca, Cayuga, Madison, Oneida, Franklin and St. Lawrence counties.

E Cutting in the state and county governments. All the counties in the disputed areas would get annual payments in the millions of dollars, including $5 million apiece to Madison and Oneida. The state would get 20-25 percent of slot-machine revenues at the casinos. An official from Caesar's, the casino company working with the Mohawks, told Bonacic he estimates the state's share from that casino alone could be $90 million per year.

The Sullivan County Legislature -- home of all the proposed casino sites -- recently voted to back the deal. Besides the New York Legislature, Congress must also approve the plan, which may be tougher to achieve.

At the state Senate hearing, tribes that would gain casinos promoted the deal as good for everyone. Besides ending fractious land claim lawsuits, the deal would create jobs in the economically troubled Catskills and stem some of the flow of gamblers' money that now goes to Connecticut and New Jersey, they said.

Unions also trumpeted the plan as a way to breathe life into the hospitality and tourism industries.

In contrast, members of a group called "Casino-Free Sullivan" said gambling boosters were downplaying the likely increases in traffic problems, smog and crime, not to mention a heavier burden on local schools and an increase in problem gamblers.

Sprinkled throughout the auditorium were well-connected lobbyists. For example, Plunkett and Jaffe -- Pataki's former law firm -- lobbies for the Stockbridge-Munsees. Mercury Public Affairs, headed by Pataki's former top political strategist, lobbies for Empire Resorts, a casino developer that is working with the Cayuga Nation and the Seneca-Cayuga tribe. Empire also hired Brian Meara, a lobbyist with ties to the Assembly Democrats.

Former Attorney General Dennis Vacco works for the Seneca-Cayuga.

The Oneida Nation of New York -- which is fighting the deal -- has hired Patricia Lynch, a former top aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

This is an issue that is hard to forecast. Many lawmakers publicly claim they don't want gambling expanded but may not go along with any of the alternatives: reducing overall spending, raising income taxes, cutting programs. Gambling expansion may hinge on how well the state's economy is going at the time lawmakers sign off on the budget.

Yancey Roy can be reached in the O-D's Albamy bureau at 150 State St., Albany, NY 12207 or e-mail (yroy@gannett.com).