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Feinstein’s ‘Carcieri fix’ would
‘devastate’ trust land for gaming


By Gale Courey Toensing
Story Published: Oct 5, 2010
(Story Updated: Oct 5, 2010 )

Mashpee Wampanoag Chairman Cedric Cromwell (left) and Shinnecock Indian
Nation Senior Trustee Lance Gumbs, pictured here at the New England Gaming
Summit at Mohegan Sun Sept. 21, are part of a group of tribal nations mobilizing
 to oppose reported efforts by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to stop the Interior
 Department from putting new land into trust for gaming

Reports that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is planning her own version of a “Carcieri fix” that would eliminate the ability of tribes to take newly-acquired land into trust for gaming are raising concerns in Indian country.


The issue came to light at the New England Gaming Summit at Mohegan Sun during the week of Sept. 20.


Mashpee Wampanoag Chairman Cedric Cromwell said during his presentation at the summit that he had learned Feinstein would propose an amendment to Section 20 of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act – the part of the law that deals with putting land into trust for gaming when the land has been acquired after Oct. 17, 1988 – or an amendment to Sen. Byron Dorgan’s “Carcieri fix” – a bill that has stalled since being approved by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs almost a year ago. In either case, Feinstein aims to curtail the Interior secretary’s authority to take newly-acquired land into trust for Indian gaming, Cromwell said.


The Cape Cod island-based Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, which was federally acknowledged in 2007, has a pending application for land into trust to build a casino in the Boston area.


Dorgan and other legislators have sought a “Carcieri fix” since February 2009 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Interior secretary had no authority to take land into trust for the Narragansett Indians because they were not “under federal jurisdiction” in 1934 when the Indian Reorganization Act was passed.


Dorgan’s bill – S. 1703 – amends the IRA to reaffirm the secretary’s authority to take land into trust for all acknowledged tribes – a practice that has been in place for more than 70 years.


No one knows exactly what Feinstein plans to do because her activities have taken place behind the scene, Cromwell said.


“Since the senator has not consulted with Indian country, and since her draft language has not been the subject of public hearings, we do not know exactly what the language says. Based on her long-held anti-Indian gaming stance, however, we can assume that her proposed language will be devastating for newly recognized and disadvantaged tribes,” Cromwell said.


Cromwell also questioned whether Feinstein’s motives to alter national law and policy were based strictly on her local concerns to stop the expansion of gaming in California.


“Most disturbing, we are concerned that the senator is using her position as an appropriations subcommittee chair to achieve her local end goal: Shutting down forever the possibility of the Indian gaming in the Bay Area. She is willing to hold hostage the nationally-needed Carcieri fix, and willing to throw newly recognized and disadvantaged tribes from all across the United States under the bus, so that she can achieve this one local goal,” Cromwell said.


Cromwell called on the Obama administration “to take a tough stand on behalf of all tribes. … (and) to tell Congress that all tribes must be treated equally” under the laws.


Barry Piatt, Dorgan’s spokesman, said the senator has not heard about the Feinstein amendment.


“It’s possible she may do so, but it hasn’t reached a stage where it’s an amendment that she’s notified the committee about,” Piatt said.


While Dorgan could not comment on an amendment he hasn’t yet seen, Piatt said, he would not favor creating two classes of tribes.


“He feels very strongly that there should not be two classes of tribes – one that can take land into trust and one that can’t. He stands firm that all tribes ought to be equal on this issue.”
Feinstein’s office did not return calls seeking comment.


Consultant Joe Valandra, Rosebud Sioux, said Feinstein’s reported efforts are happening at the same time that the Interior Department is reviewing the IGRA regulations for “off-reservation” trust land for gaming and encouraging the BIA to move forward with pending applications.


With all these elements and potential actions bumping up against each other, the moment is fraught with danger, Valandra said.


“Right now the Interior Department is in a tough spot trying to respond administratively to the Supreme Court’s Carcieri decision. They hope that Congress will get around to passing a Carcieri fix, but I doubt that will happen soon and it may happen during the lame duck session (when Congress returns after the elections and before new elected officials take office), but there’s danger in that,” Valandra said.


The danger is no one knows exactly what the amendment is, said a Washington attorney who deals in Indian affairs and asked not to be named.


“There was supposed to be a mark-up of the appropriations bills and everyone thought they’d see it then, but Feinstein canceled the mark up. Now the understanding is there won’t be any mark up of the appropriations bill and instead when (legislators) come back for the lame duck session they’ll just wrap a whole bunch of these appropriation bills together so they’ll be tens of thousands of pages long and she’ll just insert the language somewhere and we may never find it before it becomes law,” the attorney said.


A coalition of nations has mobilized to fight Feinstein’s efforts, said Lance Gumbs, senior trustee of the Shinnecock Indian Nation and vice president of the National Congress of American Indians northeast region.
“Obviously, this is another attack on our sovereignty,” Gumbs said.


The NCAI, the largest Indian organization in the country, will also throw its weight behind opposing Feinstein’s actions, Gumbs said.

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/Feinsteins-iCarcierii-fix-would-devastate-trust-land-for-gaming--104358264.html

It's starting to look like all those claims that the Wampanoags will be allowed to declare the 300 acres of land they wish to purchase in Fall River for the purpose of gaming as sovereign tribal land may be nothing more than smoke signals on a cloudy day, at least if powerful Senator Dianne Feinstein has anything to say about it.

And in contradiction to the above article, recent reports indicate that the Wampanoags have NOT filed application with the appropriate federal agencies to have their land placed into trust. To do so today would result in being tied up in an approval review process that normally takes 5 - 7 years to positive completion. That would no doubt be a massive problem for the tribe and their local desperate benefactors, FROED  , the Redevelopment Authority (RDA) and the biggest potential losers of them all, Bag-Boy Deluxe Sylvanagan, Ken "The Weeper" Fiola and Steve "Hank the Angry Dwarf" Torres! Good luck folks, looks like you're going to need it!

Just when you think it might happen, it seems just out of reach. But that is the illusion the powers that be wish you to see. I think it's all a bit of "blue smoke and mirrors', with no real deal ever having better than a 50-50 chance of happening. Frankly, I think we are past the good 50% as well. What is clear as a new spring day is that there has been no vote to legalize gaming in Massachusetts, the deal between the RDA and the Wampanoags runs out at the end of the calendar year and that all these labor contracts and budgets for FY 11 and FY 12 and beyond have been constructed on a best case scenario basis, that best case being an Antoine Walkerville (destination casino) related cash infusion into the Fall River municipal treasury. I sincerely doubt that will happen. The chances of it happening IF the 300 acres were to be declared sovereign tribal land are pretty much nil, regardless of what statements are being disseminated by the RDA, FROED and Sylvanagan. Has anyone seen the actual agreement? Of course not, it's all very "double secret probation" like and ridiculously "hush-hush". How members of the City Council have not been made party to agreement negotiations if baffling to say the least. It's all very  foreboding and is one of the reasons I think all of this is just a way to maintain the perception that Sylvanagan is working hard to improve Fall River, when in reality such an agreement would result only in improving the political future of the Bag-Boy. And that has always been what this mess has always and only ever been about.