Woman sues Mississippi over casino deal with tribe

John Porretto

Monday, Aug. 20, 2001 | 11:10 a.m.

JACKSON, Miss. -- A Jackson woman has filed a lawsuit claiming that a deal between the state and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians is a financial burden to Mississippi and needs to be renegotiated.

In a suit filed in Hinds County Chancery Court, Eddie Fears of Jackson says the Choctaw casino in Philadelphia "has directly burdened the state's law enforcement and road maintenance and construction ... with the Choctaws doing nothing to defray such costs."

The Choctaws pay no state taxes on the casino. Fears said the gambling house costs the state money because it competes with Mississippi-regulated casinos that make significant tax payments.

The Choctaws, led by 75-year-old Chief Phillip Martin, opened the Silver Star Resort & Casino on the tribe's reservation in east central Mississippi seven years ago.

Building on the success of the Silver Star, the tribe is developing the $750 million Pearl River Resort, which will feature another casino, the Golden Moon Hotel-Casino. The Golden Moon is scheduled to open next year.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 requires states to negotiate agreements with tribes to set rules and limits on gambling.

Former Gov. Kirk Fordice negotiated a compact in 1993 for the Mississippi Choctaws to open a casino in Neshoba County.

In a telephone interview with the Associated Press, Fordice said he began negotiations with Martin and the Choctaws only after the tribe agreed to drop a lawsuit against the state.

Fordice said the Choctaws had sued the state because his predecessor, Ray Mabus, wouldn't negotiate with them.

Fordice said he was bound by federal law to make a compact. He said he didn't see the need to place financial burdens on tribe, which was beginning to realize some prosperity after years of dire poverty.

"I thought the Indians had been messed around long enough and I didn't attempt to extract something out of the tribe," Fordice said. "They had nothing but a hope and a desire to create something.

"Now, they're a huge success and it's human nature to look at them with green eyes and say, 'I want a piece of that.' But they did it and I say 'God bless 'em."'

However, Fordice said it wouldn't be improper for the state to discuss some type of new arrangement with the Choctaws considering their success.

"But I don't think a lawsuit is the way to do that," he said.

States are not allowed to directly tax reservation casinos, but payments or contributions to local governments have been included in compacts.

Fears' lawsuit says Fordice had no authority from the Legislature to strike a deal with the Choctaws. She also claims the compact is illegal because it's perpetual and binds current Gov. Ronnie Musgrove to it.

Fears names Musgrove and the Mississippi Gaming Commission as defendants.

"I'd like to see a good governor reach a good deal that is comparable to other Indian compacts in other states," said Jackson attorney Sam Begley, who represents Fears.

Begley described Fears as "a citizen, a taxpayer and a (casino) player." He said she also works for him.

Begley said he would like Mississippi's compact to mirror those in Connecticut and Arizona.

In Connecticut, Indian casinos pay the state 25 percent of the win from slot machines. In Arizona, the state gaming commission has some regulatory authority over Indian casinos, which isn't the case in Mississippi.

Musgrove spokesman John Sewell said the governor's office had received the suit and was reviewing it.

Begley said the Gaming Commission is named as a defendant because the agency would become involved in regulating the Indian casino if a judge were to throw out the existing compact.

Creda Stewart, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, said the tribe considers its arrangement to be a "legal, valid, strong compact with the state."

"That's what we have and we've had it for quite some time," she said. "Our arrangement is very good."

Martin has led a revolution of sorts among his people since becoming chief 22 years ago, preaching self-reliance, establishing an array of profitable businesses and reinvesting hundreds of millions of dollars in the reservation.

Jobs are so plentiful on the reservation that 60 percent of the 7,000 people on the tribe's payroll are non-Indian.