Miami lawsuit funded by developer with casino interest

Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2001 | 4:26 a.m.

Thomas C. Wilmot Sr. of Rochester, N.Y., told The Associated Press he invested in the Miami claim because of the potential to develop a casino. But Wilmot said the tribe leaders are open to any settlement that compensates them for ancestral land they say they never ceded to the United States.

The Miamis sued landowners in 15 central Illinois counties last summer. Former Gov. Jim Edgar and current Gov. George Ryan brushed off land claims by the Miami and other tribes as ploys to get casino licenses - something both administrations opposed.

Residents are fighting the lawsuit alone while Attorney General Jim Ryan asks a federal judge to let the state intervene to help defend them. The governor's aides have called the lawsuit just another casino bid.

Wilmot said he was "paying most of the legal fees" as a business investment. For months, the Miami Nation has refused to identify who paid its lawyers.

"People with money to invest are looking for legal loopholes to make a lot of cash fast and casinos is a way to do it," said Rich Porter, who formed a citizens group opposed to the Miami claim.

Nick Palazzolo, a spokesman for the governor, said, "This proves what we've been saying all along, that casino gaming is the preferred end result of this assault on landowners in eastern Illinois."

The tribe's spokesman, George Tiger, and its lawyer, Tom Osterholt, have said the Miami do not want a casino even though Chief Floyd Leonard has said he might settle the lawsuit for a gaming license.

Wilmot, who met Tuesday in Miami, Okla., with tribal leaders, attorneys and consultants, said his company is contracted to build and operate a casino or other developments, "but at this point it's just too speculative to have any ideas."

The tribe and its consultants apparently do have ideas, according to an Oct. 10 memo from an economic development official to the Ford County Board detailing contacts he had with Wilmot's company beginning in 1999.

"We were told the tribe wanted to purchase land to develop a resort hotel, golf course and casino. We were told the Miami Tribe felt they had a valid treaty claim to a large tract of land in east central Illinois that they would forgo in exchange for a casino license," wrote John Goldrick, executive director of the Community and Economic Development Foundation.

Goldrick refused to be interviewed for this story, but his memo also said he was invited to meet in Springfield with representatives of the governor, the tribe and Wilmot's company. There, he learned negotiations with the Miami dated to 1996.

The memo matches stories told by Indian artifacts dealer Tom Julian, a Minnesota-based consultant who has said the Miami were shopping for land on Interstate 57, near the rural Ford County town of Paxton for a resort to include an American Indian museum, golf course and casino.

Jim Kingston, mayor of Paxton for the last 24 years, said Thomas Wilmot Jr. told him the tribe was looking for 500 to 1,000 acres for a development that might include a casino.

The Wilmots also met in Washington with retired U.S. Rep. Thomas Ewing, R-Ill., and sent two $1,000 checks to the campaign of his newly elected replacement, U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Ill., who said he gave the money back to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

"I am going to do everything in my power to make sure this land grab does not occur," Johnson said.

Wilmot was more forthcoming than the tribe. Tiger and Osterholt refused to say who paid the Miami's legal bills. Osterholt told the Champaign County Board in October that someone else was paying the bills and he was "someone who believes in" the Miami cause.

Asked Monday if Wilmot was that person, Tiger first would not answer, then said the tribe was paying its own bills. He said nobody should draw conclusions based on Wilmot's history with Indian tribes.

Wilmot invested $4 million over five years in the Golden Hill Paugussetts' efforts to get government approval for a casino on the Bridgeport, Conn., waterfront. Wilmot is chairman of the board of mall developer Wilmorite Inc., but said a separate company he runs with his son is researching other tribal claims that could lead to casinos.

Tiger acknowledged Wilmot is a consultant but said Wilmot has no authority to speak about the tribe's intentions.