Court invalidates N.Y. Indian casino deal

Thursday, May 2, 2002 | 11:18 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The state Legislature must give its approval to compacts governors negotiate with Indian tribes in New York to operate casinos, a state appeals court ruled today.

The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court ruled 5-0 that a compact former Gov. Mario Cuomo negotiated with Mohawk Indians in 1993 to open a casino on the Akwesasne reserve in northern New York -- and an extension of the deal made by Gov. George Pataki and the Mohawks in 1999 -- are invalid.

It wasn't immediately clear how today's ruling would affect plans approved by the current governor, George Pataki, and the Legislature for a major expansion of gambling that would include up to six Indian-owned casinos in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls region and the Catskills as well as video lottery terminals at horse racing tracks across the state. This expansion of gambling was approved after the September terrorism hurt the New York economy. Las Vegas-based casino resort operators, especially Park Place Entertainment Corp., hope to participate in the expansion of gambling in New York.

The New York judges today rules that contrary to the claims of the state, the fact the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act authorized the gaming activities of the Mohawks and other tribes across the nation does not mean governors in New York can make compact agreements without this state's Legislature signing off.

Numerous parts of the agreement reached by the governors with the Mohawks were matters of important public policy, such as the location of the Akwesasne casino, what kinds of games would be offered there, how the state would regulate the casino and what fees it would charge for that oversight, the court said Thursday.

"These numerous collateral issues affecting the health and welfare of state residents implicate policy choices lying squarely within the province of the Legislature," Justice Thomas Mercure wrote for the appellate court.

In the most fundamental sense, Mercure said, the state constitution provides for the Legislature to make "critical policy decisions" while it is up to the governor to "implement those policies."

That is the basis of the constitutional principle of separation of powers, according to Mercure.

He noted that in every state where the question has come before the courts, judges have ruled that compacts governors reach absent legislative approval are "void and unenforceable."

Today's ruling upholds a decision in April 2001 by state Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi in Albany. At that time, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, Cornelius Murray, said he was not seeking to close down Indian casinos but rather limit their expansion.

The challenge to the gambling compacts was brought by the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, the evangelical Christian group New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, other anti-gambling groups and a group of state legislators.