Mescaleros relieved to settle gaming feud

Susan Montoya Bryan

Tuesday, April 27, 2004 | 9:06 a.m.

ALBUQUERQUE -- The dark cloud that had loomed over the Mescalero Apache Tribe and the slot machines at its mountain resort and casino dissipated last week with the stroke of pen.

Tribal President Mark Chino and New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid signed a settlement that ends a long-standing feud over the tribe's objections to the state's Indian gaming compacts and their revenue-sharing requirements.

The Mescaleros have agreed to pay the state $25 million in back payments and sign a compact that calls for the tribe to share 8 percent of revenue from its Casino Apache in southern New Mexico.

The deal leaves Pojoaque Pueblo as the only New Mexico tribe that hasn't signed a gaming compact with the state.

After putting his name at the bottom of the settlement papers, Chino said he was relieved to know that years of litigation have come to an end and his tribe can move forward.

"I think it can only get better because, of course, we won't have the specter of this lawsuit hanging over our heads anymore," he said. "We're looking for good results to come from this settlement."

Under the deal, the Mescaleros will make an initial payment of $2 million. It would pay the remaining $23 million once the U.S. Interior Department publishes notice in the Federal Register that the compact between the tribe and the state has been approved.

The conflict arose when tribes refused to make annual 16 percent revenue sharing payments provided by 1997 gambling compacts. The tribes contended the payments were illegally high.

Madrid sued and 10 tribes settled, making back payments and signing new, 14-year agreements in 2001 with a top revenue sharing rate of 8 percent.

The lawsuit continued against Mescalero and Pojoaque. The Mescaleros had asked a federal judge to send the case to arbitration, but that request was denied in December and the court ordered the two sides to mediation.

The former Mescalero administration wasn't amenable to settling the case by any means other than litigation. That changed in January when Chino, the son of longtime Mescalero leader Wendell Chino, took office. Talks between the tribe and the state began a month later.

"I think both entities were anxious to settle this matter in one way or another and it just so happened that things transpired fairly quickly and the state's happy and the tribe's happy," Chino said.

Madrid said the settlement "reflects a new atmosphere of successful government-to-government cooperation" between the tribes and the state.

"The election of the new administration by the Mescaleros presented a new opportunity for serious negotiations undertaken in a spirit of good faith," Madrid said.

Both Madrid and Chino described it as a historic day for New Mexico before signing copies of the settlement and a letter that will be sent to Gov. Bill Richardson, letting him know it has been signed and he can approve a gaming compact with the tribe.

Attorneys said the compact likely will be signed by the tribe and Richardson and sent to the Interior Department within the next two weeks.

Chino noted the Interior secretary has approved revenue sharing agreements at the 8 percent rate in New Mexico and Arizona, so there was a precedent for Mescalero to sign the compact.

He said tribal leaders carefully considered the settlement before unanimously approving it.

"It's a compromise," Chino said. "Both sides had to give a little. We gave; the state gave. Under the circumstances, I think it was a good deal for the state and the tribe."

Frank Chaves, former chairman of the New Mexico Indian Gaming Association and a member of Sandia Pueblo, said the settlement was good news.

"I think the state of New Mexico is on a clear track of hospitality and tourism expansion," he said. "Any time you can sweep away legal disagreements and begin working on partnerships to enhance hospitality and tourism, it makes for a better environment for negotiating things."

The attorney general's office says revenue-sharing agreements with the 11 tribes who operate under the compacts brought in about $35 million last year. Mescalero is expected to bring in an additional $4 million.

Pojoaque has yet to pay the state anything. The pueblo offered $6 million to end the lawsuit, but the attorney general's office contends the northern New Mexico pueblo owes about $20 million in back payments.

Pojoaque Gov. Jacob Viarrial said in a recent interview his tribe was still negotiating with the attorney general and hoped to reach an agreement. Madrid said last week the negotiations continue and she hopes something will be coming from the talks in the next few months.