Dispute ends with signing of compact

Wednesday, June 2, 2004 | 10:51 a.m.

SANTA FE, N.M. -- Gov. Bill Richardson on Tuesday signed a gaming compact with the Mescalero Apache Tribe, formally ending years of litigation over gambling on the southern New Mexico reservation.

Mescalero President Mark Chino and Attorney General Patricia Madrid this spring agreed on a settlement that ended a long-standing feud over the tribe's objections to the state's Indian gambling compacts and their revenue-sharing requirements.

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

"While the state and the Mescalero Apache Tribe have had our differences, I believe our shared goal of a strong economy in New Mexico and our mutual respect for each other's sovereignty has brought us together instead of further apart," Richardson said Tuesday.

The gaming compact will be sent to the Interior Department for approval.

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