Panel is wary about tribal deals

Devlin Barrett

Friday, July 15, 2005 | 9:50 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A House committee warned Thursday that a new series of proposed deals New York is seeking to strike with Indian tribes may not pass muster -- another sign Congress may move to curb off-reservation casinos in places such as the Catskills.

New York's governor, George Pataki, has been engaged in protracted negotiations with a number of tribes to settle centuries-old conflicts over the taking of their land in upstate New York, in part by offering lucrative casino development on non-Indian land in the Catskills.

Representatives of five tribes testified before the House Resources Committee, whose chairman Richard Pombo is considering trying to limit tribes from establishing casinos far from their reservations.

Pombo is circulating draft legislation that bars tribes from establishing off-reservation gaming except in specified development zones where several tribes could build casinos in one area. Such a law could kill the deals Pataki is seeking.

Two tribes, the Wisconsin Oneidas and the Seneca-Cayugas in Oklahoma, are seeking to craft a deal with the state which would include a Catskill casino. Another tribe, the Oneidas of New York, already operate the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, and oppose out-of-state casino deals.

Leaders of the St. Regis Mohawk Indians and the Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohicans also appeared before the panel.

Pombo, R-Calif., warned that Congress alone has the final authority to make treaties with Indian tribes.

"We're the ones who eventually have to approve it, disapprove it, or modify it. This is not going to be the committee of the rubber stamp," said Pombo.

Pataki did not testify at the hearing, but sent written remarks in which he blamed the U.S. government for forcing such casino-for-land claim deals.

The Republican governor noted that under the Clinton administration, the federal government helped states settle land claims by paying part of the monetary settlements which reached into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Bush administration says it doesn't have the money to do that anymore.

"The United States left the state no option other than to structure self-funding settlements through the use of Indian gaming," Pataki said.

The governor said he personally opposes gambling, but for economic reasons the state can't get shut out of the action.

"New York must choose between creating tens of thousands of jobs and generating hundreds of millions of dollars for our economy, or watching those jobs and revenues go to other states," said Pataki.