Rendering of stalled Mashpee Wampanoag casino project
HYANNIS – The state’s Gaming Commission has put discussions about awarding a new southeastern Massachusetts casino license on hold.
At its meeting last week, officials expressed an interest to wait on restarting the bidding process for Region C so the commission’s new chair can be part of the decision.
Cathy Judd-Stein has just been appointed to the position and will begin on February 4.
“It seems appropriate that we wait until the new chair is in place so the new commission, in total, can address this,” said Edward Bedrosian, the Commision’s executive director.
“Once the new chair is in place and comfortable with everything else that she has to do this will be an appropriate agenda item and we will obviously repost this with appropriate notice.”
Bedrosian said the commission has also recently received public comment on the issue from the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe.
The idea of reopening the bidding process has been driven by the trouble the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has had in trying to build a casino resort in Taunton.
The tribe’s plans were derailed by a lawsuit that questioned the way land was taken into federal trust.
The Interior Department reversed an earlier decision on the land-in-trust declaration following a lawsuit.
The tribe has also suffered serious financial setbacks since the decision, prompting program cuts and layoffs.
The only real option for the tribe to allow for land to be put back into trust would be a legislative effort.
Interim chair Gayle Cameron agreed with Bedrosian and that any decision made by the commission should include the new chairperson.
“Giving her a little time to understand the issues and read all the comments is certainly appropriate,” Cameron said.
Commissioner Enrique Zuniga said he looks forward to having a discussion on some of the public comments received.
“There are at least a couple that I think merit some clarification as to what they may be commenting on and some at least from a legal standpoint as to whether we have the authority or not to issue another license,” Zuniga said. “I think having that discussion with a new chair might be a really good starting point for these considerations.”
Congressmen William Keating and Joseph Kennedy III re-filed the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act earlier this month.
It was one of the first bills introduced in the new 116th Congress.
As with the previous bill of the same name introduced last year, the new legislation has picked up bipartisan support with three key Republican Congressmen with oversight of Indian Affairs signing on as co-sponsors: U.S. Reps. Don Young (R-AK), Tom McClintock (R-CA) and Doug LaMalfa (R-CA).
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