Michigan Indian

Grand Traverse Band Revenue Sharing Slowly Declining

Matthew L.M. Fletcher4 Comments

From the Leelanau Enterprise (H/T Indianz):

This winter’s “2-percent” payments from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians are down for the third year in a row to the lowest level in more than a decade.

The twice-yearly payments represent two percent of the revenues earned from video slot machines at the tribe’s Leelanau Sands Casino in Peshawbestown and Turtle Creek Casino in Grand Traverse County. The tribe is required to pay out the money to local units of government in the immediate vicinity of tribal casinos for governmental services and “for impacts associated with existence” of tribal casinos in their vicinity under terms of a 1993 federal court consent decree. Since 1994, the tribe has paid out around $18 million in “2-percent” money.

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The Issues in Carcieri v. Kempthorne

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The two questions presented in Carcieri v. Kempthorne have significant import for much of Indian Country. But it might be a mistake to conclude the first question (whether the Secretary can take land into trust for tribes that were not federally recognized in 1934, when the Indian Reorganization Act was passed) is an Indian law question. The outcome of that question may turn on the Supreme Court’s decision in National Cable & Communications Assn v. Brand X Internet Services, 545 U.S. 967 (2005). Huh?!?!?

Consider the United States’ brief in opposition to the petition for cert:

    As this Court held in [Brand X], a “judicial precedent” does not “foreclose an agency from interpreting an ambiguous statute” in a reasonable way that differs from the “court’s opinion as to the best reading” of the statute, unless “the prior court decision holds that its construction follows from the unambiguous terms of the statute and thus leaves no room for agency discretion.” [Brand X, at 982-83.]

Cert Opp at 9.

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Security Guards Drop Effort to Unionize Soaring Eagle at Saginaw Chippewa

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Indianz:

Security guards at the casino owned by the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan have dropped efforts to unionize.

The International Union Security Police & Fire Professionals of America petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for a vote at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort. But the effort was dropped for an unexplained reason, The Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun reported. Housekeeping staff at the casino tried to organize last year. But they voted 2-1 against unionization.

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Off-Reservation Casino Bills Inspire Big Fight — Bay Mills & Sault Tribe

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Indianz:

Disgraced Republican lobbyists Jack Abramoff is in prison but his name is being thrown around a lot as the House considers legislation to authorize two off-reservation casinos.

Abramoff lobbied against casinos sought by tribes in Louisiana and Michigan. One of his former clients was the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan, which spent $14 million in hopes of defeating rival gaming projects. The Saginaw Chippewas dumped Abramoff but the tribe is opposing legislation to allow the Bay Mills Indian Community and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians to open casinos hundreds of miles from existing reservation. Other opponents include members of the Congressional Black Caucus and Las Vegas gaming interests. “I’m somewhat optimistic that we can get this through Congress, which is not to say it isn’t going to be a battle,” Bay Mills Chairman Jeff Parker told The Port Huron Times Herald. “Those opposed to this for financial reasons will continue to throw money at it.”

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LCO Tells Tribal Members Not to Pay County Property Taxes

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

This is an interesting development. I assume that Sawyer County will sue, along with the State of Wisconsin, to compel the payment of these taxes. And perhaps the Seventh Circuit will reach a different conclusion from the Sixth Circuit in KBIC v. Michigan. I wonder, however, if the Keweenaw Bay case’s expert reports were tribe-specific. Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, this interesting development may be a bad thing for Keweenaw Bay, who had to work to make sure the Supreme Court did not grant cert in their case. This development, for all practical purposes, appears to reopen that case.

From Indianz:

The Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is telling tribal members not to pay property taxes in Sawyer County, Wisconsin.

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Washington Post Reports on the Lobbying Effort Surrounding the Sault Tribe and Bay Mills Land Claims Settlement Bills

Wenona Singel

Interests Clash as Mich. Tribes Pursue Land off Reservations

By Susan Schmidt

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 14, 2008; Page A04

An unusual effort by several powerful congressmen to clear the way for two Indian casinos in Michigan is fueling a fierce multimillion-dollar lobbying battle of a scale not seen since the fall of Jack Abramoff.

More than a dozen lobbying firms have joined the fray on both sides, representing Indian tribes, well-connected Michigan developers and the Las Vegas-based gambling company MGM Mirage. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions have flowed to members of Congress considering bills that would allow the tribes to build casinos in populated areas away from their reservations. The bills pit senior Democrats against one another — among them three House committee chairmen, leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.).

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Freep Opposes Bay Mills and Sault Tribe Bills

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Detroit Free Press:

Say no to a bad precedent on casinos

Among John Engler’s last acts as governor of Michigan — on Dec. 30, 2002, to be precise — was approving a land claim settlement with two Upper Peninsula Indian tribes that gave them rights to property for two separate casinos in southeast Michigan. The settlement was long overdue, but the terms Engler allowed were way too generous to the tribes.

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Lac Vieux Desert Band Cuts Deal with Muskegon

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Indianz:

The city council in Muskegon, Michigan, voted 5-2 to approve an agreement with the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa for an off-reservation casino.

The deal requires the tribe to pay $2 million a year for municipal services plus 4 percent of net gaming revenues and other service fees. The total annual payment is estimated at $4.5 million. The agreement is non-binding and non-exclusionary. The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians is also proposing an off-reservation casino in the city.

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Little River Ottawa Muskegon Casino Details

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From the Muskegon Chronicle:

Tribe proposes $100 million casino with 800 jobs

A downtown Muskegon casino proposed by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians would be nearly twice the size of the band’s Little River Casino in Manistee.

It would also appeal to a different market, tribal leaders told members of the Muskegon City Commission Monday night — an urban market that would pull in people from around Muskegon, Grand Rapids and as far east as Lansing, as opposed to the destination-resort setting of the Manistee gaming facility.

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Casinos close to cashing in

Wenona Singel1 Comment

by Chris Killian | Special to the Gazette

Saturday February 09, 2008, 6:32 PM

Two area gambling hubs could open by late next year, pending court ruling

Mark Bugnaski / GazetteKristine Albers checks new decks of cards at The Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo in August. By mid-to-late 2009, southwest Michigan could have two more casinos.

Two Native American casinos could be open in Southwest Michigan by the middle to end of next year, bringing with them an estimated 3,000 casino jobs, another 2,600 spin-off jobs and the potential for millions of dollars in annual local-revenue sharing. They would become the 22nd and 23rd casinos in the state, and both would be within an hour’s drive of Kalamazoo.Ground could be broken as soon as this spring on both the FireKeepers Casino in Emmett Township, just east of Battle Creek, and the Gun Lake Casino, in Wayland Township, about 35 miles north of Kalamazoo on U.S. 131.

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