News

José Saramago Dies

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the NYTs:

José Saramago, the Portuguese writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1998 with novels that combine surrealist experimentation with a kind of sardonic peasant pragmatism, died on Friday at his home in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. He was 87.

The cause was multiple organ failure after a long illness, the José Saramago Foundation said in an announcement on its Web site, josesaramago.org.

A tall, commandingly austere man with a dry, schoolmasterly manner, Mr. Saramago gained international acclaim for novels like “Baltasar and Blimunda” and “Blindness.” (A film adaptation of “Blindness” by the Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles was released in 2008.)

He was the first Portuguese-language writer to win the Nobel Prize, and more than two million copies of his books have been sold, his longtime friend and editor, Zeferino Coelho, said.

A novel by Mr. Saramago, “The Elephant’s Journey,” is to be published posthumously in English on Sept. 8 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Continue reading →

Reorganized Greektown Casino Investors Respond to Stupak

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Freep via Pechanga:

WASHINGTON – A week after U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak asked the federal Interior and Justice departments to put the brakes on the bankruptcy reorganization of Greektown Casino, a lawyer for the investors set to take control from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, said Stupak’s claims on behalf of the tribe should not be allowed to slow the process.

Allan Brilliant, a New York lawyer representing a group of private equity and hedge funds which will take ownership of the Detroit casino, said in his letter Tuesday that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar should “disregard” Stupak’s request to look into the reorganization, saying the tribe’s “last-minute, baseless attempt to delay such exit (from bankruptcy) is detrimental to all parties that benefit from the revenues generated by the facility.”

Last week, Stupak – a Democrat from Menominee on the Upper Peninsula, where the Sault tribe is based – said Holder and Salazar should look into whether land held in trust by the federal government on behalf of a tribe can be handed over to investors without an act of Congress.

He said some of the land on Beaubien Street in Detroit where Greektown Casino is located was given to the federal government on the tribe’s behalf by private investors.

Continue reading →

Charles Mix County Challenge to Yankton Travel Plaza Trust Acquisition

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the complaint in County of Charles Mix v. U.S. Dept. of Interior (D. S.D.): Charles Mix County v. DOI Complaint

News article here, via Indianz.

Cobell Deadline Extended to July 9

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From BLT:

The lawyers in the long-running Cobell case have agreed to yet another extension to give the U.S. Senate more time to pass legislation to implement the $3.4 billion settlement resolving the Indian trust suit.

After the House of Representatives on May 28 passed the legislation approving the settlement, the plaintiffs’ lawyers and the Justice Department agreed to push back the deadline for the Senate to vote. That deadline was today. The new deadline is July 9.

“Inasmuch as the House has passed it and the Senate is actively considering legislation, we are hopeful it will be passed,” Kilpatrick Stockton co-managing partner William Dorris said today. Lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell is also represented by D.C. solo practitioner Dennis Gingold.

One issue that is posing a potential roadblock to a Senate vote is an amendment from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) that would cap attorney fees in the case at $50 million. Cobell’s lawyers had agreed with the Justice Department that fees would be capped at about $100 million. The plaintiffs lawyers said they would argue for no lower than $50 million.

It remains unknown whether the Senate will even vote on Barrasso’s amendment. Cobell said in an open letter today to Indian Country that the settlement is terminated if there are any changes to its terms.

“Senator Barrasso knows this and he knows that adoption of his amendment would kill the settlement,” Cobell said in the letter. “Why? He is playing Washington politics because the dirty truth is that he would vote against the current Senate bill even if his amendment is adopted.”

Shinnecock Indian Nation Recognized

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

DOI press release here: PRSHINRECOGNITION.

From the NYTs:

ALBANY — The Obama administration approved the Shinnecock Indians on Long Island for federal recognition on Tuesday, culminating a court battle lasting three decades and paving the way for the tribe to build a casino in New York City or its suburbs.

While there is still a 30-day comment period before the matter is fully settled, the support of the administration all but assures the 1,292-member tribe’s recognition. The announcement, made by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on Tuesday morning, will almost certainly change the way of life for the relatively impoverished tribe, whose members live on 800 acres in Southampton, N.Y., in the midst of some of the nation’s wealthiest and most famous celebrities.

It will also touch off negotiations between the tribe and the state over casino gambling. With federal recognition, the tribe can build a Class II casino on its land that could have thousands of video slot machines but no table games.

But state and local officials have long been worried about the traffic implications of building a casino in the Hamptons, and the tribe would prefer to negotiate with the state and federal government to build a more lucrative Class III casino on land elsewhere that would be allowed to have table games. The state would share in the revenue of any deal.

The tribe had no immediate comment.

In December, after an initial ruling in favor of the tribe, Randy King, chairman of the Shinnecock trustees, said, “This recognition comes after years of anguish and frustration for many members of our Nation, living and deceased.”

Hearing on Little River Band Off-Rez Gaming Compact Delayed

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Indianz:

A hearing on the off-reservation casino sought by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians has been delayed.

The Michigan House Regulatory Reform Committee held an initial hearing on the project on May 26. Additional hearings were scheduled but they were canceled.

“I don’t get why they’re holding this up,” Rep. Doug Bennett (D), who supports the casino, told The Muskegon Chronicle.

The new hearing probably won’t be held until the end of this month or in early July, an aide to Rep. Bert Johnson, the chairman of the committee, told the paper. The location hasn’t been determined either although it will be held somewhere in the Muskegon area.

The tribe wants to build the casino at a former racetrack in Fruitport Township, near Muskegon. The site is about 80 miles from the tribe’s headquarters but it’s within the tribe’s nine-county service area.

The Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians and the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians oppose the project. They say the Little River Band violated the terms of the original Class III compact by not seeking approval from other tribes for an off-reservation casino.

Get the Story:

State House group to have casino proposal hearing here (The Muskegon Chronicle 6/15)

NIGC: 2009 Indian Gaming Revenues Stable (Actually, Slight Decline for the First Time)

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is that press release.

Detailed revenue charts here.

Foxwoods Attorney Involved in Conflict of Interest Dispute with Penn. Judge

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From How Appealing:

“Lawyer for court also aided Foxwoods; Jeffrey B. Rotwitt took casino cases before Justice Ronald D. Castille while working on the Family Court deal for him”: This article appears today in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Navajo Reapportionment Map

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Navajo Times via Pechanga:

The reapportionment map representing the plan approved Friday. PDFDownload a large-format PDF version of the map. (2.1 MB, requires Adobe Reader.)

* * *

The Navajo Board of Election Supervisors approved on Friday a reapportionment plan dividing the Navajo Nation into 24 voting districts for a new, reduced tribal council election.

The board also voted to extend the filing deadline for council delegate candidates by one business day, to 5 p.m. Monday, June 14. This will give candidates at least a little time to acquaint themselves with the new apportionment plan, the board said.

“This is good,” said President Joe Shirley Jr., who presented the plan approved by the board. “This is something we should have done a long time ago. We are moving along and progressing.”
The board unanimously approved both measures.

Continue reading →

“Who Is Tracie Stevens?”

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From AllGov, via Pechanga:

National Indian Gaming Commission: Who is Tracie Stevens?
If confirmed as chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission, Tracie Stevens would become the first woman to lead the oversight body for the $27 billion Indian gaming industry.

A member of the Tulalip Tribes in Washington State, Stevens was born in Los Angeles, but returned to Tulalip as a child. In 1985, she became the first member of her immediate family to graduate high school, which she did in Yakima, Washington, in 1985. She began her professional career in the gaming industry in 1995 at her tribe’s casino (Quil Ceda Creek Casino), located north of Seattle. There, she worked in human resource management, employee recruitment and training, and operations planning and analysis, before becoming the Tulalip Casino’s executive director for strategic planning in 2001.

In 2003, she became a legislative policy analyst in the tribe’s government affairs office. She represented the Tulalips in negotiations to update gambling compacts between the state of Washington and all federally-recognized tribes in the state. She also lobbied state lawmakers on tribe-related bills, including a controversial measure in 2005 to allow the Tulalips to retain millions in sales tax revenue collected at Quil Ceda Village. The bill did not pass.

In 2006, Stevens was elevated to senior policy analyst, a position she held until 2009. Also in 2006, Stevens received a Bachelor of Arts degree in social sciences from the University of Washington-Seattle, an accomplishment that took many years, as she had to attend night school while working.

Continue reading →