11.05.07Lawmaker throws support behind casino
Land-transfer bill had sat idle in Congress for six months
By MIKE CONNELL
Times Herald
A bill that would pave the way for a casino in Port Huron picked up a third sponsor last week when a Rhode Island congressman endorsed it.
Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a Democrat, has signed on as a co-sponsor of H.R. 2176, which calls for federal approval of a 2002 land swap between the state of Michigan and the Bay Mills Indian Community of the Upper Peninsula.
The bill was introduced May 3 by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, and co-sponsored by Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township. It was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources, where it has languished for six months.
"In approving this settlement, Congress can do right by the Bay Mills tribe and recognize what the people of Michigan already know: That the settlement is both fair and in the best interests of all parties involved," Kennedy said in a statement issued Friday.
Kennedy, 40, who is in his seventh term in Congress, is the youngest of Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy's three children.
Stupak's bill is the latest of several attempts to win congressional and presidential approval of the Aug. 23, 2002, land swap approved by then-Gov. John Engler and Bay Mills, a Chippewa band based at Brimley in the eastern Upper Peninsula.
The tribe gave up its long-standing claim to 110 acres of property at Charlotte Beach, a community on the St. Marys River, in exchange for a reservation on the 15-acre Thomas Edison Inn property in Port Huron.
The agreement has been bitterly opposed by Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who contends it could take business from the three casinos in his city. It also is opposed by most of Michigan's other Indian tribes, particularly the Saginaw Chippewas.
The Saginaw Chippewas own the state's largest casino at Mount Pleasant and have historic ties to Port Huron. From 1807 to 1836, one the tribe's subdivisions, known as the "people of the Blackwater River," had a 1,287-acre reservation in what is now Port Huron.
Mike Malik, a Detroit developer, has been working with Bay Mills to replace the Edison Inn with a casino and resort hotel with at least 150 rooms and suites. The development also would include several restaurants, a nightclub, a comedy club and an enclosed mall with specialty shops.
Architectural drawings for the proposed casino-hotel show a sleek, ship-like building that towers above the neighboring Blue Water Bridge and follows the curve of the south span. A dominant feature is a glass-enclosed elevator shaft that would resemble the nearby Fort Gratiot Lighthouse.
Malik, a Clay Township native and former Algonac councilman, has been trying to develop a casino in Port Huron since 1993 when city voters narrowly rejected a proposal to use the downtown Sears store for a Bay Mills/Harrah's casino. The Sears store eventually was demolished to make room for St. Clair County's administrative offices.
In recent years, Malik has worked closely with Detroit billionaire Marian Ilitch on casino projects in several states. Ilitch, whose holdings include the MotorCity Casino in Detroit, has said she supports a Port Huron casino but is playing no role in developing it.
Engler, a staunch opponent of casino gambling, reversed his long-time stance when he approved the land swap.
At the time, Engler said he was swayed by then-Rep. David Bonior, D-Mount Clemens, and other supporters of the casino, who described it as a fair-trade issue. Bonior argued that Port Huron should be allowed to compete on an equal footing with two casinos on the Canadian side of the St. Clair River - the Point Edward Charity Casino and Hiawatha Slots in Sarnia.
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