7.08.07
New attempt at casino bill is perseverance at its best
By MIKE CONNELL
Times Herald
Seven hundred years ago, the king of Scotland was on the run, his army routed by the English for a sixth time.
The king, if legend is to be believed, took shelter in a shanty on an island off the coast of Ireland, where he watched a spider try to cast its web from one beam to another. Six times the spider tried, and six times it failed. Then, on the seventh try, it succeeded.
Robert the Bruce, as the king was known, took heart, resumed the fight and won freedom for Scotland in a seventh battle.
Fable or fact, it's a wonderful tale of patience and perseverance. I was reminded of it last week when I learned that U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, has introduced yet another bill to allow the Bay Mills Indian Community develop a casino at the Thomas Edison Inn.
Six past bills - five in the House and one in the Senate - have failed for a variety of reasons. The question now is whether the casino developers, like the Scottish king, will be rewarded for their patience and perseverance, not to mention millions of dollars in legal and lobbying costs.
Here's a look at the issue in question-and-answer format:
Question: What is the status of the latest measure?
Answer: Stupak's bill (H.R. 2176) was introduced May 3 without fanfare and referred to the House Natural Resources Committee, which has taken no action. The measure is co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, whose district includes Port Huron.
Q: Are congressional hearings likely?
A: No requests for a hearing had been made as of midday Friday. There may not be much left to say. On June 24, 2004, the same committee held a hearing on a similar bill introduced by Miller.
Q: What happened then?
A: The bill ultimately was blocked by House Majority Leader Tom Delay, R-Texas, a close friend of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The Saginaw Chippewas, who strongly oppose a Bay Mills casino in Port Huron, earlier had paid Abramoff about $14 million.
Q: Who supports the casino?
A: Mike Malik, a Detroit-based casino syndicator, is orchestrating the effort. The Bay Mills Indian Community of the Upper Peninsula would own it. Port Huron City Council has signed off on the idea, and city voters gave their blessings in an advisory vote six years ago. The measure passed, 3,111 to 2,628.
Q: What's in it for Port Huron?
A: Money and jobs. The city's unemployment rate was 12.1% in April, and that statistic doesn't count jobless workers whose benefits have run out. Promoters say the casino and an adjoining 300-room resort hotel would provide 2,000 to 3,000 jobs. In 2001, voters were promised those jobs would pay union wages.
Voters also were assured the casino would share 5% of its net revenues with the city and 3% with the United Way. If net revenues are $100 million a year, which seems conservative based on revenues at Point Edward, that's $5 million for the city and $3 million for the United Way. Reportedly, the county has been promised a 2% share.
It's interesting to look at literature distributed to voters by pro-casino forces six years ago. They predicted the city would desperately need the additional $5 million a year to pay for its $185 million sewer project. They also predicted McMorran Place would need $12 million in renovations by 2011. Those predictions have come to pass.
Q: Are these shares guaranteed in writing?
A: I don't believe so. Lansing's agreement with Bay Mills does guarantee the state 8% of proceeds from slot machines and other electronic gaming devices.
Q: What is Bay Mills?
A: It's a Chippewa (or Ojibwa) band of about 1,500 people based in Brimley, a town near Sault Ste. Marie. The band tried unsuccessfully to develop a casino at the old Sears building in downtown Port Huron in 1993.
Q: What is the state's agreement with Bay Mills?
A: In 2002, three months before he left office, Gov. John Engler approved a deal letting the tribe develop a casino in Port Huron in exchange for dropping its long-standing claim to 110 acres at Charlotte Beach about 15 miles south of Sault Ste. Marie.
The Soo, a much larger Chippewa band with about 31,000 members, also claimed title to the property. On the day he left office, Engler signed off on a deal giving the Soo (or Sault) the right to develop a casino in Flint, Monroe or Romulus. The Soo chose a site near Metro Airport in the latter city.
Q: Didn't Engler oppose casino gambling?
A: Yes. For years, he was outspoken in his opposition.
Q: Then why would he allow a casino in Port Huron?
A: Former U.S. Rep. David Bonior, a Democrat who represented Port Huron during the Engler years, said the governor was persuaded by fair-trade arguments.
Testifying at a Senate hearing in 2002, Bonior explained: "Port Huron, I would note, is the only U.S-Canadian border crossing in Michigan without a casino to compete. Residents in Port Huron have for years watched as residents of Michigan, about about 5,000 a day, simply cross the Blue Water Bridge with their money to the gaming facility which is located right across the bridge on the river."
Q: Who is Mike Malik and what is his role?
A: He is a Clay Township native who has become wealthy as a close associate of the Ilitch family. In fact, he works out of the Ilitches' offices at the Fox Theatre complex in Detroit.
Malik is the fellow who makes things happen, whether it's hiring lobbyists and lawyers or drumming up local support. He also guided the unsuccessful 1993 effort to place a Bay Mills/Harrah's casino in Port Huron.
For at least 15 years, he has sought to develop a huge marina on Harsens Island. His latest proposal appears to be coordinated with efforts by Matty Moroun, the billionaire owner of the Ambassador Bridge, to build a toll bridge connecting the island and Algonac. Malik and Moroun are next-door neighbors on the lakefront in posh Grosse Pointe Shores.
Q: Who opposes the casino?
A: They tend to fall in three camps - those who oppose gambling in general, those who fear a Port Huron casino would set a bad legal precedent and those who benefit from rival casinos.
Q: And who benefits?
A: You might start with Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, whose city is home to three casinos just 60 miles from Port Huron. He has been a fierce and tenacious opponent. The Saginaw Chippewas, who own a casino in Mount Pleasant, and the Grand Traverse Band, who operate a casino near Traverse City, also have been outspoken foes. In fact, nine of Michigan's 12 federally recognized Indian bands are on record as opposing the Bay Mills/Port Huron project.
As an aside, that's why developer Tony DeFeo's proposal for a casino in Kimball Township seems so far-fetched. His plan requires the approval of all 12 tribes. It's difficult to imagine that happening, although quite a few investors have placed $100,000 bets that it will.
Q: What is the concern about a legal precedent?
A: The Port Huron casino involves the settlement of a land claim. The deal was approved at the state level by Engler. If it's approved by Congress and President Bush, construction could begin within weeks. It circumvents the usual process outlined in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which requires an environmental review and other approvals by the Interior Department.
Also, critics say it's absurd for the Bay Mills band to establish a tribal reserve in Port Huron, which is more than 300 miles from Brimley.
Q: But wasn't there a Chippewa reservation in Port Huron at one time?
A: Yes, 200 years ago - in November 1807 - area tribes agreed to sell their lands south of White Rock in Huron County. As part of the treaty, the Mekadewagamitigweyawininiwak - or "people of the black water river" - were given title to 1,287 acres on the south bank of the Black River in what is now Port Huron. The band sold its reservation about 30 years later.
Today, the descendants of the Indians who lived here are part of the Saginaw band, which opposes the casino.
A bit of trivia: Mekadewagamitigweyawininiwak - a 28-letter tongue-twister - is the longest Indian word recorded in the Handbook of American Indians: North of Mexico, a definitive study of Native Americans compiled a century ago by anthropologist Frederick Webb Hodge of the Smithsonian Institute.
Q: Won't a casino bring crime with it?
A: U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, a retired FBI agent who in April 2004 blocked an amendment for casinos in Romulus and Port Huron, is among those who believe it will. Others disagree and argue a casino is more likely to reduce crime by creating jobs and bolstering the local economy.
In a 2001 memo, Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley reported only 13 police calls in the previous six months at Hiawatha Horse Park and Entertainment Centre. Point Edward's casino, directly across the river from the Edison Inn, has reported no major problems with crime.
Sarnia and Point Edward have vibrant economies, and gambling seems to have generated jobs and revenues as promised with no adverse effect on crime rates.
Q: Why not develop a casino downtown or on the Acheson property instead of at the Edison Inn?
A: Port Huron voters approved locating the casino anywhere within the city limits, but the agreement made with Engler in August 2002 limits Bay Mills to the Edison Inn parcel. Changing the site would require the tribe to negotiate with Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a former Wayne County administrator with close ties to Mayor Kilpatrick and his family. That seems neither prudent nor likely.
Q: What happens next with the bill?
A: It's hard to say with certainty. It could be attached to a larger piece of legislation. From Port Huron's perspective, it helps that the leaders of the Natural Resources Committee - Rep. Nick Joe Rahall, D-W.Va., and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska - strongly support it.
Q: Why is that?
A: They argue it's a local issue. In the 2004 hearing, Rahall and Young made it clear that outsiders should not be allowed to overrule Congresswoman Miller in deciding what is best for her district.
At one point, Young told Rogers: "It appears to me, with 20 casinos in Michigan, it is those that have the casinos now (who) are ganging up against those that do not have and saying this in an inappropriate thing to do. And to me, that is really not quite cricket."
Q: What is the prospect of Senate approval?
A: U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, has been a strong supporter. She has said a casino might help compensate the city for the tax base and population losses likely from the proposed half-billion-dollar expansion of the bridge customs plaza.
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, one of the most influential figures on Capital Hill, has not opposed the casino, but he has not agreed to sponsor the measure either. To Washington insiders, that suggests his support is lukewarm at best.
Larry Thornton, a retired official with the railroad carmen's union, recently wrote Levin and asked the senator to help get the bill to the president's desk. Thornton argued St. Clair County desperately needs the jobs.
In his response, Levin seemed ambivalent. His letter closed with this passage:
"I believe decisions regarding gaming should be made at the local level, through city or county resolutions where the voices of those who would be directly affected by the final decision can be heard. At the same time, lawmakers at both the state and federal level must not overlook the fact that Michigan has the second largest number of casinos in the U.S. Should this rate persist, the market in Michigan will become so saturated that the economic benefits which result from tribal gaming initiatives will be lost."
Mike Connell is a columnist for the Times Herald. He can be reached at (810) 989-6259 or mconnell@gannett.com
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