The Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) refused to grant Michael Malik a license as a partner of MotorCity Casino in 1999. He has failed to win any other license from the MGCB since. Malik has never been licensed to manage a casino and given his past history isn't likely to receive a license.
Malik claims his Blue Water Resorts LLC would have a multi-million dollar management contract for a Bay Mills Casino in Port Huron and would be paid 30% of net-win revenues for seven years . If the MGCB wouldn't license Malik, what makes anyone think that the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) would approve a management contract under Malik's control?
This suggests that Malik is fronting for some other interests (maybe Marian Ilitch, Las Vegas players, Kerzner & Wolman, etc.) who will step in and purchase the management contract from Malik before he has to go before the NIGC.
It wouldn't be politically expedient today for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, reportedly a staunch opponent of any Port Huron casino, to see that Marian Ilitch, the proprietor of the Detroit's MotorCity Casino, is bankrolling the Port Huron casino proposal today; but if history repeats itself, Malik could avoid scrutiny by the NIGC by selling the Blue Water Resorts LLC mangement contract to Marian Ilitch or some other entity controlled by Ilitch Holdings, Inc. when and if he ever gets the many approvals needed to build a Bay Mills Indian Community casino in Port Huron.
The question is ... who is Michael Malik fronting for in Port Huron -- Ilitch or someone else -- and what implications does that secret have for Port Huron?
It was revealed this past year that Michael Malik's former MotorCity Casino partner Herb Strather (he also failed to receive a license from the MGCB back in 1999) has been fronting in Massachusetts for big time casino operators Sol Kerzner and Len Wolman.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
The Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians is located 355 miles from Romulus, MI
According to Google, the existing reservation of the The Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians (Sault Ste Marie, MI) is located approximately 355 miles away from the proposed site of its off-reservation casino in Romulus (H.R. 4115). The Romulus site is outside the tribe's traditional ancestral territory.
Bay Mills Indian Community is located 350+ miles from Port Huron, MI
According to Google, the existing reservation of the Bay Mills Indian Community (Brimley, MI) is located some 351 miles away from the proposed site of a Port Huron casino on property where the Thomas Edison Inn is currently located (H.R. 2176). The Port Huron site is outside the tribe's traditional ancestral territory.Time for an updated advisory vote on Port Huron casino schemes?
In a June 26, 2001 advisory vote, City of Port Huron voters said they supported plans for a casino to be developed on the site of the Thomas Edison Inn. Now Michigan's Governor Jennifer Granholm has renegotiated terms of an agreement -- previously negotiated by former Governor John Engler -- with the Bay Mills Indian Community regarding the tribe's proposed Port Huron casino resort. Among other changes, the agreement would give the tribe the option of building a casino on an alternative site in Port Huron. The Bay Mills Indian Community currently has two casinos on its Brimley, Michigan reservation.
Given that the last advisory vote was held nearly seven years ago and that the new plans would allow the Bay Mills Indian Community to develop a casino on an alternative site; wouldn't it be advisable for proponents of the casino to allow voters to weigh in on the modified plans in another advisory vote that could be added to one of Port Huron's upcoming 2008 ballots?
Further, does it might make sense to extend the advisory ballot measure to voters throughout St. Clair County who will be impacted by the proposed casino?
Given that the last advisory vote was held nearly seven years ago and that the new plans would allow the Bay Mills Indian Community to develop a casino on an alternative site; wouldn't it be advisable for proponents of the casino to allow voters to weigh in on the modified plans in another advisory vote that could be added to one of Port Huron's upcoming 2008 ballots?
Further, does it might make sense to extend the advisory ballot measure to voters throughout St. Clair County who will be impacted by the proposed casino?
Gannett news outlet acknowledges impact of TheVerifiableTruth.com
as published in Gannett's Port Huron Times Herald 1.27.08:
Article published Jan 27, 2008
Casino foes are well-heeled
...The Verifiable Truth
The Verifiable Truth, a 14-month-old Web site, is relentless in its criticism of casino developers Mike Malik and Marian Ilitch.
Aides to Malik said they suspect the site is the work of lobbying firms and wealthy Indian tribes that wish to block potential competition from poorer tribes. They suggested the site is too professionally done and is privy to too much insider information to be the work of an unpaid grassroots group.
In an e-mail, Web site spokesman Frank Lee wrote: "There are no lobbying firms associated with TVT. TVT has not received funding from any tribe. The Ilitch/Malik machine will say anything in order to create a boogeyman to blame for its own circumstances."
Lee also described The Verifiable Truth as "a collection of citizen volunteers from around the country who have seen the Ilitch/Malik machine at work and who wish to ensure that the public has all the information that the Ilitch/Malik machine fails to disclose, share or effectively supresses."
It's difficult to ascertain the truth. Frank Lee apparently is an pseudonym, and the people who run the site have not revealed their real names or affiliations.
Foes of the Port Huron Casino?
1.27.08
Casino foes are well-heeled
Saginaw Chippewa
The Saginaw Chippewa casino at Mount Pleasant is the largest and most profitable gaming facility in Michigan, and a casino in Port Huron would offer potential competition.
The tribe also accuses the Bay Mills Chippewa of "reservation shopping" on its ancestral lands. The Saginaw tribe's membership includes descendants of the Blackwater River band, which had a 1,287-acre reservation from 1807 to 1836 in what is now Port Huron. Bay Mills is based on the shores of Lake Superior.
The Saginaw tribe has spent liberally to block a Port Huron casino, including more than $14 million to Jack Abramoff, the disgraced Republican lobbyist who is serving a seven-year term in federal prison. One of his major assignments was fighting the Port Huron casino on Capitol Hill.
Other Indian Tribes
At least nine of Michigan's 12 federally recognized tribes are opposed to the Port Huron casino.
George Bennett, a member of the Grand Traverse band's tribal council, said the legitimacy of the Charlotte Beach land claims has never been upheld in court despite state and federal cases. In testimony at a 2004 congressional hearing, he also described the Engler-Bay Mills deal as an end run around the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
He also argued that the deal circumvents a 15-year-old compact that prohibits an off-reservation casino unless all 12 tribes sign off on it. "The Michigan tribes pledged not to engage in a form of economic warfare that would ultimately injure all of them," he testified. "They promised not to engage in an endless game of attempting to leapfrog over one another in moving closer to major population centers while cutting off revenues to their less aggressive brethren."
Ietan Consulting Group
Specializing in Indian law and lobbying, Ietan represents 30 tribes including the Saginaw Chippewa. Its co-founders are Wilson Pipestem, a Stanford Law graduate and member of the Otoe-Missouria tribe of Oklahoma, and Larry Rosenthal, a Flint native who worked for more than 11 years as an aide to U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Flint.
While on Kildee's staff, Rosenthal was an architect of the Congressional Native American Caucus, a bipartisan group that includes 99 of the House of Representatives's 435 members.
Ietan's lobbying team also includes Aurene Martin, a member of the Wisconsin Oneida tribe and formerly a high-ranking official with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She testified on the agency's behalf at congressional hearings on the Port Huron casino in 2002 and 2004. In both instances, she explained why the department could not support the project.
MGM Mirage
With annual revenues in excess of $7 billion, the Las Vegas-based corporation is Nevada's biggest employer and one of the world's most profitable gaming companies. Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian and his Tracinda Corp. are the majority owners.
The corporation has invested more than $800 million in MGM Grand Detroit, the most profitable of Detroit's three casinos. MGM views Port Huron as potential competition and spent $180,000 last year to lobby against it. Its lobbyists include Kai Anderson, former deputy chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
The Verifiable Truth
The Verifiable Truth, a 14-month-old Web site, is relentless in its criticism of casino developers Mike Malik and Marian Ilitch.
Aides to Malik said they suspect the site is the work of lobbying firms and wealthy Indian tribes that wish to block potential competition from poorer tribes. They suggested the site is too professionally done and is privy to too much insider information to be the work of an unpaid grassroots group.
In an e-mail, Web site spokesman Frank Lee wrote: "There are no lobbying firms associated with TVT. TVT has not received funding from any tribe. The Ilitch/Malik machine will say anything in order to create a boogeyman to blame for its own circumstances."
Lee also described The Verifiable Truth as "a collection of citizen volunteers from around the country who have seen the Ilitch/Malik machine at work and who wish to ensure that the public has all the information that the Ilitch/Malik machine fails to disclose, share or effectively supresses."
It's difficult to ascertain the truth. Frank Lee apparently is an pseudonym, and the people who run the site have not revealed their real names or affiliations.
City of Detroit
For the past five years, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been an implacable opponent of the Port Huron proposal. In a November letter to the House Natural Resources Committee, he noted casino gambling has generated about 9,000 jobs in Detroit.
"These jobs meet the original goal that the people of the State of Michigan endorsed when the casinos were approved (in 1994) - economic self-sufficiency for Detroit," he wrote. "Any expansion of off-reservation gaming will not only compromise the economic strides that we've made, but will also contradict the will and intent of Michigan voters."
Kilpatrick reportedly has been promised the opening spot during testimony Feb. 6 when the committee expects to vote on a bill that would pave the way for a Port Huron casino to open as early as 2009. Kilpatrick is facing a perjury investigation, and it's unknown if his growing troubles will affect his plans to testify before Congress.
Congressional Opposition
In the past six years, several Port Huron casino bills have appeared in the House while only one has been introduced in the Senate. The latter was blocked in 2002 by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., now the Senate majority leader and arguably the most powerful individual on Capitol Hill. Nevada's three House members also oppose Port Huron.
Detroit's two representatives, John Conyers and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, are fierce opponents. Kilpatrick is the mayor's mother and chairwoman of the influential Congressional Black Caucus. In November, she succeeded in delaying a scheduled vote on the Port Huron project.
Other opponents include former Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, an Abramoff friend who single-handedly spiked a Port Huron bill in 2005, and Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, who questions the morality of casino gambling. Michigan's congressional delegation includes 15 House members - nine Republicans and six Democrats. Most either oppose the Port Huron casino or are lukewarm to it.
A key player is Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Flint, who has taken a neutral position on the latest Port Huron bill. Kildee is co-chairman of the Congressional Native American Caucus and a long-time ally of the Saginaw Chippewa. His neutrality is a switch from his past opposition.
- Compiled by Mike Connell
Boldrey apparently obtained a conflict-of-interest waiver from Governor Granholm allowing him to represent casino promoter
When did Lance Boldrey, a Michigan attorney with the firm Dykema 
Gossett and one-time counselor for Indian affairs matters in the administration of former Governor John Engler receive the conflict-of-interest waiver noted in today's Port Huron Times Herald article, "Casino fight turns fierce, ugly?"
Gossett and one-time counselor for Indian affairs matters in the administration of former Governor John Engler receive the conflict-of-interest waiver noted in today's Port Huron Times Herald article, "Casino fight turns fierce, ugly?"...lawyer Lance Boldrey drafted the original Bay Mills land-settlement agreement as a legal adviser to Gov. John Engler. After Engler left office, Boldrey took a job with Dykema-Gossett, a prominent Detroit law firm.
In his new role, Boldrey is advising casino developer Mike Malik, who's positioned to make tens of millions of dollars in management fees if Bay Mills opens a Port Huron casino.
Under the Michigan Bar's code of ethics, Boldrey would be allowed to advise Malik only if he first obtained a waiver from Engler's successor, Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
Liz Boyd, the governor's press secretary, confirmed that Boldrey indeed has obtained such a waiver.
Port Huron casino fight turns fierce, ugly
1.27.08
Casino fight turns fierce, ugly
Officials, lawyers deny conflicts of interest in battle
By MIKE CONNELL
Times Herald
In 10 days, a congressional committee is expected to vote on legislation meant to clear the path for a tribal casino in Port Huron.
The hearing, scheduled for Feb. 6 before the House Natural Resources Committee, is the latest battleground in a prolonged fight where the stakes - potentially hundreds of millions of dollars - are incredibly high, and where the behind-the-scenes brawling can seem incredibly vicious.
As an illustration of the metaphorical knife fighting, the case of Aurene Martin is instructive.
A member of the Wisconsin Oneida tribe, she majored in history, culture and Italian at universities in Madison, Wis., and Bologna, Italy. She returned home, earned a law degree in Madison in 1993 and then went to work in the public sector for a decade.
Friends and colleagues describe her as a soft-spoken intellectual, a person of the highest ethics and integrity. Last year, her peers voted her to a list of the nation's leading experts on Indian law.
“She’s a genuinely nice person, too,” added Wilson Pipestem, a co-founder of Ietan Consulting, the lobbying firm where Martin now works.
Feeling blindsided
Compare this person to the one described by an ex-mayor of Port Huron and a local labor leader, who remember feeling ambushed by Martin at a 2004 congressional hearing on the proposed casino.
“We were under the impression that she was going to speak in favor of the Port Huron casino. Definitely,” said B. Mark Neal, the former mayor.
Richard Cummings, president of the Michigan Machinists and a founding member of the Thomas Edison Casino Advisory Committee, said he also expected an Interior Department endorsement.
“I just thought it was a foregone conclusion, dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s,” he recalled.
Martin, then the principal deputy assistant secretary for Indian affairs, thanked the Natural Resources Committee for inviting her to testify and then said, “As discussed in our written testimony, the department is not currently able to support the bills as they are written.”
Neal and Cummings remember listening with astonishment as Martin offered a litany of objections to proposed casinos in Port Huron and Romulus.
“I remember walking out of there wondering, ‘Where did that come from?’” Neal said.
Staying consistent
A central question is whether Cummings and Neal, who had been invited to the 2004 hearing to testify in support of the casino, had been misled by lobbyists on their side of the battlelines.
Larry Rosenthal, the other co-founder of Ietan Consulting, said the Interior Department has been consistent in its objections to the Port Huron proposal. He said it’s preposterous to think the Bureau of Indian Affairs, an agency within the Interior Department, was ready to endorse the casino.
“Who told them Interior would support it?” he asked. “Who is this unnamed person?”
In fact, Martin’s testimony in 2004 echoed many of the comments she had made two years earlier while testifying at a similar hearing before a Senate committee.
In a telephone interview, Martin said she does not question the Port Huron men’s memories or sincerity, but she also said they were wrong. Interior Department officials did not support the casino, she said, and her testimony merely reflected the position of her colleagues at the agency.
Officials, lawyers deny conflicts of interest in battle
By MIKE CONNELL
Times Herald
In 10 days, a congressional committee is expected to vote on legislation meant to clear the path for a tribal casino in Port Huron.
The hearing, scheduled for Feb. 6 before the House Natural Resources Committee, is the latest battleground in a prolonged fight where the stakes - potentially hundreds of millions of dollars - are incredibly high, and where the behind-the-scenes brawling can seem incredibly vicious.
As an illustration of the metaphorical knife fighting, the case of Aurene Martin is instructive.
A member of the Wisconsin Oneida tribe, she majored in history, culture and Italian at universities in Madison, Wis., and Bologna, Italy. She returned home, earned a law degree in Madison in 1993 and then went to work in the public sector for a decade.
Friends and colleagues describe her as a soft-spoken intellectual, a person of the highest ethics and integrity. Last year, her peers voted her to a list of the nation's leading experts on Indian law.
“She’s a genuinely nice person, too,” added Wilson Pipestem, a co-founder of Ietan Consulting, the lobbying firm where Martin now works.
Feeling blindsided
Compare this person to the one described by an ex-mayor of Port Huron and a local labor leader, who remember feeling ambushed by Martin at a 2004 congressional hearing on the proposed casino.
“We were under the impression that she was going to speak in favor of the Port Huron casino. Definitely,” said B. Mark Neal, the former mayor.
Richard Cummings, president of the Michigan Machinists and a founding member of the Thomas Edison Casino Advisory Committee, said he also expected an Interior Department endorsement.
“I just thought it was a foregone conclusion, dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s,” he recalled.
Martin, then the principal deputy assistant secretary for Indian affairs, thanked the Natural Resources Committee for inviting her to testify and then said, “As discussed in our written testimony, the department is not currently able to support the bills as they are written.”
Neal and Cummings remember listening with astonishment as Martin offered a litany of objections to proposed casinos in Port Huron and Romulus.
“I remember walking out of there wondering, ‘Where did that come from?’” Neal said.
Staying consistent
A central question is whether Cummings and Neal, who had been invited to the 2004 hearing to testify in support of the casino, had been misled by lobbyists on their side of the battlelines.
Larry Rosenthal, the other co-founder of Ietan Consulting, said the Interior Department has been consistent in its objections to the Port Huron proposal. He said it’s preposterous to think the Bureau of Indian Affairs, an agency within the Interior Department, was ready to endorse the casino.
“Who told them Interior would support it?” he asked. “Who is this unnamed person?”
In fact, Martin’s testimony in 2004 echoed many of the comments she had made two years earlier while testifying at a similar hearing before a Senate committee.
In a telephone interview, Martin said she does not question the Port Huron men’s memories or sincerity, but she also said they were wrong. Interior Department officials did not support the casino, she said, and her testimony merely reflected the position of her colleagues at the agency.
“I understand they felt blindsided,” she said of Cummings and Neal. “People can take things from conversations that they want to take. That’s one thing. Or they can be spun by their own people. … I don’t know what happened there. I’m not sure why they thought they were going to get a positive report.”
Inside information
Jeff Parker, the leader of the Bay Mills Indian Community, also testified at the 2004 hearing. His tribe and its 1,300 members would own the Port Huron casino if Congress approves its agreement with the state of Michigan.
Martin now works as a registered lobbyist for the Saginaw Chippewa, a rival tribe that has spent freely, including $14 million to disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, on political efforts such as its quest to block a Port Huron casino.
“She had access to all the inside information that we shared with the (Bureau of Indian Affairs),” Parker said of Martin.
That might appear to pose an ethical dilemma, but Interior Department officials who reviewed the matter last week at the Times Herald’s request said Martin did nothing wrong.
“What I can tell you is there is an exemption from any post-employment restrictions for anyone who is working for a federally recognized tribe,” said Tina Kreisher, director of communications for the Interior Department. “No recusal was needed. … There was no need for any kind of waiver since she is working for a federally recognized tribe.”
In short, Martin violated no agency rules. She broke no federal laws.
Inquiry clears staff
Three months after the 2004 hearing, Martin resigned from the agency amid another controversy.
Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., sharply criticized her decision to acknowledge the Schaghticoke band as a federally recognized tribe.
According to Indianz.com, a Web site that covers Indian-related issues, Connecticut officials feared that Frederick DeLuca, co-founder of the Subway restaurant chain, and other wealthy investors seeking a casino had asked Martin to bend the rules.
Earl Devaney, the Interior Department’s inspector general and a Bush administration appointee, investigated the matter. He found no evidence of wrongdoing by Martin or anyone else at the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
“Although the Schaghticoke recognition decision was highly controversial, we found that (Martin and her colleagues) conducted themselves in keeping with the requirements of the administrative process," he concluded.
Memo gets leaked
A year later, Martin found herself back in the headlines as the result of an internal memorandum sent to the Saginaw tribe on Sept. 27, 2005.
At the time, Martin worked as an Indian law specialist for Holland & Knight, one of the world's 15 largest law firms. She co-wrote the memo with Rosenthal, the Ietan lobbyist. They detailed plans for the tribe to distribute more than $300,000 in political donations in the upcoming year.
While such memos are not unusual in Washington, they rarely become public. This one did. Supporters of a maverick Saginaw Chippewa leader posted the memo on a Web site, where it was picked up by The Hill, a newspaper that covers Congress.
The long list of recommended contributions included $5,000 to Rep. Charles Taylor, R-N.C., who Martin and Rosenthal described as "helpful" on blocking casinos in Romulus and Port Huron, and $2,000 to Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, who "has been very helpful" on the same front.
Martin later would leave Holland & Knight to join Rosenthal at Ietan.
Bar rules are strict
Parker's concern about Martin having access to confidential information that he said Bay Mills shared with the Bureau of Indian Affairs raises another ethical question: Is it proper for her to lobby for the Saginaw Chippewa, a tribe that is implacably opposed to Bay Mills' casino plans?
Martin is a member of the D.C. and Wisconsin bar associations. In a telephone interview, a legal ethics adviser for the District of Columbia Bar made it clear he would not comment on any particular person or situation.
The adviser, Saul Singer, did offer a general overview of the bar association's rules. "The confidentiality rule is very broad," he said. "The obligation to keep client's secrets is very broad."
If the rules are strict, they also may be moot in this matter.
"I was never acting as their attorney," Martin said of Bay Mills, "or as an attorney for the United States."
'This is so unfair'
Rosenthal, a Flint native, worked as an aide to U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Flint, for more than 11 years. During that time, he helped create the influential Congressional Native American Caucus, a bipartisan group that now includes 99 of the House's 435 members.
Rosenthal said he's well aware that casino infighting gets ugly, but he also said a newspaper article about Martin's role in the Port Huron casino effort is unjustified and unfair.
"She hasn't done one thing wrong," he said. "You talked to ethics experts (at the Interior Department). They told you she hasn't done anything. This is so unfair."
Career springboards
If Martin used a government job as a springboard to better-paying positions in the private sector, so have members of Port Huron's lobbying team.
For example, lawyer Lance Boldrey drafted the original Bay Mills land-settlement agreement as a legal adviser to Gov. John Engler. After Engler left office, Boldrey took a job with Dykema-Gossett, a prominent Detroit law firm.
In his new role, Boldrey is advising casino developer Mike Malik, who's positioned to make tens of millions of dollars in management fees if Bay Mills opens a Port Huron casino.
Under the Michigan Bar's code of ethics, Boldrey would be allowed to advise Malik only if he first obtained a waiver from Engler's successor, Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
Liz Boyd, the governor's press secretary, confirmed that Boldrey indeed has obtained such a waiver.
A year later, Martin found herself back in the headlines as the result of an internal memorandum sent to the Saginaw tribe on Sept. 27, 2005.
At the time, Martin worked as an Indian law specialist for Holland & Knight, one of the world's 15 largest law firms. She co-wrote the memo with Rosenthal, the Ietan lobbyist. They detailed plans for the tribe to distribute more than $300,000 in political donations in the upcoming year.
While such memos are not unusual in Washington, they rarely become public. This one did. Supporters of a maverick Saginaw Chippewa leader posted the memo on a Web site, where it was picked up by The Hill, a newspaper that covers Congress.
The long list of recommended contributions included $5,000 to Rep. Charles Taylor, R-N.C., who Martin and Rosenthal described as "helpful" on blocking casinos in Romulus and Port Huron, and $2,000 to Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, who "has been very helpful" on the same front.
Martin later would leave Holland & Knight to join Rosenthal at Ietan.
Bar rules are strict
Parker's concern about Martin having access to confidential information that he said Bay Mills shared with the Bureau of Indian Affairs raises another ethical question: Is it proper for her to lobby for the Saginaw Chippewa, a tribe that is implacably opposed to Bay Mills' casino plans?
Martin is a member of the D.C. and Wisconsin bar associations. In a telephone interview, a legal ethics adviser for the District of Columbia Bar made it clear he would not comment on any particular person or situation.
The adviser, Saul Singer, did offer a general overview of the bar association's rules. "The confidentiality rule is very broad," he said. "The obligation to keep client's secrets is very broad."
If the rules are strict, they also may be moot in this matter.
"I was never acting as their attorney," Martin said of Bay Mills, "or as an attorney for the United States."
'This is so unfair'
Rosenthal, a Flint native, worked as an aide to U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Flint, for more than 11 years. During that time, he helped create the influential Congressional Native American Caucus, a bipartisan group that now includes 99 of the House's 435 members.
Rosenthal said he's well aware that casino infighting gets ugly, but he also said a newspaper article about Martin's role in the Port Huron casino effort is unjustified and unfair.
"She hasn't done one thing wrong," he said. "You talked to ethics experts (at the Interior Department). They told you she hasn't done anything. This is so unfair."
Career springboards
If Martin used a government job as a springboard to better-paying positions in the private sector, so have members of Port Huron's lobbying team.
For example, lawyer Lance Boldrey drafted the original Bay Mills land-settlement agreement as a legal adviser to Gov. John Engler. After Engler left office, Boldrey took a job with Dykema-Gossett, a prominent Detroit law firm.
In his new role, Boldrey is advising casino developer Mike Malik, who's positioned to make tens of millions of dollars in management fees if Bay Mills opens a Port Huron casino.
Under the Michigan Bar's code of ethics, Boldrey would be allowed to advise Malik only if he first obtained a waiver from Engler's successor, Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
Liz Boyd, the governor's press secretary, confirmed that Boldrey indeed has obtained such a waiver.
Note: apparently there was more to this article, including assertions made about TVT, in print format but the staff at the Port Huron Times Herald has failed to translate the entire article when posting on the Web.
Port Huron casino promoter fined for breaking California's political reform laws; denied a casino license in Michigan
Michael J. Malik, Sr., the promoter behind the Bay Mills casino proposal for Port Huron, Michigan, was fined in 2006 for breaking California's political reform laws by failing to report a $26,500 casino-related contribution in 2004; and it's believed that Malik has been under investigation in California since Spring 2007 for breaking similar laws in 2006.
California's Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) fined BarWest L.L.C. (a casino syndicate controlled by Michael J. Malik and Mrs. Marian Ilitch) on two counts of failing to comply with California's political reform laws.
Malik had failed to report that his Detroit-based BarWest L.L.C. made a contribution of $26,600 in October 2004 to the San Joaquin County GOP Committee. As it was, then-GOP Congressman Richard Pombo, who also happened to be chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee that oversees Indian gaming matters, was from San Joaquin County. Malik paid a fine of $6,500.
As that 2004-2006 investigation was coming to a conclusion, Michael Malik was again making other contributions to the campaign committees of individual members of the California legislature (primarily between July 1, 2006 and December 31, 2006) and failing once again to report those contributions as required under California's political reform laws. In fact, it appears Malik may have contribute $25,000 or more to 15 or more political committees during that time and failed to report those contributions as a major donor under California law.
TVT understands the FPPC has been conducting an investigation for the better part of 2007 into Malik's failure to report these contributions and other matters involving payments by BarWest LLC, Michael Malik and lobbyists (Capitol Ventures, Roseville; Governmental Advocates, Inc.) Malik employed in California.
One must consider that if Mr. Malik blatantly violated political campaign laws in California, it's possible he has also been violating political reform laws and lobbying disclosures in Michigan, New York, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere.
Certainly if California's FPPC finds Malik and his associates violated laws once again in California, it would be responsible for authorities in other states and Washington, D.C. where Malik is involved with political contributions and lobbying payments to investigate his giving practices.
Mike Malik has partnered with Marian Ilitch and the Ilitch family on various casino syndications and development projects over the last 15 years. However, Malik failed to win approval for a gaming license in Michigan in 1999 and was forced to transfer his shares in Detroit's MotorCity Casino to Marian Ilitch. Since then, throughout their various partnerships, Malik appears to have played the role of political "bag-man" or "bad cop" to Marian Ilitch's "good cop."
Some suggest Mike Malik plays the role of Marian Ilitch's "Consigliere." It has been reported that there is a doorway that connects Malik's office to Marian Ilitch's office providing him with direct access into her private domain.
A business venture that involves Michael Malik and the Bay Mills Indian Community, a federally funded enterprise involved in the research and manufacturing of plastic parts and devices, is rumored to be under investigation by the FBI.
It would seem appropriate for the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) to revisit Mr. Malik's close association and affiliation with Marian Ilitch and the Ilitch Family.
California's Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) fined BarWest L.L.C. (a casino syndicate controlled by Michael J. Malik and Mrs. Marian Ilitch) on two counts of failing to comply with California's political reform laws.
Malik had failed to report that his Detroit-based BarWest L.L.C. made a contribution of $26,600 in October 2004 to the San Joaquin County GOP Committee. As it was, then-GOP Congressman Richard Pombo, who also happened to be chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee that oversees Indian gaming matters, was from San Joaquin County. Malik paid a fine of $6,500.
As that 2004-2006 investigation was coming to a conclusion, Michael Malik was again making other contributions to the campaign committees of individual members of the California legislature (primarily between July 1, 2006 and December 31, 2006) and failing once again to report those contributions as required under California's political reform laws. In fact, it appears Malik may have contribute $25,000 or more to 15 or more political committees during that time and failed to report those contributions as a major donor under California law.
TVT understands the FPPC has been conducting an investigation for the better part of 2007 into Malik's failure to report these contributions and other matters involving payments by BarWest LLC, Michael Malik and lobbyists (Capitol Ventures, Roseville; Governmental Advocates, Inc.) Malik employed in California.
One must consider that if Mr. Malik blatantly violated political campaign laws in California, it's possible he has also been violating political reform laws and lobbying disclosures in Michigan, New York, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere.
Certainly if California's FPPC finds Malik and his associates violated laws once again in California, it would be responsible for authorities in other states and Washington, D.C. where Malik is involved with political contributions and lobbying payments to investigate his giving practices.
Mike Malik has partnered with Marian Ilitch and the Ilitch family on various casino syndications and development projects over the last 15 years. However, Malik failed to win approval for a gaming license in Michigan in 1999 and was forced to transfer his shares in Detroit's MotorCity Casino to Marian Ilitch. Since then, throughout their various partnerships, Malik appears to have played the role of political "bag-man" or "bad cop" to Marian Ilitch's "good cop."
Some suggest Mike Malik plays the role of Marian Ilitch's "Consigliere." It has been reported that there is a doorway that connects Malik's office to Marian Ilitch's office providing him with direct access into her private domain.
A business venture that involves Michael Malik and the Bay Mills Indian Community, a federally funded enterprise involved in the research and manufacturing of plastic parts and devices, is rumored to be under investigation by the FBI.
It would seem appropriate for the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) to revisit Mr. Malik's close association and affiliation with Marian Ilitch and the Ilitch Family.
Who's behind the off-reservation casino proposed for Port Huron?
1.27.08
Casino support includes regional political leaders
People of Port Huron
In a referendum 6½ years ago, 54.2% of Port Huron voters approved the idea of locating a tribal casino within the city limits. The advisory vote had been urged by Don Reynolds, co- owner of the Thomas Edison Inn, and Richard Cummings, then the president of the local AFL-CIO labor council. They saw a casino as a way to create jobs in a struggling city with a double-digit unemployment rate. They also observed that Port Huron remains the only community on the U.S.-Canadian border where a casino exists on the Canadian side without competition on the American shore.
Following the 2001 referendum, the casino won the endorsement of the Port Huron City Council, the St. Clair County Board of Commissioners and the local legislative delegation. No organized local opposition has emerged.
Bay Mills Indian Community
Although it is one of Michigan's oldest federally recognized tribes, Bay Mills has only about 1,300 members. Many of its original members broke away in the 1970s to form the Sault Chippewa, now Michigan's largest tribe with about 31,000 members. Bay Mills is based at Brimley, a town in Chippewa County in the eastern Upper Peninsula. The tribe operates two casinos near Lake Superior.
In August 2002, Bay Mills and Republican Gov. John Engler agreed to settle a dispute that dates to the 1850s when Michigan Gov. Kinsley Bingham promised the tribe a 110-acre parcel at Charlotte Beach on the St. Mary River. Despite that pledge, the property was seized by local officials for back taxes and sold off.
The deal with Engler called for Bay Mills to abandon its claim to the 110 acres, where dozens of families own homes, in exchange for the 12½-acre Edison Inn property in Port Huron. The Edison parcel in effect would become a mini-reservation, land held in trust for the tribe by the Interior Department. The land-settlement agreement still requires congressional approval. A bill that would do that sits in the House Natural Resources Committee, where a vote is scheduled for Feb. 6.
Blue Water Resorts
Blue Water Resorts LLC is led by casino developer Mike Malik, a former Algonac city councilman. He first tried to develop a casino in Port Huron in 1993, when city voters narrowly rejected his plan to convert the old Sears store on Michigan Avenue into a gaming facility that would have been owned by Bay Mills and operated by Harrah's.
In 1995, Malik and Tom Celani bankrolled the campaign in support of Proposal E, the statewide ballot proposal that led to three commercial casinos in Detroit. Malik and another partner, billionaire Marian Ilitch, won the rights to develop one of those casinos. When Malik was disqualified from being licensed as a casino proprietor, reportedly because of tax problems, he sold his interest in the MotorCity Casino to Ilitch.
Malik and Ilitch have worked together on other casino proposals in the Upper Peninsula, Hawaii, California and Long Island. Ilitch has said she supports the Port Huron casino but has no financial interest in it.
Thus far, Malik has spent millions of dollars in lobbying, legal, architectural and other fees. It's a roll of the dice. If the Port Huron proposal fails, he loses the money. If the casino opens, Blue Water Resorts stands to receive 30% of net-win revenues for seven years through a management contract with Bay Mills. Depending on how successful the casino is, Malik's seven-year share could be in the neighborhood of a half-billion dollars.
Lobbyist Alan Wheat
The lobbying firm founded a decade ago by Alan Wheat, a former Missouri congressman, leads a large team hired by Bay Mills and Malik to secure a Port Huron casino. Wheat, who served as deputy director of President Clinton's re-election campaign in 1996, is well-connected in Washington. Federal lobbying reports indicate his firm has been paid more than $1 million since 2002 to lobby for the casino.
Congressional supporters
In 2002, the original legislation to allow a Port Huron casino was introduced in the Senate by Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, and in the House by David Bonior, D-Mount Clemens. Stabenow has remained a staunch ally of the Port Huron proposal, while Bonior gave up his position as the No. 2 Democrat in the House to make an unsuccessful run for governor in the 2002 elections.
Bonior's seat was claimed by Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, who has championed the Port Huron proposal even though she is not a fan of casino gambling. Echoing Bonior, she justifies the project using economic and fair-trade arguments: Gambling already exists in the larger community, and Port Huron should be allowed to compete with the two gaming facilities on the Canadian side of the St. Clair River.
Sen. Carl Levin, a former Detroit city councilman, took no position on the Port Huron casino for many years. Last July, he came out in support of the project. Levin, D-Detroit, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is one of the most powerful figures on Capitol Hill. Without his endorsement, the project had virtually no chance of success.
The bill that would allow a Port Huron casino was introduced eight months ago by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, whose Upper Peninsula district include Bay Mills' tribal lands. Miller and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., co-sponsored Stupak bill. Kennedy's support is seen as critical because he and Rep. Dale Kildee of Flint are co-chairmen of the 99-member Congressional Native American Caucus.
Others who have spoken in favor of a Port Huron casino are Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, the leaders of the House Natural Resources Committee. Their position has been that Miller knows what is best for her district.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm
Until two months ago, it was widely assumed that the governor would not endorse the Port Huron casino.
From 1994 until 1998, when she was elected attorney general, Granholm worked as the top legal adviser to Wayne County Executive Ed McNamara, the boss of Michigan's most powerful political machine. In that role, she worked closely with Bernard Kilpatrick, who was McNamara's chief of staff. His wife and son, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, are outspoken opponents of the Port Huron casino.
Granholm came out in favor of the Port Huron casino after modifying the Engler agreement. Aides said her support is based on two factors - the millions a casino would pump into the coffers of the cash-strapped state government and her desire to use tourism as an engine to drive Port Huron's moribund economy. The new deal also gives Bay Mills the option of locating the casino at a 19.6-acre site at the foot of Court Street in Desmond Landing.
Sault Chippewa
When Engler and Bay Mills struck their agreement in August 2002, the Sault immediately condemned the deal as reservation shopping. The tribe also noted its own claim to Charlotte Beach.
The Sault changed its position four months later. On his final day in office, Engler reached a similar settlement with the tribe, which owns the Greektown Casino in Detroit. The Sault agreed to give up its Charlotte Beach claim in exchange for a casino in either Romulus, Flint or southern Monroe County.
The Sault chose a site near Metro Airport in Romulus. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, a powerful lawmaker who has served in Congress since 1955, is sponsoring legislation for the Romulus casino. His bill also is scheduled for a Feb. 6 vote.
It is widely believed that MGM Mirage and Detroit lobbyists are far more worried about the prospect of a casino in Romulus than in Port Huron.
- Compiled by Mike Connell
People of Port Huron
In a referendum 6½ years ago, 54.2% of Port Huron voters approved the idea of locating a tribal casino within the city limits. The advisory vote had been urged by Don Reynolds, co- owner of the Thomas Edison Inn, and Richard Cummings, then the president of the local AFL-CIO labor council. They saw a casino as a way to create jobs in a struggling city with a double-digit unemployment rate. They also observed that Port Huron remains the only community on the U.S.-Canadian border where a casino exists on the Canadian side without competition on the American shore.
Following the 2001 referendum, the casino won the endorsement of the Port Huron City Council, the St. Clair County Board of Commissioners and the local legislative delegation. No organized local opposition has emerged.
Bay Mills Indian Community
Although it is one of Michigan's oldest federally recognized tribes, Bay Mills has only about 1,300 members. Many of its original members broke away in the 1970s to form the Sault Chippewa, now Michigan's largest tribe with about 31,000 members. Bay Mills is based at Brimley, a town in Chippewa County in the eastern Upper Peninsula. The tribe operates two casinos near Lake Superior.
In August 2002, Bay Mills and Republican Gov. John Engler agreed to settle a dispute that dates to the 1850s when Michigan Gov. Kinsley Bingham promised the tribe a 110-acre parcel at Charlotte Beach on the St. Mary River. Despite that pledge, the property was seized by local officials for back taxes and sold off.
The deal with Engler called for Bay Mills to abandon its claim to the 110 acres, where dozens of families own homes, in exchange for the 12½-acre Edison Inn property in Port Huron. The Edison parcel in effect would become a mini-reservation, land held in trust for the tribe by the Interior Department. The land-settlement agreement still requires congressional approval. A bill that would do that sits in the House Natural Resources Committee, where a vote is scheduled for Feb. 6.
Blue Water Resorts
Blue Water Resorts LLC is led by casino developer Mike Malik, a former Algonac city councilman. He first tried to develop a casino in Port Huron in 1993, when city voters narrowly rejected his plan to convert the old Sears store on Michigan Avenue into a gaming facility that would have been owned by Bay Mills and operated by Harrah's.
In 1995, Malik and Tom Celani bankrolled the campaign in support of Proposal E, the statewide ballot proposal that led to three commercial casinos in Detroit. Malik and another partner, billionaire Marian Ilitch, won the rights to develop one of those casinos. When Malik was disqualified from being licensed as a casino proprietor, reportedly because of tax problems, he sold his interest in the MotorCity Casino to Ilitch.
Malik and Ilitch have worked together on other casino proposals in the Upper Peninsula, Hawaii, California and Long Island. Ilitch has said she supports the Port Huron casino but has no financial interest in it.
Thus far, Malik has spent millions of dollars in lobbying, legal, architectural and other fees. It's a roll of the dice. If the Port Huron proposal fails, he loses the money. If the casino opens, Blue Water Resorts stands to receive 30% of net-win revenues for seven years through a management contract with Bay Mills. Depending on how successful the casino is, Malik's seven-year share could be in the neighborhood of a half-billion dollars.
Lobbyist Alan Wheat
The lobbying firm founded a decade ago by Alan Wheat, a former Missouri congressman, leads a large team hired by Bay Mills and Malik to secure a Port Huron casino. Wheat, who served as deputy director of President Clinton's re-election campaign in 1996, is well-connected in Washington. Federal lobbying reports indicate his firm has been paid more than $1 million since 2002 to lobby for the casino.
Congressional supporters
In 2002, the original legislation to allow a Port Huron casino was introduced in the Senate by Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, and in the House by David Bonior, D-Mount Clemens. Stabenow has remained a staunch ally of the Port Huron proposal, while Bonior gave up his position as the No. 2 Democrat in the House to make an unsuccessful run for governor in the 2002 elections.
Bonior's seat was claimed by Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, who has championed the Port Huron proposal even though she is not a fan of casino gambling. Echoing Bonior, she justifies the project using economic and fair-trade arguments: Gambling already exists in the larger community, and Port Huron should be allowed to compete with the two gaming facilities on the Canadian side of the St. Clair River.
Sen. Carl Levin, a former Detroit city councilman, took no position on the Port Huron casino for many years. Last July, he came out in support of the project. Levin, D-Detroit, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is one of the most powerful figures on Capitol Hill. Without his endorsement, the project had virtually no chance of success.
The bill that would allow a Port Huron casino was introduced eight months ago by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, whose Upper Peninsula district include Bay Mills' tribal lands. Miller and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., co-sponsored Stupak bill. Kennedy's support is seen as critical because he and Rep. Dale Kildee of Flint are co-chairmen of the 99-member Congressional Native American Caucus.
Others who have spoken in favor of a Port Huron casino are Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, the leaders of the House Natural Resources Committee. Their position has been that Miller knows what is best for her district.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm
Until two months ago, it was widely assumed that the governor would not endorse the Port Huron casino.
From 1994 until 1998, when she was elected attorney general, Granholm worked as the top legal adviser to Wayne County Executive Ed McNamara, the boss of Michigan's most powerful political machine. In that role, she worked closely with Bernard Kilpatrick, who was McNamara's chief of staff. His wife and son, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, are outspoken opponents of the Port Huron casino.
Granholm came out in favor of the Port Huron casino after modifying the Engler agreement. Aides said her support is based on two factors - the millions a casino would pump into the coffers of the cash-strapped state government and her desire to use tourism as an engine to drive Port Huron's moribund economy. The new deal also gives Bay Mills the option of locating the casino at a 19.6-acre site at the foot of Court Street in Desmond Landing.
Sault Chippewa
When Engler and Bay Mills struck their agreement in August 2002, the Sault immediately condemned the deal as reservation shopping. The tribe also noted its own claim to Charlotte Beach.
The Sault changed its position four months later. On his final day in office, Engler reached a similar settlement with the tribe, which owns the Greektown Casino in Detroit. The Sault agreed to give up its Charlotte Beach claim in exchange for a casino in either Romulus, Flint or southern Monroe County.
The Sault chose a site near Metro Airport in Romulus. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, a powerful lawmaker who has served in Congress since 1955, is sponsoring legislation for the Romulus casino. His bill also is scheduled for a Feb. 6 vote.
It is widely believed that MGM Mirage and Detroit lobbyists are far more worried about the prospect of a casino in Romulus than in Port Huron.
- Compiled by Mike Connell
Friday, January 25, 2008
Granholm backs Port Huron casino; congressional hearing set for Feb. 6
1.24.08
Gambling on Port Huron
Granholm's support improves the odds for a riverfront casino
By MIKE CONNELL
Times Herald
The long-stalled effort to open an Indian-owned casino in Port Huron has received a major boost from Michigan's governor, who has thrown her support behind the project.
In exchange for her endorsement, Gov. Jennifer Granholm modified the state's 5½-year-old agreement with an Upper Peninsula tribe.
The new deal would increase the state's share of gaming revenues by as much as $30 million a year. It also opens the door for building the casino at Desmond Landing rather than at the Thomas Edison Inn.
"I strongly encourage you to support this legislation," the governor wrote in a letter to Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, the leaders of the House Committee on Natural Resources.
The committee has scheduled a Feb. 6 hearing on H.R. 2176, a bill introduced eight months ago by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee. The measure would pave the way for a Port Huron casino by providing congressional approval of a land-settlement deal originally made in August 2002 by former Gov. John Engler and the Bay Mills Indian Community of Chippewa County, which is in Stupak's district.
Jeff Parker, the president of the tribe's executive council, said the agreement he and Granholm quietly signed on Nov. 13 was a crucial step.
"It's very important to have her support," he said.
Leaders back casino
Significantly, the governor's endorsement means the proposed casino has the backing of the political leaders who represent Port Huron in Lansing and Washington.
Along with Granholm, a Democrat, and Engler, a Republican, the proposal has been endorsed by Michigan's two senators, Democrats Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, whose district includes the city, co-sponsored Stupak's bill, as did Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., co-chairman of the Congressional Native American Caucus.
The casino also has the backing of the local legislative delegation, the Port Huron City Council and the St. Clair County Board of Commissioners. City voters gave their blessing in a 2001 referendum.
A final step - congressional and presidential approval of the land settlement - has proven elusive. Several bills have gone nowhere. There have been hearings in both the Senate and the House, but the issue has yet to come up for a vote before a congressional committee.
Hearing set for Feb. 6
That could change next month when the House Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to debate Stupak's bill.
Allyson Groff, the committee's communications director, said a specific date has not been finalized, but Larry Rosenthal of Ietan Consulting said the hearing will be Feb. 6.
Rosenthal, a former aide to Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Flint, is a lobbyist for the Saginaw Chippewa, whose casino in Mount Pleasant is Michigan's largest. The tribe is a vigorous opponent of the Port Huron proposal.
Rosenthal described the land-settlement deal as a ruse meant to circumvent a 15-year-old compact between Michigan's federally recognized tribes, which agreed they would not engage in off-reservation gaming unless all 12 tribes agreed. At least nine of the 12 tribes oppose the Port Huron proposal.
The Saginaw tribe includes descendants of the Blackwater River band, which had a 1,287-acre reservation from 1807 to 1836 in the frontier settlement that would become Port Huron.
"Those are the ancestral lands where the Saginaw Chippewa lived and died," Rosenthal said. "This is a scurrilous attempt to undermine the Michigan gaming compact and to undermine the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act."
MGM, Detroit oppose deal
Along with the Saginaw Chippewa, other powerful foes of the Port Huron proposal include gaming giant MGM Mirage, which operates a casino in Detroit, and the political delegations of both Detroit and Nevada.
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said his city's three casinos have created nearly 10,000 jobs.
"These jobs meet the original goal that the people of the state of Michigan endorsed (in 1994) when the casinos were approved - economic self-sufficiency for Detroit," the mayor wrote in a letter to the congressional committee. "Any expansion of off-reservation gaming will not only compromise the economic strides that we've made, but will also contradict the will and intent of Michigan voters."
The mayor reportedly will be the first witness called at the Feb. 6 hearing, although Groff said she could not confirm that.
Two months ago, the 48-member House Natural Resources Committee was scheduled to debate and vote on casino proposals for Port Huron and Romulus. At the last moment, those votes were delayed, reportedly at the request of Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Detroit.
She is the mayor's mother and chairwoman of the influential Congressional Black Caucus. MGM Mirage is one of her most generous campaign supporters.
'Fair playing field'
Proponents describe the casino as a life buoy for Port Huron, which has experienced double-digit unemployment for several years. The city is one of the most economically depressed communities in Michigan, the state with the nation's highest jobless rate.
Port Huron also is the only community on the U.S.-Canadian border where a casino exists on the Canadian side without competition on the American shore.
In fact, there are two casinos across the St. Clair River. The Point Edward Charity Casino sits directly across from the Edison Inn, while Hiawatha Slots is part of a harness-racing complex in Sarnia.
The two Canadian casinos are operated by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission, which last week shared quarterly payments of $451,282 with Point Edward and $390,840 with Sarnia. The two communities have split about $40 million in gaming revenues in the past eight years.
"Our studies show that about 77% of that is American money," said Richard Cummings, president of the Michigan Machinists and a founding member of the Thomas Edison Casino Advisory Committee. "All we're asking for is a chance to compete on a fair playing field."
State's share rises
In a letter to the congressional committee, Granholm described the Port Huron casino as "a win-win for everyone involved."
Elaborating on that point, she added: "Approval of this settlement will resolve outstanding land claims potentially affecting 200 families in the eastern Upper Peninsula, provide thousands of new jobs in the struggling border community of Port Huron, provide revenue sources to assist the Bay Mills Indian Community in its efforts to become economically self-sufficient and provide much-needed funds to state and local governments."
Liz Boyd, the governor's press secretary, said Granholm would not have endorsed a Port Huron casino without the modifications to the 2002 agreement.
The new deal raises the state's share of so-called "net win" revenues from a flat 8% to a sliding scale of 9% to 13%, depending on how much business the casino does. "Net win" refers to the amount the casino takes in from slot machines and other electronic games, minus the amount paid out in winnings.
If the casino opens, the governor said her cash-strapped state would see its share of annual revenues increase by $20 million to $30 million, depending on how successful the facility is.
Local share is 2%
Boyd said payments also would be more stable than under the Engler deal, which subjected the state's share to possible termination if new gaming was allowed elsewhere. The agreement also provides the state with a share of revenues from Bay Mills' two existing casinos in Brimley, a resort town on Lake Superior.
Bay Mills also would be required to pay 2% of its net win to local governments. The tribe also could be asked to make other concessions.
St. Clair County's administrator, Shaun Groden, and Port Huron's city manager, Karl Tomion, said they are awaiting congressional action before negotiating with Bay Mills.
Both men have argued that congressional approval of a casino would be one way to offset the damage that seems inevitable if Homeland Security levels dozens of Port Huron homes and businesses to expand the border-inspection plaza.
Boyd said local governments have the option of creating a revenue-sharing board to receive and disburse casino funds, which are intended in part to compensate for lost property taxes.
Dispute dates to 1850s
The land-settlement deal resolves a dispute that dates to the 1850s, when Michigan Gov. Kinsley Bingham promised the Chippewas a 110-acre parcel on the St. Mary River. Despite that pledge, the property was seized by local officials for back taxes and sold off.
Today, dozens of families own property at Charlotte Beach, the disputed parcel. Under the terms of the settlement, the Indians are to surrender their claims to the 110 acres, giving clear title to the current property owners.
In exchange, the Chippewas are to receive reservations - land that will be held in trust for them by the Interior Department - in southeastern Michigan.
A complicating factor is that the Bay Mills band split from Michigan's largest tribe, the Sault Chippewa, in the late 1940s. Both tribes have claims to Charlotte Beach, and both agreed to settlements in exchange for casinos hundreds of miles from their reservations.
The Sault's deal with Engler, which also has been restructured by Granholm, allows the tribe to open a casino at one of three locations - Romulus, Flint or in Monroe County south of the River Raisin. The Sault's preference is a site near Metro Airport in Romulus.
2nd site is option
Under the 2002 deal, Bay Mills could build its casino only at the Thomas Edison Inn, a 12½-acre parcel adjacent to the Blue Water Bridge.
The new deal gives the tribe an alternative site - a 19.6-acre parcel at Desmond Landing. It amounts to about one-third of the acreage put together in the past decade by philanthropist James Acheson, who owns a mile of waterfront property on the St. Clair River between the mouth of the Black River and the Seaway Terminal
Casino developer Mike Malik said the Edison Inn remains the preferred site. He said he has an option to buy the inn and has made payments for several months to help keep its doors open.
"I have a considerable investment in the Edison Inn," he said.
Malik said Bay Mills asked the governor for an alternative site because of concerns that Homeland Security might oppose the construction of a high-rise hotel beside the bridge, one of the busiest crossings on the Canadian border.
A proposed $433 million expansion of the border-inspection plaza is expected to come up for final approval later this year. If the project goes forward as expected, it would mean five years of construction near the Edison Inn.
"We all have questions about what the federal government intends to do," Malik said.
'Nice, safe, fun city'
Malik is a Detroit native whose family moved to Clay Township when he was a youngster. He is a former Algonac city councilman and a business partner of billionaire Marian Ilitch, who owns the MotorCity Casino in Detroit. Her family holdings also include the Detroit Tigers, the Red Wings and Little Caesar's Pizza.
Ilitch supports the Port Huron casino but has said she is playing no role in its development.
If the casino opens, Malik stands to receive 30% of its revenues for seven years through a management contract with Bay Mills. In part, the money would reimburse him for start-up costs as well as the millions he already has invested in lobbying, legal, architectural and other expenses.
"Our biggest job is to get it up and running, and to pay the debts," Malik said. "I see Port Huron as a tourist destination, a great place to come for two or three hours to see the river and the boats. This is a nice, safe, fun city."
Doug Austin, executive vice president of Acheson Ventures, said negotiations with Bay Mills and Malik are ongoing.
"We still have questions," he said. "Nothing is resolved."
He said a promenade will be built from the Military Street drawbridge to the Seaway Terminal, a distance of more than a mile, to guarantee public access to the waterfront.
Austin also said any proceeds Acheson receives from the casino "will be pumped back into the community. ... The money will be used to pursue what our original stakeholders, the people who live on the south side (of the Black River), told us they wanted."
Granholm's support improves the odds for a riverfront casino
By MIKE CONNELL
Times Herald
The long-stalled effort to open an Indian-owned casino in Port Huron has received a major boost from Michigan's governor, who has thrown her support behind the project.
In exchange for her endorsement, Gov. Jennifer Granholm modified the state's 5½-year-old agreement with an Upper Peninsula tribe.
The new deal would increase the state's share of gaming revenues by as much as $30 million a year. It also opens the door for building the casino at Desmond Landing rather than at the Thomas Edison Inn.
"I strongly encourage you to support this legislation," the governor wrote in a letter to Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, the leaders of the House Committee on Natural Resources.
The committee has scheduled a Feb. 6 hearing on H.R. 2176, a bill introduced eight months ago by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee. The measure would pave the way for a Port Huron casino by providing congressional approval of a land-settlement deal originally made in August 2002 by former Gov. John Engler and the Bay Mills Indian Community of Chippewa County, which is in Stupak's district.
Jeff Parker, the president of the tribe's executive council, said the agreement he and Granholm quietly signed on Nov. 13 was a crucial step.
"It's very important to have her support," he said.
Leaders back casino
Significantly, the governor's endorsement means the proposed casino has the backing of the political leaders who represent Port Huron in Lansing and Washington.
Along with Granholm, a Democrat, and Engler, a Republican, the proposal has been endorsed by Michigan's two senators, Democrats Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, whose district includes the city, co-sponsored Stupak's bill, as did Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., co-chairman of the Congressional Native American Caucus.
The casino also has the backing of the local legislative delegation, the Port Huron City Council and the St. Clair County Board of Commissioners. City voters gave their blessing in a 2001 referendum.
A final step - congressional and presidential approval of the land settlement - has proven elusive. Several bills have gone nowhere. There have been hearings in both the Senate and the House, but the issue has yet to come up for a vote before a congressional committee.
Hearing set for Feb. 6
That could change next month when the House Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to debate Stupak's bill.
Allyson Groff, the committee's communications director, said a specific date has not been finalized, but Larry Rosenthal of Ietan Consulting said the hearing will be Feb. 6.
Rosenthal, a former aide to Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Flint, is a lobbyist for the Saginaw Chippewa, whose casino in Mount Pleasant is Michigan's largest. The tribe is a vigorous opponent of the Port Huron proposal.
Rosenthal described the land-settlement deal as a ruse meant to circumvent a 15-year-old compact between Michigan's federally recognized tribes, which agreed they would not engage in off-reservation gaming unless all 12 tribes agreed. At least nine of the 12 tribes oppose the Port Huron proposal.
The Saginaw tribe includes descendants of the Blackwater River band, which had a 1,287-acre reservation from 1807 to 1836 in the frontier settlement that would become Port Huron.
"Those are the ancestral lands where the Saginaw Chippewa lived and died," Rosenthal said. "This is a scurrilous attempt to undermine the Michigan gaming compact and to undermine the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act."
MGM, Detroit oppose deal
Along with the Saginaw Chippewa, other powerful foes of the Port Huron proposal include gaming giant MGM Mirage, which operates a casino in Detroit, and the political delegations of both Detroit and Nevada.
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said his city's three casinos have created nearly 10,000 jobs.
"These jobs meet the original goal that the people of the state of Michigan endorsed (in 1994) when the casinos were approved - economic self-sufficiency for Detroit," the mayor wrote in a letter to the congressional committee. "Any expansion of off-reservation gaming will not only compromise the economic strides that we've made, but will also contradict the will and intent of Michigan voters."
The mayor reportedly will be the first witness called at the Feb. 6 hearing, although Groff said she could not confirm that.
Two months ago, the 48-member House Natural Resources Committee was scheduled to debate and vote on casino proposals for Port Huron and Romulus. At the last moment, those votes were delayed, reportedly at the request of Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Detroit.
She is the mayor's mother and chairwoman of the influential Congressional Black Caucus. MGM Mirage is one of her most generous campaign supporters.
'Fair playing field'
Proponents describe the casino as a life buoy for Port Huron, which has experienced double-digit unemployment for several years. The city is one of the most economically depressed communities in Michigan, the state with the nation's highest jobless rate.
Port Huron also is the only community on the U.S.-Canadian border where a casino exists on the Canadian side without competition on the American shore.
In fact, there are two casinos across the St. Clair River. The Point Edward Charity Casino sits directly across from the Edison Inn, while Hiawatha Slots is part of a harness-racing complex in Sarnia.
The two Canadian casinos are operated by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission, which last week shared quarterly payments of $451,282 with Point Edward and $390,840 with Sarnia. The two communities have split about $40 million in gaming revenues in the past eight years.
"Our studies show that about 77% of that is American money," said Richard Cummings, president of the Michigan Machinists and a founding member of the Thomas Edison Casino Advisory Committee. "All we're asking for is a chance to compete on a fair playing field."
State's share rises
In a letter to the congressional committee, Granholm described the Port Huron casino as "a win-win for everyone involved."
Elaborating on that point, she added: "Approval of this settlement will resolve outstanding land claims potentially affecting 200 families in the eastern Upper Peninsula, provide thousands of new jobs in the struggling border community of Port Huron, provide revenue sources to assist the Bay Mills Indian Community in its efforts to become economically self-sufficient and provide much-needed funds to state and local governments."
Liz Boyd, the governor's press secretary, said Granholm would not have endorsed a Port Huron casino without the modifications to the 2002 agreement.
The new deal raises the state's share of so-called "net win" revenues from a flat 8% to a sliding scale of 9% to 13%, depending on how much business the casino does. "Net win" refers to the amount the casino takes in from slot machines and other electronic games, minus the amount paid out in winnings.
If the casino opens, the governor said her cash-strapped state would see its share of annual revenues increase by $20 million to $30 million, depending on how successful the facility is.
Local share is 2%
Boyd said payments also would be more stable than under the Engler deal, which subjected the state's share to possible termination if new gaming was allowed elsewhere. The agreement also provides the state with a share of revenues from Bay Mills' two existing casinos in Brimley, a resort town on Lake Superior.
Bay Mills also would be required to pay 2% of its net win to local governments. The tribe also could be asked to make other concessions.
St. Clair County's administrator, Shaun Groden, and Port Huron's city manager, Karl Tomion, said they are awaiting congressional action before negotiating with Bay Mills.
Both men have argued that congressional approval of a casino would be one way to offset the damage that seems inevitable if Homeland Security levels dozens of Port Huron homes and businesses to expand the border-inspection plaza.
Boyd said local governments have the option of creating a revenue-sharing board to receive and disburse casino funds, which are intended in part to compensate for lost property taxes.
Dispute dates to 1850s
The land-settlement deal resolves a dispute that dates to the 1850s, when Michigan Gov. Kinsley Bingham promised the Chippewas a 110-acre parcel on the St. Mary River. Despite that pledge, the property was seized by local officials for back taxes and sold off.
Today, dozens of families own property at Charlotte Beach, the disputed parcel. Under the terms of the settlement, the Indians are to surrender their claims to the 110 acres, giving clear title to the current property owners.
In exchange, the Chippewas are to receive reservations - land that will be held in trust for them by the Interior Department - in southeastern Michigan.
A complicating factor is that the Bay Mills band split from Michigan's largest tribe, the Sault Chippewa, in the late 1940s. Both tribes have claims to Charlotte Beach, and both agreed to settlements in exchange for casinos hundreds of miles from their reservations.
The Sault's deal with Engler, which also has been restructured by Granholm, allows the tribe to open a casino at one of three locations - Romulus, Flint or in Monroe County south of the River Raisin. The Sault's preference is a site near Metro Airport in Romulus.
2nd site is option
Under the 2002 deal, Bay Mills could build its casino only at the Thomas Edison Inn, a 12½-acre parcel adjacent to the Blue Water Bridge.
The new deal gives the tribe an alternative site - a 19.6-acre parcel at Desmond Landing. It amounts to about one-third of the acreage put together in the past decade by philanthropist James Acheson, who owns a mile of waterfront property on the St. Clair River between the mouth of the Black River and the Seaway Terminal
Casino developer Mike Malik said the Edison Inn remains the preferred site. He said he has an option to buy the inn and has made payments for several months to help keep its doors open.
"I have a considerable investment in the Edison Inn," he said.
Malik said Bay Mills asked the governor for an alternative site because of concerns that Homeland Security might oppose the construction of a high-rise hotel beside the bridge, one of the busiest crossings on the Canadian border.
A proposed $433 million expansion of the border-inspection plaza is expected to come up for final approval later this year. If the project goes forward as expected, it would mean five years of construction near the Edison Inn.
"We all have questions about what the federal government intends to do," Malik said.
'Nice, safe, fun city'
Malik is a Detroit native whose family moved to Clay Township when he was a youngster. He is a former Algonac city councilman and a business partner of billionaire Marian Ilitch, who owns the MotorCity Casino in Detroit. Her family holdings also include the Detroit Tigers, the Red Wings and Little Caesar's Pizza.
Ilitch supports the Port Huron casino but has said she is playing no role in its development.
If the casino opens, Malik stands to receive 30% of its revenues for seven years through a management contract with Bay Mills. In part, the money would reimburse him for start-up costs as well as the millions he already has invested in lobbying, legal, architectural and other expenses.
"Our biggest job is to get it up and running, and to pay the debts," Malik said. "I see Port Huron as a tourist destination, a great place to come for two or three hours to see the river and the boats. This is a nice, safe, fun city."
Doug Austin, executive vice president of Acheson Ventures, said negotiations with Bay Mills and Malik are ongoing.
"We still have questions," he said. "Nothing is resolved."
He said a promenade will be built from the Military Street drawbridge to the Seaway Terminal, a distance of more than a mile, to guarantee public access to the waterfront.
Austin also said any proceeds Acheson receives from the casino "will be pumped back into the community. ... The money will be used to pursue what our original stakeholders, the people who live on the south side (of the Black River), told us they wanted."
Indianz.com: Michigan governor backs off-reservation casino
As posted 1.24.08 at Indianz.com:
Michigan governor backs off-reservation casino
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) is backing legislation to authorize an off-reservation casino for the Bay Mills Indian Community.Granholm wrote a letter to Rep. Nick Rahall (D-West Virginia), the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), the ranking member. She urged both lawmakers to support H.R.2176, which would settle the tribe's land claim in exchange for the casino.
Under the bill, the tribe would get 15 acres in Port Huron. The site is more than 300 miles from the tribe's land claim area at Charlotte's Beach.
The House committee is due to hear the bill on February 6.
Get the Story:Gambling on Port Huron (The Port Huron Times Herald 1/24)
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Harsens Island Bridge developer denies any connection to Mike Malik's Grande Pointe Development
excerpted from a post on HarsensIslandBridge.info 1.18.08:
On the evening of January 15, 2008 there was a HITA (Harsens Island Transportation Authority) meeting at the Clay Township Hall to update the public on the status of the proposed bridge. The room was filled to capacity...
When asked if there was a connection between the DIBC [Detroit International Bridge Company] and the developers of the Grande Pointe Development the DIBC representative said "I know of no connection." ...
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Boston Herald reports Detroit casinos have fallen short of revenue projections and jobs
1.23.08
Detroit has no luck with casino trio eyed by Deval
By Dave Wedge http://www.bostonherald.com/ Local Coverage
By Dave Wedge http://www.bostonherald.com/ Local Coverage
DETROIT - Three Detroit casinos similar to those proposed by Gov. Deval Patrick have fallen about a half-billion dollars short of initial projections and created thousands fewer jobs than predicted in what could be a stark warning to Massachusetts.
In 1998, developers, politicians and casino proponents promised that three Detroit casinos would rake in up to $1.8 billion but in 2007 the gaming parlors took in $1.335 billion, according to the Michigan Gaming Control Board.
A Michigan state senate report in 2000, meanwhile, estimated the casinos would create 10,500 jobs but so far the gambling venues have just 7,000 permanent workers. The same report predicted the city’s annual gaming haul would reach $1.4 billion by 2004.
The news comes as the Detroit casinos posted slight revenue increases this year yet also showed signs of significantly slower growth. Revenue generated by three Motor City casinos crept up in 2007 - from $1.303 billion to $1.33 billion - but growth was down four percent over the previous year.
The Herald had reported that gambling revenue at the city’s three casinos was down in 2007 but newly posted numbers that included December revenues showed an overall increase of about $30 million.
Still, Detroit City Councilor JoAnn Watson said the casinos have “created social and economic devastation” that has led to 20 percent of the city’s small businesses going “belly up.”
“There were a lot of promises made in terms of how the economy would improve and jobs, jobs, jobs,” Watson said. “But the circumstances in the aftermath of the casinos has been ‘Lord have mercy.’ The ballyhooed promise of prosperity has not occurred.”
Patrick’s controversial plan for two commercially operated casinos and one Indian gaming hall has been a reality in Detroit since voters legalized gambling more than a decade ago.
Revenue in 2007 was down about $450,000 at the Greektown Casino, but up slightly at the MGM Grand Detroit and the MotorCity Casino, according to the state gaming board. All three casinos have either recently completed or are in the midst of massive expansions that will include more gaming space and hotel rooms.
The luke-warm numbers sound a warning for Patrick’s headline-grabbing 2009 budget plan, which calls for $300 million in casino license fees to pay for schools, public safety, transportation and much-needed tax relief.
“What I’ve seen is there’s only a finite pot of gambling money that people have,” said former Michigan Rep. Allen Lowe, who opposed Detroit’s three-casino plan. “I don’t know that economically we’ve seen much of a boon here.”
Michigan state Sen. Alan Cropsey, a vocal casino opponent, said the slowdown in Detroit shows the market is “tapped out.”
“This really is taking money out of the local area and putting it into the casino owners’ pocket,” Cropsey said, adding that it’s “foolish” for a government to rely on gambling revenue.
Kofi Jones, spokeswoman for Patrick’s economic development secretary Dan O’Connell, said the governor’s panel looked at several regions with casinos, but “no one model alone formed the basis of the governor’s legislation.”
“We are confident that our plan will meet its projections,” Jones said.
Revenues aside, the impact of the Detroit casinos has been questionable as the city remains severely blighted, with entire blocks of vacant, boarded-up buildings infesting surrounding neighborhoods.
“They ruin the city,” said Detroit autoworker Mark Hauswirth during a recent visit to the MotorCity Casino. “People blow all their money. It don’t help nobody but the people who own them.”
Howard Berenbom, who runs the online magazine Casino Detroit, said the casinos have been “disappointing,” mainly because a plan to spur local development by locating them all on the Detroit River never materialized. Still, Berenbom believes they’ve given the city a boost.
“It brings in jobs and revenue,” Berenbom said. “The negative is that some poor people go and gamble and a lot of people can lose.”
Michigan politicians pushed through legalization by focusing on how much local money was flowing to casinos across the Detroit River in Windsor, Ontario, much like Massachusetts’ drive has been fueled by concerns about tourism dollars going to Connecticut casinos.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1068406
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Red Wings struggling; drop in ticket sales worrisome for NHL
1.20.08
Winning and losing
Despite having the NHL's best record, the Detroit Red Wings fanbase continues to erode
By RYAN PYETTE
DETROIT -- There's a strange vibe in Motown.
The 2008 North American International Auto Show is in full gear.
A plane carrying a banner in support of Republican U.S. presidential hopeful Ron Paul swoops over Joe Louis Arena on the day of the Michigan primary.
But talk of dreamy concept cars and politics fails to gloss over why the Detroit Red Wings -- the best team in the NHL -- is playing the Atlanta Thrashers on this night in a rink barely two-thirds full.
Hockeytown is down.
The Red Wings, used to drawing crowds at or near capacity for the past two decades, are suddenly averaging about 2,000 paid tickets below their norm -- one of the most staggering and worrisome dips in the NHL.
No one in Detroit likes to hear it. There are plenty of theories for it. Many point to the struggling economy in the city and Michigan as a whole.
"It's the state of the state," said Brandon Rotz, a manager at Wings' defenceman Chris Chelios' downtown restaurant Cheli's Chili. "There are a lot of people here who are worried and don't know if they're going to have their job next week. So you have to make a choice -- do I buy groceries for my family or go to a Wings game?"
It's not much of a choice.
But it can't just be all about the economy... (Full Story)
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Sports/Hockey/2008/01/20/4782933-sun.html
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