It's all verifiable: archives, resources and stuff they might not tell you.
A comprehensive archive chronicling the activities of Motor City casino syndicators (Marian Ilitch & Family, Michael Malik, Herb Strather, etc.); their associates, partners & affiliates; and the unfulfilled commercial & Indian casino schemes they are bankrolling in Michigan (Port Huron, Flint Township), Hawaii (Waikiki), New York (Long Island / The Hamptons), and California (Barstow).
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Federal Register - BIA & Big Lagoon Tribe appeal Coastal Commission ruling on 5-acre acquisition
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Federal Consistency Appeal by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Big Lagoon Rancheria From an Objection by the California Coastal Commission
AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce (Commerce).
ACTION: Notice of appeal and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: This announcement provides notice that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Big Lagoon Rancheria (Tribe) have jointly filed an administrative appeal with the Department of Commerce asking that the Secretary override the California Coastal Commission's (Commission) objection to BIA's proposed acquisition of approximately 5 acres of land in Humboldt County, California, into trust status for the Tribe. The land is currently owned in fee by the Tribe and is located in the Big Lagoon area, approximately a quarter mile from the current boundary of the Big Lagoon Rancheria trust property, at the southwest intersection of Highway 101 and Big Lagoon Park Road, south of Big Lagoon, Humboldt County, California. The legal description of the land is parcel APN 517-281-004 in Lot 4 as shown on Tract No. 420, on file in the Office of the Humboldt County Recorder in Book 21 of Maps, pages 18 and 19.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Last minute political contributions to Senator who authors SB 157 reveal Casino Syndicator skyrocketed to the top of her donor list in late October
A complete cumulative review (2005-2006) of contributions to "Friends of Pat Wiggins" adds further clarity to the first-term Senator's overnight romance with the Detroit casino syndicators. Disclosures indicate the Wiggins committee received a total of 606 contributions at an average of $616.
Prior to October 2006, there is no record of support for Wiggins by principals behind Detroit-based Barwest Gaming LLC. Likewise, last year when Barwest was desperate for friends in the legislature, then Assemblywoman Wiggins failed to come forward and publicly declare her support for Barwest's proposal to build twin Indian Casino Resorts in Barstow
That all changed after October 21, 2006, the date Michael J. Malik, Sr., day-to-day managing principal behind Barwest Gaming LLC passed along two checks to Wiggins: (1) from his personal Trust Account and (2) from MJM Enterprises & Development his solely owned company.
Although both contributions are reported as received on Saturday October 21, 2006, online disclosures indicate the Wiggins Committee reported the contribution noted above as (1) in its report of 10/26/06 and withheld reporting the contribution noted above as (2) until its January 31, 2007 post election filing; although both contributions are tagged to the 2006 General Election cycle.
One can only speculate why it is that Malik wrote two checks; or why he didn't write the second check on a Barwest LLC account since that's the company registered to do business in California; or why he failed to provide the same back up detail for both contributions; or why Wiggins' Committee didn't report both contributions at the same time; or why Wiggins pegged one of the Malik contributions from "Detroit, MI" and the other from "CA" when both Malik and MJM Enterprises & Development are based in Detroit.
Regardless of the unanswered questions, we know that with those two checks, ($4,000 total) Malik established his position atop Wiggins' 606 contributors as follows:
Compare 40-mile radius competition-free zone provided in Barstow Casino agreements
Links to maps (compliments of Google Earth and MLive) with visual overlays representative of the 40-mile radius (80-mile wide) "COMPETITION-FREE Zone" negotiated by Detroit-based Barwest LLC that would surround Barstow as provided for in yet to be ratified gaming compacts for the Big Lagoon Rancheria and Los Coyotes Bands of Indians.
- Twin circles: 40-mile radius around Barwest Casinos site and the Los Coyotes Indian Reservation. (static smaller pictures) Google Earth
- Proposed 80-mile wide competition-free zone (5,044 square miles) around the Barwest Casinos site in Barstow, CA provided for in the Big Lagoon Rancheria and Los Coyotes Band of Indians pending gaming compacts. (static larger picture) Google Earth
- A 40-mile radius circle around the Los Coyotes Reservation in northeast San Diego County representative of the competition-free zone in the Barstow compacts. There are approximately 20 casinos open or in development within 40-miles of the Los Coyotes Reservation -- they compete every day; the newest set to open in March less than 10 miles from the Los Coyotes Reservation -- still others are expanding or planning plans to open new casinos. (static larger picture) Google Earth
- LATEST ! Link to MLive Search semi-interactive map of Southern California and Humblodt County casinos. (semi-interactive: street, satellite or hybrid maps) MLive. LATEST!
This MLive "collection" of placemarkers can be saved to your own computer for future reference or mapping.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Casino developer may have mislead Schwarzenegger's negotiator to get approvals for twin casinos
Dan Kolkey may have been duped by Barwest's half-truths and illusions but this should take all that mystery and confusion away
From the very beginning, Barwest LLC demanded secretness and exclusivity. A city employ explained that prior to June 2003, there had been 15 months of top-secret negotiations and that he, a city employee, had signed a confidentiality agreement with the Detroit developer. And when they could no longer moved foward in secret, Barwest demanded and got an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement (ENA) with the City of Barstow (June 2, 2003). There is not one reference in that exclusive agreement to the Los Coyotes Band of Indians nor in the "rationale" provided to the Barstow City Council at the time they were to consider approval of the agreement. That ENA between the Detroit Developer and the City of Barstow was extended in September 2003 and again March 1, 2004 without reference to the Los Coyotes Tribe.
In March 2004, a Desert Dispatch columnist reported that Barwest Principal Michael J. Malik and his attorney Lance Boldrey had threatened to walk away from Barstow if the City engaged in discussions with any other prospective tribes or partners. Overtime you can see a pattern of threats and heavy handed leverage.
By June 2004, pressure was building on the City Council to resist yet a third extension of the Barwest ENA and other sideshows were secretly playing out behind the scenes but wouldn't be disclosed for almost a year:
(1) in March 2004 Governor Schwarzenegger had informed Barwest, Los Coyotes Leaders and Mayor Lawrence Dale that he would not approve a Los Coyotes project;
(2) An original introduction to Big Lagoon Rancheria Chairman Virgil Moorehead in April/May 2004 was not productive;
(3) Los Coyotes leaders were becoming increasingly disenchanted with Barwest; and in fact, would formally split with Barwest a month or two later (August 2004); and
(4) Mayor Dale was facing re-election.
Fearing their original 2-3 year capital "investment" might be flushed away, Barwest conjured up a little scheme that:
(a) guaranteed Barwest exclusive casino development rights to Barstow, regardless of tribe, via a Disposition and Development Agreement (DDA) between Barwest and the City; and
(b) invoked the Governor's name and manufactured a "do or die" sense of urgency in order to convince a majority on the City Council to approve, what amounted to a bogus Municipal Services Agreement (MSA) with the Los Coyotes Tribe for a project Barwest and the Mayor knew was already "Dead on Arrival."
It wasn't a binding contract they sought with the MSA but simply a placeholder for Barwest and a barrier of entry into the Barstow market for anyone else over the following nine months. Barwest and local politicians needed to buy some time: Barwest needed time to regroup after the Governor rejected their plans for Los Coyotes and after Los Coyotes rejected Barwest as its business partner; and local politicians were looking to get through their re-election campaign with little noise and controversy. [Officials seek to dispel rumors; Desert Dispatch 10.02.04]
Understand, Barwest presently controls at least 100 acres in Barstow, maybe more (at one time Barwest's officials indicated hoped to acquire 200+ acres). Barwest has access to thousands of acres of BLM land directly adjacent to its 100+ acres. Neither tribe owns or controls any land in Barstow today (that's the purpose of the federal fee to trust process). The original Los Coyotes casino project approved by the Barstow City Council expressly limited the tribe to a 20 acre development. But now, the project has more than doubled: there are two casinos (twin full-service spa casino resorts) to be developed on almost 50 acres (250% larger); with nearly three times the number of the slot machines and gaming tables originally anticipated in the Los Coyotes proposal. Sound like someone hit a jackpot?
With this in mind, read the following post which substitutes Barwest's name for Los Coyotes name where it would be factually correct to get a true picture of who's pushing things in Barstow.
The following dialogue between Senators and Daniel Kolkey, Governor Schwarzenegger's former lead gaming compact negotiator is excerpted from transcripts of a March 28, 2006 Senate Governmental Organization Committee hearing, Sacramento, Calif.
SENATOR FLOREZ: So, Los Coyotes without Big Lagoon wouldn’t be a valid use of State policy then?
MR. KOLKEY: No.
SENATOR FLOREZ: So, there lies one issue. So, you have Big Lagoon that normally wouldn’t be eligible is eligible now—excuse me, Los Coyotes—because of Big Lagoon. Is that correct?
MR. KOLKEY: The project is eligible under the Governor’s policy because it facilitates Big Lagoon’s relocation.
SENATOR FLOREZ: So, in essence, what came first then—Big Lagoon or Los Coyotes? Why would Los Coyotes even be on the topic if the Governor’s policy itself wouldn’t allow for that?
MR. KOLKEY: Well, number one, the only way for us to facilitate the relocation of Big Lagoon was to find a site in Barstow. Barstow & BARWEST had already identified this site near outlet malls as part of its plan for renovation of the city. And they had an exclusive agreement withLos CoyotesBARWEST. So, the only way that we could facilitate the Big Lagoon relocation was through the site identified by the City of Barstow withLos CoyotesBARWEST. And these were the facts that the State was dealing with then. Let me just say that having gottenLos Coyotes’BARWEST's agreement to do this, we felt it was a matter of, really, honor and fair dealing that we stick withLos CoyotesBARWEST throughout this. In other words,theyBARWEST facilitated this relocation. As a matter of honor and fair dealing, we were going to stick with BARWEST, Los Coyotes and Big Lagoon as a unified project and not try and find, if we could, some other site in Barstow. This was the site that Barstow had picked.Los CoyotesBARWEST facilitated it, and this accomplished, through a relocation and consolidation, really, of two casino projects, the Governor’s policy of avoiding the environmental impact on the coast. [BARWEST is rewarded with two casinos for taking the Big Lagoon problem off Kolkey's lap.]
SENATOR FLOREZ: Okay. Senator Battin?
SENATOR JIM BATTIN: Mr. Kolkey, I have a couple of questions I don’t understand. So, the City of Barstow got to decide where California was going to allow a casino project?
MR. KOLKEY: No—I wouldn’t put it that way. What we have here is we wanted to relocate the casino project that Big Lagoon had on the coast.
SENATOR BATTIN: But throughLos Coyotes’BARWEST's agreement with Barstow, that somehow became an exclusive. You could not have put Big Lagoon there without Los Coyotes?
MR. KOLKEY: We would have needed a site, and one of the things that the Governor’s proclamation has made clear is that in relocating any tribal casino under the Section 20 authority, is we want support by the local jurisdiction and the local community. We’re not going to relocate a casino against the wishes of the local jurisdiction or the local community. And so, if the local jurisdiction says, Here’s where we would like to have a casino, then we’re going to accommodate that local jurisdiction. We’re not going to force something on the local jurisdiction, so we were going to do it where Barstow wanted to do it.
SENATOR BATTIN: So, if I understood a recent news article that I just read, is that the City of Barstow has actually not. . . . the city council could not take a position on the referendum that is in front of the city right now; whether or not they support having the casino there.
MR. KOLKEY: Well, that local initiative is actually quite different from support of the Big Lagoon-Los Coyotes unified casino project. That is a local initiative that seeks support of casinos in Barstow but at a different site and not the site at the outlet malls that the City of Barstow had identified.
SENATOR BATTIN: The city council of Barstow, then, has passed and made a deal withLos CoyotesBARWEST?
MR. KOLKEY: The City of Barstow has a . . .
SENATOR BATTIN: Exclusive, you said.
MR. KOLKEY: They had at the time we were negotiating an exclusive agreement [with BARWEST not Los Coyotes as Kolkey suggests over and over]. This was in 2004. They had an exclusive agreement withLos CoyotesBARWEST. They also have anMOUMSA with Los Coyotes ...[Yes, there had been an MSA for a project that had already been aborted long before the Barstow City Council awarded the agreement - in March 2004 the Governor had rejected that proposal. Barwest and Mayor Dale failed to reveal they were no longer pregnant with the Los Coyotes Casino when they asked the City Council to seal the deal with an MSA they knew would not ever be valid. Then weeks before the November 2004 election it was discovered Mayor Dale had never executed the bogus agreement.
It wasn't until almost a year later when Barwest announced it would give birth to twin Casino resorts that the players confessed what had gone on behind the scenes the year before].
click for: complete transcripts
Environmental advocate Erin Brockovich applauds unity of Hinkley residents
read more | digg story
BIA to hold EIS hearing on Hannahville Tribe's Casino Plans for Romulus, MI
read more | digg story
| Gambling & Casinos Influence for California |
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| http://www.followthemoney.org/database/IndustryTotals.phtml?i=63&s=5 |
National Institute on Money in State Politics
| Gambling & Casinos Influence for New York |
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| http://www.followthemoney.org/database/IndustryTotals.phtml?i=63&s=34 |
National Institute on Money in State Politics
| Gambling & Casinos Influence for Michigan |
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| http://www.followthemoney.org/database/IndustryTotals.phtml?i=63&s=22 |
National Institute on Money in State Politics
Senator 113k. Rep 75k. Getting to build a casino, PRICELESS
read more digg story
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Amador County blogger backs "Casino Center" idea for tribes
Gov. Spitzer plans new racing bid format
Governor wins support of Bruno, Silver for revamped review process of offers to run state franchise
By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau
Click byline for more stories by writer.
ALBANY -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer plans to announce a new public review process to consider bids for the state horse racing franchise.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, and Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, R-Brunswick, supported the additional analysis. Bruno said it may make sense to have all bids worked into one ideal proposal.
The remarks follow last week's report by the nine-member Ad Hoc Committee on the Future of Racing, which included three members each appointed by Bruno, Silver and Gov. George Pataki.
The committee recommended Excelsior Racing Associates as the preferred bidder. That group includes New York Yankees executive Steve Swindal, casino developer Richard Fields and former racing and wagering board chairman Jerry Bilinski.
"There will be a process that will be open, that will permit full public review of what has occurred, and we will get quickly to the right decision," said Spitzer. "It will be a process that will let the right questions be asked. It is a major industry that should be jump-started in this state.'
Bruno said the report will be subject to public hearings, but Spitzer said a hearing may be too formal a process. "There will be a public opportunity for everybody to be asked questions and to participate," the governor said.
Bruno said he is open to all the bidders -- a total of four, including current franchise holder New York Racing Association.
"I believe you can mix and match the best of what people have to offer to see if we can improve on whatever's there," he said. "Having the best racing in the world is really what's important."
Silver said Spitzer is expected to talk to all the bidders.
"He's going to have to live with the next franchisee," he said. "I support him making the determination."
Saratoga Springs Mayor Valerie Keehn, a member of the ad hoc committee, said the Legislature and Spitzer should take Excelsior's bid seriously.
"I'm hoping and expecting . . . not starting the whole process over again, to build on our foundation," she said. . .
Gov. Spitzer lobbying Interior Secretary on Catskills casino
02.27.07as reported in the Albany Times Union:
"...Earlier Monday, Spitzer met briefly with U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in Washington, D.C., at the National Governors Association meetings, and is trying to set up a more formal meeting Wednesday with the secretary. Spitzer is lobbying for federal approval of the St. Regis Mohawk Council's application to place 30 acres at Monticello Raceway into trust for a Catskills casino.
" 'This is an issue I will continue to deal with aggressively,' Spitzer said.
"Meanwhile, health groups, including the American Cancer Society, wrote to Spitzer urging him to renegotiate with the Mohawks to make sure the tribe honors the state ban on smoking in work areas. The tribe only agreed to make some sections of the gaming floor smoke-free."
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Casino developer's fear of competition drives them to push for Barstow
Fear of competition is what drives Detroit-based Barwest’s Quest for Twin Casinos in Barstow
"The wealthy tribes have opposed this primarily for economic reasons," said Tom Shields, Michigan-based representative for BarWest Gaming and a spokesman for the San Diego-based Los Coyotes Indians. He insists it’s this fear of competition in others that motivates their opposition to his client’s plan to relocate tribes to Barstow so his client Barwest can build and manage the Las Vegas-style casinos for the tribes.
According to Sigmund Freud, projection is a psychological defense mechanism whereby one "projects" one's own undesirable thoughts, motivations, desires, feelings
It’s ironic that Barwest & partners try to pin the fear of competition on the shoulders of those who oppose their plan for Barstow. A closer look at circumstances would indicate it’s Barwest’s fear of competition that drives their desire to be in Barstow.
In a preliminary deal Shield’s clients struck with staff in the Governor’s office, they’ve been granted extra special unprecedented protections from likely competitors: they would have an 80-mile wide virtual cone of protection centered over Barstow and spreading out for more than 5,044 square miles to keep any competition at least 45 minutes to an hour away on the western side of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains.
The truth is, Barwest fears competition. Those behind the Barwest syndication are certainly aware that if they were to develop a casino on the Los Coyotes’ San Diego reservation it would have at least 18-20 estalished competitors within a 40-mile radius; the newest San Diego casino would be less than 10 miles from the Los Coyotes Reservation and a Harrah’s managed casino approximately 15-20 minutes away.
At a Senate Hearing on the Big Lagoon compact last spring, Virgil Moorehead, one of Barwest’s Indian partner, said they’d asked for a 66-mile radius zone -- 132-miles wide (an area equal to 13,682 square miles). Dan Kolkey, the Governor’s negotiator indicated at the same hearing that Barwest had pushed him for an even broader zone around Barstow virtually guaranteeing gaming would not creep over the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountain ranges but Kolkey said he refused.
As it is now, the Detroit Developer’s generous competition-free zone, an area equal to 5,044 square miles, extends into Kern and Los Angeles Counties as well as San Bernardino County and could include Big Bear Lake and Lake Arrowhead Resort areas high up in the San Bernardino Mountains/Angeles Forest.
Southern California’s tribes compete head-to-head every day in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties for guests with multiple neighboring properties located 15-30 minutes away. So-called “fear of competition” has not kept existing casinos from undergoing major expansions or new Southern California casinos from springing up.
Fear of competition is what drives Barwest to Barstow.
Take a look at this map below and you can see who has the exclusive competition-free market – a Detroit casino syndication and tribes who have no history in the Barstow area. Why have they been given such generous advantages? Why them? Why not another less fortunate Indian tribe, a tribe even more remote?
U.S. Supreme Court stands by 'little old lady;' denies Ilitch Casino its $0.05 Cents
U.S. Supreme Court
denies Ilitch Casino’s Appeal
As her attorneys explained … A “little old lady” from Troy, Michigan and her girlfriends took a chartered bus trip to MotorCity Casino back in 2001. After playing the nickel slots, the grandmother of nine spotted a nickel token in the tray of an unattended machine and tried to play it.
But before she could do so, security officers surrounded her, took her away to a backroom, demanded to see her identification, questioned and photographed her, held her against her will, refused to let her join the group she’d come with and then evicted her from the casino.
She said they also confiscated her $9 meal ticket; the buffet lunch is one of things that attract the senior citizens to these day trips.
In 2003, a federal jury unanimously awarded the woman $270 – and five cents -- in general damages and $875,000 in punitive damages. The award had been upheld by a federal court of appeals earlier.
Aggressive attorney’s for Ilitch casino units decided to push their appeals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In October 2006, after both sides had submitted written briefs, and rebuttals the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Ilitch Team’s appeal upholding the original jury’s position in favor of the now 77-year-old woman.
An Ilitch casino spokesman tried to explain their position when he said, "Because it's not your money, you're taking something that doesn't belong to you. He explained their position is that it's owned by the person who bet it or by Mrs. Ilitch’s casino.
Casinos nationwide frown on "slot walking," the art of finding abandoned credit on slot machines or tokens in the hopper that haven't been played.
Last summer, attorneys for both sides submitted briefs and counter arguments. And the Supreme Court Justices made their position known in October; upholding jury’s original decision.
| SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES (JOURNAL) MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2006
Present: Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Stevens, Justice Scalia, Justice Kennedy, Justice Souter, Justice Thomas, and Justice Alito.
The Chief Justice said: “I have the honor to announce, on behalf of the Court, that the October 2005 Term of the Supreme Court of the United States is now closed, and the October 2006 Term is now convened.
“Today’s orders of the Court have been duly entered and certified, and filed with the Clerk, and they will not be otherwise announced. …
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Google News: Indian Gaming
NEWS: Bay Mills Indian Community & Casino Proposals
NEWS: Shinnecock Indian Nation (Gateway Casino Resorts) Casino Proposals
NY Times: Shinnecock Indian Nation
NEWS: Los Coyotes Indian Tribe
NEWS: Los Coyotes / Barwest Barstow Casino Proposals
NEWS: Michael J. Malik, Sr.
NEWS: Marian Ilitch
Muckety.com: Mapping Social Networks

