Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2004 | 11:26 a.m.
Caesars Entertainment Inc. executives don't believe a Friday decision by a federal judge ordering the Bureau of Indian Affairs to review its decision to recognize the government of a New York tribe will block the company's deal to build and manage a tribal casino in the Catskill Mountains.
U.S. Magistrate David Peebles ordered the federal bureau to revisit its 2002 decision recognizing three chiefs from the Saint Regis Mohawk tribe as the tribe's lawful government, but Caesars executives said the decision was based on a procedural problem rather than a substantive problem with the recognition.
"Judge Peebles' decision will have no effect on the current governance of the Saint Regis Mohawk tribe or on the development of the Mohawk Mountain Casino Resort," Caesars Entertainment spokesman Robert Stewart said. "Judge Peebles' ruling focuses on procedural, not substantive, issues."
The recognition of the three-chiefs government was challenged by the tribe's earlier government, but the three chiefs noted in a statement that the bureau continues to recognize their government as the tribe's lawfully elected leaders.
"Judge Peebles' decision has no effect on the current governance of the Saint Regis Mohawk tribe," Chief James Ransom noted.
Chief Barbara Lazore, a member of the Saint Regis Mohawk's so-called "constitutional faction," who filed the lawsuit challenging the BIA's recognition decision, was not available for comment on the decision. Ironically, after the suit was filed, Lazore was elected to the new government and is now one of the three governing chiefs.
Peebles found that the bureau did not conduct a sufficiently thorough review before its 2002 decision recognizing the three chiefs' government as the Saint Regis Mohawk's lawful government.
Caesars Entertainment's deal to develop a $500 million, 750-room hotel-casino on Lake Anawana in Sullivan County would likely have to be renegotiated if the bureau withdraws its recognition of the three-chiefs government.
Then known as Park Place Entertainment Corp., Caesars announced the deal two and-a-half years ago, planning at the time to break ground on the project by the end of 2002.
Constitutional challenges to New York Gov. George Pataki's authority have delayed the project and are still tied up in the state's courts, but Caesars' Stewart said the Las Vegas company remains confident the deal will ultimately be allowed and that its tribal partners will retain federal recognition as the legitimate government of the Saint Regis Mohawks.
"Judge Peebles directed the Bureau of Indian Affairs to revisit its decision, not because the judge believes the BIA should come to a different conclusion, but because he believes it should follow a different procedure," Stewart said.
One Wall Street analyst said the judge's order would probably delay the project further, but said the casino's potential to tap into the New York City metropolitan area, the nation's biggest, justifies the wait for Caesars.
"These tribal management deals almost always take much longer than expected," the casino industry analyst said. "The Mohawk casino opportunity will take a long time to develop because of the many hurdles it's had to clear, but it's probably worth it."
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