Criminal concerns, investigations called for at Congressional hearing on Michigan off-reservation casinos

excerpted from a story posted 2.10.08 by the Port Huron Times Herald:

Criminal concerns
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his mother, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, were among those who testified against the bills. They argued that casinos in Romulus and Port Huron would threaten the profitability of Detroit’s three casinos at a cost of jobs and city revenues.

It was the embattled mayor’s first appearance on Capitol Hill in the two weeks since the text-and-sex scandal broke. He appeared at ease, and his mother gave him rave reviews.

“Brilliant as always, son,” she said just before the mayor left to catch his plane. “Now go do your job.”

As the 3fi-hour hearing closed, Rep. Kilpatrick raised questions about the legality of the legislation and cautioned her colleagues: “We don’t want to be party to anything criminal.”

Tomion scoffed at the notion of illegality.

He noted the committee’s senior members — Rahall, Young and Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Flint — are leading experts on Indian law. All three support the legislation.

“The leadership of the committee is very aware of what the laws are,” Tomion said. “I don’t think that argument had any impact with them at all. … To a certain extent, the tactics of the opponents are hurting them. It’s become pretty clear that greed is the primary motivation of our opponents.”

Inquiry being sought
Mike Malik, a former Algonac councilman and a promoter of the Port Huron casino, noted the bills involve land-settlement claims drafted by a Republican governor in 2002 and amended by a Democratic governor in 2007.

“John Engler is a lawyer and signed this agreement. Our current governor, Jennifer Granholm, is a lawyer and was the attorney general of this state,” Malik said. “For someone to even suggest these are illegal documents is ludicrous.”

Fred Cantu, the chief of the Saginaw Chippewa, indicated he would ask the Interior Department to investigate the Engler-Granholm deals for possible fraud.

Malik said federal investigators might do better to look at the tactics of the lobbyists and public-relations specialists employed by the Saginaw Chippewa and MGM Mirage. He recalled how the Saginaw Chippewa paid more than $14 million to Jack Abramoff, a disgraced Republican lobbyist who worked to kill earlier Port Huron casino bills.

Abramoff is now in prison, but Malik accused opponents of using “Abramoff-like tactics. … They’re spending millions of dollars and spilling all this misinformation and garbage to make it look like this is not legitimate and to confuse the issue.”

He said casino supporters are working to provide committee members with facts.

“If people truly read the information and truly follow the law, there is no way not to support this,” he said. “If they’ll see through the lies and the garbage, the true legal facts speak for themselves.” (Full Story)