Speakers invited to testify at Wednesday's state Senate hearing on Gov. George Pataki's land claim/casino legislation include an Upstate Citizens for Equality leader, Cayuga and Seneca county legislators, a Farm Bureau representative and a St. Regis Mohawk woman who thinks gaming proceeds won't be fairly distributed to tribal members.
Speakers were notified Friday by staffers in the office of State Sen. Michael Nozzolio, R-Fayette. All invited speakers initially requested to give testimony and were selected based upon their ability to give analytical testimony about the impact the legislation will have.
The legislation involves establishing five large-scale casinos in the Catskills' Sullivan County and proposed land claim settlement agreements with the Akwesasne/St. Regis Mohawks, the Cayuga Nation, the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians.
While the state Senate office handling the hearing did not have a full list of speakers Friday, several people learned they would be on the list. The full list of invited speakers will be released Monday. Each speaker will be strictly limited to five minutes of testimony.
Two Senate hearings were previously held in Sullivan County and in Albany, and Assembly hearings are also upcoming.
Aurelius town supervisor Ed Ide said he will bluntly tell the state senators he doesn't think the settlements' provisions will be enforced.
Enforcement of existing regulations seems to be at the "political discretion of the parties involved" - including developers, state officials and tribes - Ide said. He noted that the governor refused to enforce sales tax legislation until recently and state environmental officials were steered away from enforcing regulations when construction started at the Seneca-Cayugas' proposed casino site in Aurelius.
"The bottom line is the state of New York has already refrained from enforcing its own laws against either of the tribes, repeatedly. These are things that have actually happened. Why in the world should we expect they will enforce the terms of these settlement agreements, regardless of what those terms are?" Ide said.
Amy Barton, a St. Regis Mohawk and a resident of Clyde, asked to testify because she thinks Indians who oppose the legislation are not given a voice. Barton opposes the legislation because, she said, current tribal gaming enterprises like the Mohawks' casino in the Adirondacks, the Oneida Nation's Turning Stone casino and the Seneca Nation's Niagara Falls casino do not equitably share profits with tribal members.
"Among the Iroquois Nation, there is not among the six brothers one single governing body to handle this project and handle it properly. If we go for this capitalistic ideal and we sign off title to the land and take these casinos, we're forgetting our culture" to protect the earth, Barton said.
Cayuga County Legislature Chairman Herb Marshall and legislator George Fearon, R-Springport, have also been invited to testify.
From Seneca County, board of supervisors Chairman Robert Shipley Jr., Republican majority leader David Kaiser and Indian land claim committee chairman Richard Ricci have also been invited to speak.
Ricci will call for state leaders to petition Congress to ratify the treaties negotiated by the state, in violation of the federal Non-Intercourse Act, which is the legal basis for tribal claims. Ricci will also ask that settlement approval wait until a decision in the city of Sherrill U.S. Supreme court case is handed down later this year.
Mark James, the executive director of the Farm Bureau's' Finger Lakes office, said Lloyd Kinnear, a livestock producer from Canandaigua, will speak for the agricultural member organization.
The Farm Bureau testimony will ask that payments from the state in lieu of property taxes on sovereign land be tied to an updated assessed value, that sales tax be collected on goods sold to non-Indians, that the settlements be delayed until legal appeals are exhausted and that state and federal environmental laws be enforced.
Dick Tallcot, the co-chair of the Upstate Citizens for Equality Seneca-Cayuga chapter, will testify that nothing in the legislation guarantees the settlements will hold.
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
The legislation involves establishing five large-scale casinos in the Catskills' Sullivan County and proposed land claim settlement agreements with the Akwesasne/St. Regis Mohawks, the Cayuga Nation, the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians.
While the state Senate office handling the hearing did not have a full list of speakers Friday, several people learned they would be on the list. The full list of invited speakers will be released Monday. Each speaker will be strictly limited to five minutes of testimony.
Two Senate hearings were previously held in Sullivan County and in Albany, and Assembly hearings are also upcoming.
Aurelius town supervisor Ed Ide said he will bluntly tell the state senators he doesn't think the settlements' provisions will be enforced.
Enforcement of existing regulations seems to be at the "political discretion of the parties involved" - including developers, state officials and tribes - Ide said. He noted that the governor refused to enforce sales tax legislation until recently and state environmental officials were steered away from enforcing regulations when construction started at the Seneca-Cayugas' proposed casino site in Aurelius.
"The bottom line is the state of New York has already refrained from enforcing its own laws against either of the tribes, repeatedly. These are things that have actually happened. Why in the world should we expect they will enforce the terms of these settlement agreements, regardless of what those terms are?" Ide said.
Amy Barton, a St. Regis Mohawk and a resident of Clyde, asked to testify because she thinks Indians who oppose the legislation are not given a voice. Barton opposes the legislation because, she said, current tribal gaming enterprises like the Mohawks' casino in the Adirondacks, the Oneida Nation's Turning Stone casino and the Seneca Nation's Niagara Falls casino do not equitably share profits with tribal members.
"Among the Iroquois Nation, there is not among the six brothers one single governing body to handle this project and handle it properly. If we go for this capitalistic ideal and we sign off title to the land and take these casinos, we're forgetting our culture" to protect the earth, Barton said.
Cayuga County Legislature Chairman Herb Marshall and legislator George Fearon, R-Springport, have also been invited to testify.
From Seneca County, board of supervisors Chairman Robert Shipley Jr., Republican majority leader David Kaiser and Indian land claim committee chairman Richard Ricci have also been invited to speak.
Ricci will call for state leaders to petition Congress to ratify the treaties negotiated by the state, in violation of the federal Non-Intercourse Act, which is the legal basis for tribal claims. Ricci will also ask that settlement approval wait until a decision in the city of Sherrill U.S. Supreme court case is handed down later this year.
Mark James, the executive director of the Farm Bureau's' Finger Lakes office, said Lloyd Kinnear, a livestock producer from Canandaigua, will speak for the agricultural member organization.
The Farm Bureau testimony will ask that payments from the state in lieu of property taxes on sovereign land be tied to an updated assessed value, that sales tax be collected on goods sold to non-Indians, that the settlements be delayed until legal appeals are exhausted and that state and federal environmental laws be enforced.
Dick Tallcot, the co-chair of the Upstate Citizens for Equality Seneca-Cayuga chapter, will testify that nothing in the legislation guarantees the settlements will hold.
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
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