In 2004, the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma pitched a casino resort complex to rival the Oneida Nation's Turning Stone facilities at five different sites: their property on the intersection of Route 90 and Routes 5 and 20 in Aurelius, somewhere along Route 34 in Sennett, somewhere in the city of Auburn, in downtown Rochester and in the Catskills.

It seems that 2006 has brought the return of the tribe's pitch to multiple municipalities.

Auburn Mayor Tim Lattimore announced Friday the Seneca-Cayugas are interested in building a casino and convention center in Auburn.

It was just a little under two months ago that Paul Spicer, chief of the Seneca-Cayugas, told The Citizen the Miami, Okla.-based tribe was not losing interest in a proposed multi-million dollar casino and entertainment complex on Route 34 in Sennett. The tribe first sent a letter with the Sennett proposal in August to then-Cayuga County Legislature Chairman Herb Marshall. It made presentation to the Sennett Town Board in February. But then the Seneca-Cayugas declined an invitation to hold a public meeting with regular citizens in April.

Spicer recently sent a letter suggesting Auburn host the

casino and accepted Lattimore's offer to make a public presentation in the city, Lattimore said.

Spicer and Thomas C. Wilmot, owner of Caywil New York LLC, the tribe's development partner, will make a presentation to the Auburn City Council Thursday, June 22.

Just why the Seneca-Cayugas are eyeing Auburn instead of Sennett for a casino project is unclear. Spicer, in office since last year, refused to explain anything about the change.

“I'm not going to elaborate,” Spicer said when reached at his Oklahoma tribal offices Friday evening.

Lattimore said one thing that makes Auburn more attractive is that property taxes are lower than in Sennett. He also said the city has more “political influence” to make the deal happen.

Lattimore first proposed the former Dunn and McCarthy site off Washington Street, as well as several other undisclosed locations, in 2004 as sites for a Seneca-Cayuga casino. But the latest press release does not specify a site.

The current Auburn pitch appears to have similar outlines to the Sennett pitch: the tribe would give up its sovereignty in New York except for the site of gambling (a legal loophole to the state's constitutional prohibition on gambling), pay property and sales taxes, employ hundreds of people and drop its land claim.

The tradeoff of the tribe gaining a lucrative casino in the highly populated northeast market in exchange for its sacrifice of its land claim rights appears severely weakened considering a historic court decision last month. The 25-year land claim litigation by the Cayuga Nation of New York and the Seneca-Cayugas is over following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to not hear the tribal appeal of a lower court's dismissal of the claim, including $247.9 million in monetary damages.

“The land claim was past tense as of May 15,” said Cayuga County Legislature Chairman George Fearon, R-Springport.

Fearon had not heard too many details about the new proposal. But Fearon believes the proposal is pie-in-the-sky because both Auburn and Sennett are located outside of the tribes' historic territory and because there isn't the political will on the state level to approve gambling operations for a tribe currently based out of state.

“There's no way an out-of-state tribe is going to be able to put a casino in the state of New York,” Fearon said. “It's never going to get approved.”

Approval of a gambling project must include a gaming compact with the state. Approval also is required by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Congress.

While the land claim litigation is dead, Spicer has told The Citizen previously that the Seneca-Cayugas' treaty rights have never been extinguished and can only be extinguished by Congress. It is these unextinguished treaty rights that likely form the basis of the “any possible land claims” Lattimore referred to in his press release Friday.

Lattimore acknowledged that talk of a casino complex is preliminary but said he's excited to have some potentially good news about development and jobs in the city.

Spicer has publicly courted Cayuga County officials since last summer, including bringing a contingent to Cayuga County in August to make a $70,000 payment to satisfy back property taxes.

The Seneca-Cayugas are working on this latest proposal with Caywil of New York LLC, an entity specifically formed to develop a casino for the Seneca-Cayugas by Wilmot, the chairman of shopping mall developer Wilmorite. Caywil helped the tribe purchase the land they still own at Route 90 and Routes 5 and 20.

The tribe flirted working with casino developer Empire Resorts on a Catskills project, but the agreement with Empire has since fallen apart.

The tribe calls acreage in the northeast corner of Oklahoma its home. It is made up of descendants of five Indian tribes that once lived in New York, including Cayugas, Senecas and Oneidas. They operate an electronic bingo hall, a cigarette plant and other businesses.

Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net