Lawmakers back casino-owning tribes
Reps seek to bury bill that would stop East Windsor project before it starts
Hartford — Southeastern Connecticut's state legislative delegation rallied to the casino-owning tribes' defense once more Thursday, seeking to bury a bill that would stop the tribes' East Windsor project less than a year after it was authorized and before it ever gets going.
And when, exactly, will it get going, never-say-die proponents of a competitive-bidding process for the state's first commercial casino wondered aloud.
The legislature's Public Safety and Security Committee, which conducted Thursday's hourslong hearing, could vote on the bill today.
“I find it absolutely appalling that when the ink is barely dry on what we passed last year, some want to undo it,” state Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, said. “I think it sets a very bad precedent.”
Rep. Linda Orange, D-Colchester, agreed.
“It's very unfair,” Orange said, to bring up repeal of a bill passed so recently, particularly one signed with “our good partners,” the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, respective owners of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun. “It's wrong,” she said.
In response, Rep. Joe Verrengia, D-West Hartford, a committee co-chairman and a staunch advocate of a competitive-bidding process, said things have changed since the legislature approved the measure authorizing the East Windsor casino. He noted that the tribes have been unable to proceed with construction because the federal government has yet to approve their amended gaming agreements with the state, a condition of the law authorizing the casino project.
The state and the tribes have sued the U.S. Department of the Interior in a bid to compel the approvals or their equivalents.
“When we voted on that bill (last year), we were led to believe that letter (from Interior) was imminent,” Verrengia said. “We’re still waiting on it.”
At another point, he said he’s talked to “legal people” who’ve said pending and potential further litigation could delay the East Windsor project for “two, five or 10 years.”
Chuck Bunnell, the Mohegans’ chief of staff, said the casino would be completed within two years.
Hours earlier, Sens. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, and Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, and Reps. Kevin Ryan, D-Montville, and Kathleen McCarty, R-Waterford, testified together, huddling at the microphone to denounce the provision in House Bill 5305 that calls for repeal of the East Windsor casino’s authorization. Osten said it was just playing into the hands of MGM Resorts International, the Las Vegas-based operator building a nearly $1 billion resort casino in Springfield, Mass.
“They will do whatever they can to stymie the East Windsor project — that’s what they’ve said at shareholders’ meetings,” Osten said.
While the bill’s other provision calling for a casino-application process open to all bidders specifies no location for a commercial casino, it’s widely considered to target Bridgeport. All would-be operators would be welcome to apply, including tribal ones like the Mashantuckets, the Mohegans and the Kentbased Schaghticokes, whose chief, Richard Velky, testified in favor of the measure.
MGM Resorts has unveiled plans for a $675 million casino on Bridgeport’s waterfront, and a company executive, Uri Clinton, testified Thursday that MGM “unequivocally” will file a proposal for the project if Bill 5305 is approved.
Legislators representing the Bridgeport area testified en masse, demanding consideration for a beleaguered city badly in need of employment opportunities.
“It’s a jobs bill,” Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim said. “We want the revenue (from a casino), but most importantly, it’s the jobs.” Toni Harp, the New Haven mayor, said the same. MGM Resorts’ Bridgeport proposal includes a plan for an employment training facility in New Haven.
In written testimony submitted to the committee, state Attorney General George Jepsen wrote that in his opinion, “the proposed legislation would not run afoul of our existing agreements with the Tribes.” The Mashantuckets and the Mohegans pay 25 percent of their respective casinos’ slot-machine revenues to the state in exchange for the exclusive right to operate casinos in the state.
The tribes also would share with the state gaming revenue generated by the East Windsor casino.