Buffalo-casino backers cite Seneca letters

[WNYresident]

The Full Story (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040415/1000966.asp)

Proponents of a casino in Buffalo are stepping up efforts to prevent the Seneca Nation of Indians from establishing a gambling facility in Cheektowaga.
They are circulating letters that Barry E. Snyder Sr., a Seneca tribal leader, sent to Mayor Anthony M. Masiello in September 2002, acknowledging that the casino compact with the state requires a casino in the city.

Assembly Majority Leader Paul A. Tokasz, D-Cheektowaga, called on Gov. George E. Pataki to steer the Senecas to a Buffalo site.

Wednesday, Pataki reiterated his preference that the casino be located in the city, though he stopped short of saying he would back efforts to block the Senecas' selection of 57 acres in Airborne Business Park, across Holtz Drive from Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Cheektowaga.

The Full Story (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040415/1000966.asp)

[WNYresident]

CAn anyone get thier hands on a copy of these letters?

[dtwarren]

If my application to intervene is granted I will be able to easily obtain copies of these letters and I will post them. In preparing for the upcoming conference I have been doing a little research on the issue of if the compact is determined valid where does it require the facility to be built? To date I believe there is a viable argument that the casino is required to be built in the city for the following reasons:

In the MOU it states "With respect to the facility in the City of Buffalo, the Nation has not yet decided upon an appropriate parcel of land suitable for development of the facility" After this sentence there is a footnote which provides: "In the event a site in the City of Buffalo site is not available for any reason, the Nation would propose an alternate site."

The Compact provides: "in Erie County, at a location in the City of Buffalo to be determined by the Nation, or at such other site as may be determined by the Nation in the event a site in the City of Buffalo is rejected by the nation for any reason."

Normally, the Compact would control and the Nation could decide for any reason that a location in the city is undesirable and look elsewhere in the County. However, this situation is unique in that the governor was purportedly authorized to only enter into a compact that is consistent with the MOU (Executive Law section 12(a). Therefore to the extent that the compact is inconsistent with the MOU the MOU controls because the Governor exceeded his authority.