Snyder moves to shake up gaming board

Snyder moves to shake up gaming board
By Michael Beebe
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: September 04, 2009, 9:49 AM / 9 comments


Apparently driven by the firing of a key supporter from the Seneca Gaming Corp., Seneca Nation President Barry E. Snyder Sr. has called an emergency meeting of the Tribal Council today to replace the majority of the gaming board.

Today's meeting, when the Tribal Council will interview applicants for five members of the board whose terms have expired, was called after Seneca Gaming counsel Rajat Shah was told his $700,000-a-year contract will not be renewed.

Shah was told at 5:30 p.m. Thursday to leave Seneca Gaming headquarters in Niagara Falls and was accompanied out of the building by Seneca marshals, sources told The Buffalo News.

Shah has been a longtime ally of Snyder, and he remained behind at Seneca Gaming after board members forced Snyder's ouster as Seneca Gaming chairman in March.

Gaming board members, led by its new chairman, Cochise Redeye, dumped Snyder from the chairmanship after they said he refused to cooperate with an audit the gaming board's audit committee had done of a missing $800,000 the Seneca nation paid for land to build its Hickory Stick golf course in Lewiston.

Snyder then said he no longer wanted to serve on the board, but the tribal council later accused one of the audit committee members, Maurice John Sr., the immediate past president of the Seneca nation, of misappropriating $120,000 in tribal funds.

The Tribal Council, which appoints members to the gaming board, then removed John from the board.

Seneca sources said the latest maneuvering stems from the feud between Snyder and Redeye over operation of Seneca Gaming.

The gambling operation has suspended construction on the $333 million Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino and the Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel, as well as planning on Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel, because of the economy and tightened credit markets.

At the same time, the Tribal Council is pursuing a possible Seneca casino in the Catskills, separate from the Seneca Gaming Corp., teamed with a gambling start-up company, Rotate Black, from Michigan.

Today's Tribal Council meeting will interview candidates for the expired gaming corporation seats now held by Redeye, Maribel W. Printup and Gloria Heron, as well as the vacancies created by the removal of Maurice John and Barry Snyder's resignation.

Shah became gaming corporation counsel after Snyder forced out Barry W. Brandon as the corporation's lawyer in November 2008.

Snyder could not be immediately reached to comment, nor could Redeye.

mbeebe@buffnews.com
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/784762.html

If people started to look into the political contributors there would be some light shined onto the real motives behind some of these games being played.