Casino news source: The Sun Herald - http://www.sunherald.com
Jackson County will vote on tribal casino
By TOM WILEMON
tewilemon@sunherald.com
PASCAGOULA --
Jackson County residents will vote on a proposed tribal casino near Ocean Springs in a non-binding referendum that will be on the same ballot as the Nov. 6 general election.
The Board of Supervisors set the date on Monday, a year and a half after Chief Phillip Martin of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians first approached them about a casino.
The referendum has the makings of a big-money campaign. Casinos in Harrison County and other businesses have already set up a political action committee, Coast Businesses for Fair Play, to defeat the proposal. Pastors in Jackson County have organized an opposition group. The Choctaws have a history of spending millions of dollars to achieve their political aims.
Supervisor Frank Leach criticized representatives of Coast Businesses for Fair Play on Monday.
"I don't appreciate at all, Mr. (Stan) Flint nor you Mr. (Tim) Taranto, your attempting to go behind this board's back and make as though this is something you're attempting to do for the progress of Jackson County, when all you are doing is earning your keep for our neighboring county," Leach said.
Taranto, a lifelong resident of Ocean Springs who is a financial adviser, said that any outside interference in Jackson County politics is more likely to come from the Choctaws.
"We're very pleased that this issue is finally on the ballot for November of this year and we support the supervisors' decision in doing that," Taranto said. "We look forward to a good, healthy debate."
Flint is a registered lobbyist for the cities of Biloxi and Jackson, Coast Businesses for Fair Play, the Mississippi Coast Coliseum & Convention Center Commission and Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., among others.
The first person to request a referendum was Chief Martin, but he did not want it any sooner than the 2008 presidential election. He has proposed a $375 million resort.
The Choctaws have spent millions on lobbying efforts and campaigns in recent years.
The tribe spent $15.9 million with Jack Abramoff's lobbying company from 2001 to 2003, according to the report issued in June 2006 by the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Before that, the tribe spent more than $1.3 million with Ralph Reed, another lobbyist, to defeat an initiative in Alabama to allow video poker and other casino-style games at Alabama dog tracks, according to the report.
Milton McGregor, an Alabama racetrack owner, did not learn how much money the Choctaws had spent until the Senate hearings.
"It shows just how involved Chief Martin has been in trying to influence elections and public policy in Alabama," McGregor said. "I don't have a problem with him. If he wants to spend money that's his business. The problem I have is that the people he gave money to didn't report it like I did and everybody else who participated in the process."
The ballot
This is the language that will appear on ballots: Allow gaming located only on tribal reservation land owned by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians at Hwy 57/I-10 in Jackson County, Mississippi.
The choices: FOR, AGAINST |
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