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Martin: Casino foes backing opponent
Message was posted: 06:51 Jun 21st, 2007

User: libblesp Rank: Casino Gold: 58782CG Contributor rating: 128760 Status: Offline

Casino news source: WDAM - http://www.wdam.com Martin: Casino foes backing opponent Associated Press - June 21, 2007 8:34 AM ET PASCAGOULA, Miss. (AP) - Chief Phillip Martin, facing a tough runoff election for an eighth term as chief of the Mississippi Band Choctaw Indians, says in a letter to tribal members that opponents to his proposal to place a casino in Jackson County are supporting his foe, Beasley Denson. Martin trailed Denson in the June 12th election. The runoff is July 3rd. Martin says the coast casinos are spending 10 of thousands of dollars to get him defeated because they fear competition from a casino in Jackson County. Denson says Martin made a unilateral decision to put a casino on tribal lands in Jackson County without consulting the tribe. Martin pledged to withdraw plans to build a casino if Jackson County voters turn it down in a non-binding referendum in November's election. While Martin does not need local voter approval, he must negotiate a compact with the state of Mississippi and the Bureau of Indian Affairs before opening a casino in Jackson County. That means approval from Governor Haley Barbour, who has said he opposes expanding casinos beyond their present locations along the Mississippi River and in Harrison and Hancock counties on the coast.