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COLUMBUS — A week after the state of Ohio was dropped from a land claim lawsuit by an Indian tribe, Attorney General Jim Petro wants back in.
Petro’s office filed three new motions in federal district court on Friday, asking for the chance to intervene in the lawsuit and avoid what he believes are “sham” settlements reached in the case.
“What we’re trying to do is ensure that the Eastern Shawnee Tribe doesn’t pull a fast one on this office, on the citizens of Ohio and on the federal court, and that’s essentially what they’re trying to do,” Petro said.
The Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma filed a federal land claim lawsuit against the state and 64 other defendants, including Lima, Allen County and many other municipalities, last year. The tribe has all along said it needs to acquire land through a federal land claim settlement, and to have that land taken into trust by the federal government, if it wants to establish a casino.
During a press conference at his office Friday, Petro said he was surprised to see the settlements come forward and warned that the tribe is trying to get the court to approve them, thus providing the key first step toward getting casinos in Ohio.
“What we don’t want to see occur is the court approve a settlement when the settlement is strictly being negotiated for the purpose of going around the whole idea of litigation to determine a tribal land claim,” Petro said. A land claim can only be shown to exist through the trial process, he added.
Tribe consultant Terry Casey said the tribe’s case remains strong, and said he found it ironic that Petro, after months of petitioning for dismissal, now wants to be back in the case.
“(Tribe attorney) Mason (Morisset) clearly telegraphed months back that we are working on a settlement,” Casey said, referring to the tribe’s requests for delays in rulings to allow for negotiations to continue.
The state joined many of the defendants in filing motions to dismiss the lawsuit, and the tribe dropped the state and a few others early last week. The tribe proposed dropping all but Lima from the suit later in the week as long as two settlements with private landowners, including land in five counties, were approved.
Lima was left active in the lawsuit to give the sides more time to negotiate. Petro said Lima has no authority to grant that a land claim exists, and therefore settling one would be a moot point.
“Lima can reach a settlement, but it is not a settlement of the case that has been brought by the Eastern Shawnee which asserts that they have legitimate tribal land claims, because those are factual issues that have yet to be determined,” Petro said.
Petro said the settlement agreements with two Logan County landowners specifically say that the settlements would represent settlement of a land claim, and if District Court Judge James Carr accepts them and dismisses most of the case’s defendants, it would essentially confirm that the land claims are legitimate.
That would open the door for the tribe to go to the U.S. Department of the Interior to get the land taken into trust, and then to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Commission to petition for tribal gaming on the land, he added.
None of this differs from what the tribe has said all along, Casey said.
“The first thing the tribe is interested in is returning to its homeland,” Casey said. “Obviously, they want to do different economic development projects.”
The tribe is trying to take advantage of an exception in federal gaming law. The exception allows tribes to establish gaming on land it acquires in trust as part of a land claim if the land is acquired after 1988; any land acquired before that is already eligible.
“It’s an interesting approach. It’s creative on the part of the plaintiff’s counsel,” Petro said. “What we want to assure is that it doesn’t occur.”
Petro said he doesn’t believe the cities negotiating with the tribe realize what’s at stake.
“I don’t think they know they’re being used,” he said. “I think they accept the notion that if there’s ever Class III gaming in Ohio that they wouldn’t mind it in their neighborhood.”
Casey argued that the cities know exactly what they’re doing.
“I think it’s insulting for the Ohio attorney general to accuse these communities of being victims of some scam. They’re very smart. They’ve looked at it. They’ve done their homework,” Casey said.
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