Cedric Cromwell’s desperate efforts to keep his casino scam alive have become absurd. Of course Reel Wamps has repeatedly for told of the subsequent disaster that has played out. For those few tribal members who wanted to keep this all a secret under the guise of “handling our business internally” the Administrations incompetence has been hard to hide. Every gaming expert, government official, and observer has said the Taunton casino was impossible. But Cedric and his side kicks Mark Harding, and Aaron Tobey, have kept up the lies.
Not only has the Massachusetts Gaming Commission kicked our license to the curb (as planned), they made clear they’re not waiting around for some miracle from Cedric to get the LIT or prove we have a connection to Taunton (again, that we don’t). All these actions are mandatory and have never been done. Anyway, the following opinion in South Coast Today sums up Cedric’s ridiculous propaganda.
Your View: Tribal chairman’s comments fly in face of the facts
By ALLIN FRAWLEY
Allin Frawley lives in Middleboro.
December 14, 2012 12:00 AM
As I read Cedric Cromwell’s letter (“Tribal casino will benefit everyone,” Dec. 11 Your View), I became very concerned with some of his statements. Not surprised, but very concerned. He seems to either not understand the process he is involved in or is deliberately misleading the public as to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s pursuit of a casino.
Mr. Cromwell states “we place great value in our legally protected right to conduct gaming in our ancestral homeland.” If he is referring to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, he is misquoting it. IGRA was enacted “to regulate the conduct of gaming on Indian lands.” Indian lands is defined as “all lands within the limits of any Indian reservation; and any lands title to which is either held in trust by the United States for the benefit of any Indian tribe or individual or held by any Indian tribe or individual subject to restrictions by the United States against alienation and over which an Indian tribe exercises governmental power.”
The Mashpee tribe has no such lands. Furthermore, the tribe lacks the ability to acquire those lands. (See the Supreme Court decision Carcieri vs. Salazar.)
If Mr. Cromwell is implying that his “ancestral home” is in Taunton, he might want to check again. Taunton is Pokanoket territory. The Mashpee tribe is, oddly enough, from Mashpee.
As far as Mr. Cromwell’s assertion that the tribe “plans on contracting with small business throughout the area for supplies, goods and services,” his plans change as often as the weather; this is the third casino site planned in less than five years! In both the Middleboro and Taunton intergovernmental agreements, local hiring and local purchasing is to be done “in good faith” and “provided the cost and quality is competitive with other sources.” In other words, no local preference.
Mr. Cromwell goes on to state the project is further along than any other project in the state. There is no state/tribal compact, and the first one was rejected. The land into trust application is incomplete and still not even listed in the federal register. This project cannot move forward until, at the very least, land into trust has been established (again, please refer to the Carceri decision).
Mr. Cromwell refers to mitigation funds that have been set aside and yet the tribe has not engaged in one
