Hundreds vote to continue Catskills casino pursuit, reversing original referendum results

Nearly a thousand tribal members exercised their right to vote Saturday as the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe held a second referendum on off-reservation gaming. The tribe asked “Do you approve of the Tribe pursuing off-reservation gaming in the Catskills?” For years the tribe has been pursuing a multi-million dollar gaming facility in Sullivan County in the Catskill Mountains, 90 minutes from New York City.

The same question was posed to tribal members in a November 2009 referendum and the majority of voters “NO.” However, the results were deemed invalid by the Election Board based on an appeal that the referendum question wasn’t posted publicly 30-days prior to the vote as required by the tribe’s election law.

In the second referendum, held this weekend, voter turnout nearly tripled as the issue became one of high interest and controversy in the past two months. A total of 538 tribal members voted “YES”, 371 voted “NO” and 27 ballots were void. The results are still unofficial pending a 5-day appeal period.

Tribal member and columnist Ray Cook commented, “The scare tactics and the half truths employed by the opposition to influence a no vote were unsuccessful. The facts were enough to demonstrate that until now, the Tribe has risked nothing to get this far.”

Cook added that college students, young professionals and absentee voters who mailed in their votes were largely responsible for the referendum outcome.

“Those that live off the reserve know the harsh realities and know what success looks like and so do our students and young professionals,” he said.

In the unofficial referendum results, absentee ballots played a role particularly for the “YES” voters. Of the 538 “YES” votes, 298 were cast Saturday and 240 were absentee ballots. Of the 371 “NO” votes, 317 were cast on Saturday and 54 were absentee ballots. Of the 27 voided votes, 5 were cast on Saturday and 22 were absentee ballots.

Mohawk columnist Doug George-Kanentiio, who has been adamant in his opposition to the Tribe’s Sullivan County casino pursuit, was disappointed in the referendum results.

“Despite a wealth of information about the perils of a gambling deal with Empire Resorts hundreds of tribal members agreed to go ahead and make this deal with the devil,“ he said. “Even when the voters knew that Empire-Kien Huat stands to make billions of dollars in profits while sticking the Tribe with an enormous 25 year debt at an interest rate that would make the Mafia blush, they said okay.”

Tribal Chief James Ransom said that rather than Council entering agreements with Empire Resorts, a Limited Liability Company (LLC) will be created which will negotiate any purchases or management agreements.

“Only the assets of the LLC would be pledged against any debt it incurs and thus there would be no recourse back on the community here,” Ransom said.