Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell is continuing a media blitz
in advance of an expected Massachusetts Gaming Commission vote, vowing Monday
that the tribe will build a casino in Taunton.
“Threats to sue our Tribe, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Department of the Interior will not deter us from building a first class destination resort casino in Taunton,” Cromwell said in a statement. “We have known all along that different groups would sue to try and deprive us of our tribal rights, but it has become clear that our opponents are more concerned with their own self-interest than the good of Southeastern Massachusetts. All they are doing is lining the pockets of lawyers instead of working to fill the pockets of the good people of Southeastern Massachusetts who need work.”
boo-freaking-hoo Cedric....your lies and twisting of facts is just disgusting and no one...I mean no one who knows anything about the federal trust land process is buying it. Especially not David Littlefield, East Taunton resident and number one opponent to your lies...here is what he has to say about that...
EAST TAUNTON RESIDENTS FIRM OVER FIGHT FOR NO TRIBAL CASINO IN SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
While the chairman of
the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Cedric Cromwell continues his desperate, feeble
attempts with a media blitz, to threaten the Mass Gaming Commission before
their vote on Thursday on whether or not to open region C to commercial
bidders. He has finally realized that his fairy tale dream of having a casino
anywhere may never come to fruition. In his statement to the Taunton Gazette
"threats to sue our tribe, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and
Department of the Interior will not deter us from building a first class
destination resort casino in Taunton". Well Cedric, there are a few
problems with that statement you made. First of all we would not sue the tribe.
The tribe has never been under federal jurisdiction, and this is proven in
documents that show the BIA did not ignore you, or pass you by, but did in fact,
on several occasions, refuse to intervene and help your tribe because the
federal government declared the Mashpee Wampanoag were state citizens, in fact
the BIA just recently declined to help the Mashpee Wampanoag with the
fraudulent elections back in February of this year. So, for centuries the BIA
and the DOI have and still do consider the Mashpee Wampanoag state citizens
who are not, nor ever have been, under federal jurisdiction. We won't sue the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts either. We have no desire to take any desperately
needed funds from our state or the good people of southeastern Massachusetts.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts can only approve a compact for gaming, which
by the way is completely different from getting land in trust, and without land
in trust, the compact means nothing. So
to educate you a little further, we could sue the Department of the Interior if
they were to break the law and over step their boundaries in granting a tribe
that was never under federal jurisdiction land in trust. You cannot change
history nor create new history. As far as lining the pockets of attorneys, and
taking away money from the Commonwealth, yes, you are wrong again!! Per
guidelines set by the BIA, your proposed casino project would only bring 6.25%
to the Commonwealth, and if a commercial casino was already here (garnering the
state 25%), and you continue your pursuit of a tribal casino as you have warned
us you will do, the good people of southeastern Massachusetts will get 0%. All the money will go to lining your pocket,
the tribe and Malaysian investors, of course. If you bothered to stick around
long enough to hear what the good people of southeastern Massachusetts have to
say, you would understand that this dream of yours will never happen. But you
don't stick around for those meetings, you run your usual same old speech, the
same one you used in Middleboro and Fall River, and now Taunton, while you continue to reservation shop. You
say "self-interest" - I say self-preservation for my community that
you stormed in on and tried to take control of. You know the old saying that
you and Glen Marshall use from the tribal casino handbook "We’re coming,
like it or not, so get the best deal you can" well the best deal for Taunton
would be for you to pack up and head on back down to Mashpee where your final
determination by the federal government puts you. Oh yeah I forgot, Mashpee
won't let you have a casino there either. You’re the one bullying the people of
Taunton and the Gaming Commission. You’re the one threatening lawsuits if you
don’t get the casino you mistakenly think is your inevitable right to have. You’re
the one threatening to line lawyer’s pockets with the only money you have-
Malaysian investors and the federal grant money. You’re the one not being
transparent. By the way how’s that land in trust application working for you? You
know the one you started in 2007 in Middleboro? Amended, rejected, refilled. I
can't wait to see you when you come before the City Council the end of this
month to answer our questions and show us the completed LIT application... so
when your pocket lined lawyer says he will sue the Commonwealth for relief and
remedies, does that mean YOU”RE going to take money from the good people of
Southeastern Massachusetts? Bottom line, Cedric, to quote your lawyer
"after 400 years of injustice and deprivation, the tribes obligation to its
citizens requires no less” - what that really means is after 400 years of being
told over and over again that the Mashpee Wampanoag are not under federal
jurisdiction the tribe has no obligation…..Yes Cedric it is true, you and your
tribe are state citizens just like me and all the other good people of Southeastern
Massachusetts. I promised you a year ago that I would fight you through the
local, state, federal level. I intend to keep that promise, and not for any
self-interest, rather to protect state sovereignty and WE THE PEOPLE of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and if you think 1 man cannot make a difference,
then you go tell that to Governor Donald Carcieri or David Patchak.
What he said....
Knowing can be a curse on a person's life. I'd traded in a pack of lies for a pack of truth, and I didn't know which one was heavier. Which one took the most strength to carry around? It was a ridiculous question, though, because once you know the truth, you can't ever go back and pick up your suitcase of lies. Heavier or not, the truth is yours now.” ― Sue Monk Kidd
"you've only got three choices in life...give up, give in, or give it all you got" - Ironman
- be the change you want to see in the world -
2 comments:
could not have said it better and I am a tribal member.
It's funny how we see through them (tribe) the same as our brothers and sisters in E.Taunton. I have a question. If you or I purchase a lotto ticket with hopes of winning big, what do we do when our hope is crushed by not winning? WE MOVE ON. WE ACCEPT IT. WE GO BACK TO WORK.I respect and accept the fact that some of the mashpees have aboriginal blood flowing thru their veins. But,all this whining and now playing the white man/ indian card AGAIN with the "whoa is me" cable ad is over the cliff absurd.They have been trying to pull the fast one on all of us for too long. Cedric- check out the definition of "insanity" in the old webster or funk and wagnalls.
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