And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From: "Victor Rocha" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Lawmaker files new suit to stop four Michigan casino compacts
Date: Fri, 11 Jun 1999 13:39:16 -0700
Lawmaker files new suit to stop four Michigan casino compacts
Associated Press
LANSING -- A lawmaker who failed to block four tribal casino compacts
in federal court filed a new suit against the compacts in state court on
Thursday.
State Rep. Laura Baird, D-Okemos, and a group called Taxpayers of
Michigan Against Casinos are trying to nullify compacts approved last year
for the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians in New Buffalo; the Little
Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians in Mackinaw City; the Huron Band of
Potawatomi Indians in Battle Creek; and the Little River Band of Ottawa
Indians in Manistee.
"It is unfortunate the special interests of gaming were put in front of
the public interests of Michigan," said Liz Thomas of the taxpayers' group.
The compacts were passed by a resolution in the Legislature last
December. In January, Baird and state Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Hills,
sued the federal government, saying the compacts should have been rejected
because of the manner in which they were passed.
Both lawmakers and former Atty. Gen. Frank Kelley said a majority of
the Legislature needed to approve the compacts through a change in state law.
Instead, the Legislature approved them during a late-night session
through a resolution, which requires only a majority of those present.
The compacts took effect automatically in February because U.S.
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt did not try to block them.
Last month, a federal judge in Lansing dismissed the lawsuit, saying
the two state legislators didn't have the right to interfere with the
federal casino approval process.
But the judge left open the possibility of fighting the case at the
state level, Grand Rapids attorney Bill Fulkerson said. Fulkerson is an
attorney for the plaintiffs.
"The Michigan Constitution has specific requirements for bills ... that
resolutions don't have," he said. "To our way of thinking, a resolution is
how you name the state mammal."
Gov. John Engler has defended the approval of the compacts, pointing
out that compacts with seven tribes were adopted by resolution in 1993.
Engler negotiated and signed the 1997 compacts.
http://www.detnews.com/1999/metro/9906/11/06110118.htm
Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
doctrine of international copyright law.
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Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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