Pataki appealing ruling on gambling

ALBANY - "Gov. George Pataki is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a ruling last month from the state's highest court that says the governor needs legislative approval to enter into gambling agreements with Indian tribes.

Bring 'em on is the response of the winning side, including Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce President Joseph Dalton.

"We'll go to the Supreme Court if necessary," Dalton said Thursday, shortly after the governor's office filed the papers. "We'll beat them."

The governor's press office sent out a press release but didn't return a call for comment Thursday.

The state Court of Appeals ruled 4-3 June 12 that no governor of New York has the ability to enter into a gambling agreement with a American Indian tribe unless the Legislature agrees.

The Court of Appeals left open the question of whether the state's constitution forbids not only American Indian casi

nos but also slot-like video lottery terminals planned for race tracks, including Saratoga Raceway. That question is the subject of a second lawsuit now before trial-level Judge Joseph Teresi in Albany County. Cornelius D. Murray, a lawyer for Dalton and the others, said Teresi could rule on that suit at any time.

Murray said he learned of Pataki's intentions to appeal the ruling in the first suit when the papers were filed at the state Court of Appeals at 4 p.m. Thursday. He said Pataki is also asking the Court of Appeals to stay its decision of June 12 and allow a gambling compact with the St. Regis Mohawks of Hogansburg on the St. Lawrence River to stand while the U.S. Supreme Court considers the case, if it comes to that.

"We are going to oppose the stay," he said. "Especially since the Legislature went home without passing a compact even though the court strongly encouraged it to do so."

Murray said he has until July 10 to file his arguments with the state's highest court.

The U.S. Supreme Court won't announce until October what cases it will and will not be taking in its next term, Murray said. He said it is extremely unlikely that the justices will hear Pataki's appeal and not simply because the Supreme Court turns down most requests to hear appeals.

"This was a question of state law, not federal law," Murray said. "It has to do with the state constitution, and the highest court in the state has already ruled."

Federal authorities have already twice rejected amendments to the agreement with the Mohawks, Murray said.

Dalton said Pataki is trying to draw out the legal proceedings, hoping his opponents will run out of money. "In my opinion, this is a tactic used by government where you use taxpayer money to fight taxpayers," Dalton said. "The governor can keep going, and he never has to put up a cent of his own money."

Dalton has raised money from private donors to fight legalized gambling in the courts. The Presbyterian-New England Congregational Church in Saratoga Springs has donated money, and its pastor, the Rev. Jay Ekman, is a plaintiff in the second lawsuit."