01:00 AM EST on Thursday, February 22, 2007

By Katie Mulvaney

Journal Staff Writer

A political advocacy group plans to push the state’s congressional leaders to rebuff attempts by the Narragansett Indian tribe to have repealed a federal law that requires the tribe to seek voter approval for any gambling halls on their land.

The Rhode Island Statewide Coalition, formerly the Rhode Island Shoreline Coalition, is asking people visiting its Web site to add their names to a petition opposing a repeal of the so-called Chafee amendment. More than 1,000 signatures have been collected in the three weeks the petition has been posted, said Harry Staley, president of the group.

“We’re hopeful we can garner many more signatures,” Staley said. RISC plans to present the petition to its congressmen in the coming months.

The late Sen. John Chafee included a provision in a massive federal spending package in 1996 that, in effect, required the Narragansetts to win both state and local voter approval to open a casino, or any other kind of gaming hall, on their Charlestown land.

Most tribes are entitled to operate casinos on their land in states where similar gambling was already allowed under the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, but they must reach a compact with the state.

Chafee explained at the time that it was merely closing a loophole created by the Indian gaming law. He said it maintained the 1978 agreement with the tribe that says that state laws, including those with respect to gaming, apply on the tribe’s 1,800 acres.

The Narragansetts claim the amendment singled them out unfairly after courts upheld their gaming rights under the gaming act. Last week, Narragansett Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas visited the congressional offices with lawyers from the Washington, D.C., firm AndersonTuell — an Indian-owned law firm specializing in Indian law — to speak about the amendment and other issues.

After meeting with Thomas, Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy agreed to seek a hearing before the House Resources Committee on “the fairness” of the Chafee amendment. Sen. Jack Reed continues to oppose a repeal of the Chafee amendment. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and Rep. James Langevin say they remain against any expansion of gambling in Rhode Island.

The coalition seizes on the 1978 agreement in its petition drive to preserve the law.

“The idea that someone took advantage of the Indians is ridiculous. They negotiated [the 1978 agreement],” Staley said. “Their protestations now that they were taken advantage of are erroneous.”

The group’s lawyer, Bruce Goodsell, notes the 1978 agreement, which was codified by state and federal law, came at great time and expense to taxpayers.

“In 1978, they made a contract that state law would apply — no question,” he said.

RISC also worries about the potential impact a casino or slot parlor would have on coastal ponds as well as road and water systems.

Chief Thomas challenges those assertions and wonders why RISC hasn’t taken issue with Lincoln Park or Newport Grand, which is set near water in Newport.

“As for pollution, they’re a couple of hundred years too late,” he said, adding “[the tribe’s] ponds are the most pristine in the state.”

He insists Chafee enacted the amendment only after the courts ruled in the tribe’s favor and that it should be repealed.

The tribe’s gambling quest now dates 15 years. In November, more than 63 percent of Rhode Island voters statewide defeated the latest attempt, rejecting a proposal to change the state Constitution to allow a Harrah’s-financed Narragansett Indian casino in West Warwick.

Thomas said voters asked him repeatedly as he campaigned for the casino why the tribe didn’t build on their own land.

“I think people support that,” he said.

Thomas revealed shortly after the vote his intentions to pursue a slot parlor on par with Lincoln Park on tribal lands. He said he would approach state leaders about overturning the Chafee amendment.

“What’s fair is fair,” he said.

Founded four years ago, RISC is a grass-roots advocacy organization with about 1,650 regular members and another 2,350 through group affiliations, says Staley, who has lived in Westerly full-time for 12 years.

RISC has backed hot-button political issues, including voter initiative and Charlestown’s withdrawal from the Chariho Regional School District. It supported recent tax-cap legislation and lobbied, unsuccessfully, to extend the right to vote on local budget matters to part-time residents.

State Board of Elections records show that the group registered as a political advocacy group in 2004. It changed its name late last year to reflect a membership that increasingly includes residents statewide, Staley said.

kmulvane@projo.com