01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, May 10, 2007

By Katie Mulvaney

Journal Staff Writer

The Narragansett Indians and the Town of Charlestown are stepping up dueling lobbying campaigns with the state’s congressional delegates over the tribe’s rights to gambling, and other ventures, on tribal land in Charlestown.

The Narragansetts hope to tap into the Democratic Congress to overturn a federal law requiring the tribe to secure state and local voter approval to open a gambling hall on tribal lands, according to the tribe’s lobbyist, Michael Anderson, of the Indian-owned Washington, D.C., firm AndersonTuell.

“Of course, with the new Congress we think there might be more opportunity for such legislation,” said Anderson, who served as deputy assistant secretary for Indian affairs for the Department of the Interior during the Clinton administration.

Anderson said he remains concentrated on finding a sponsor to repeal a 1996 law backed by late Sen. John H. Chafee that stripped the tribe of its rights under federal Indian gambling law. He said he expected to reach a “major milestone” in that decade-long effort in the coming weeks.

Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas and the tribe’s lawyers are set to meet with U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy today.

Kennedy vowed in February to seek a congressional hearing on “the fairness” of the Chafee amendment. In 1998, the then-freshman representative Kennedy authored a bill that would have restored the tribe’s gambling rights — the Narragansett Justice Act — that ultimately stalled.

“The congressman feels as though the tribe should be given the right to a hearing to discuss the merits of overturning the Chafee rider,” Kennedy spokeswoman Robin Costello said yesterday. No hearing before the House Committee on Natural Resources has been scheduled, she said.

The tribe, meanwhile, has kept in “regular contact” with the state’s congressional leaders since a flurry of meetings in February and has presented various draft bills for consideration, Anderson said. He refused to discuss those proposals.

But while Anderson insisted the intention is to repeal the Chafee Amendment, a draft bill provided to The Journal speaks not to gambling, but more broadly to tribal sovereignty.

Charlestown Solicitor on Indian Affairs Joseph S. Larisa Jr. decried the proposal as a “Trojan horse” that could undo court rulings upholding state jurisdiction on tribal lands and turn back the 1978 agreement that gave the tribe its 1,800 acres. Larisa accuses the tribe and its lobbyists of taking a deceptive approach by not mentioning gambling. Instead, it proposes something equally threatening, he said: It would strike language that places the Narragansetts’ land under Rhode Island civil and criminal laws.

“It opens up a Pandora’s box of a potential casino outside the settlement lands and potential illegal activity on the settlement lands, including a smoke shop,” Larisa said. “From the town’s perspective, they agreed to be subject to state and local laws and, in exchange, the tribe got land for free.”

Chief Thomas said, as he headed to the nation’s capital yesterday, that the tribe’s mission is to ensure that its sovereignty remains intact.

“Our goal is to get our rights restored,” Thomas said. Altering the language will give the tribe the freedom to deal with potential business partners without the threat of intervention from the state, he said.

The draft bill states that court rulings upholding state jurisdiction on tribal land — like that in the smoke-shop raid case — undermine the tribe’s sovereignty and its ability to become self-sufficient.

“It stymies our ability to raise money. The tribe doesn’t want to be dependent on the state or any other entity,” Thomas said.

As for the Chafee amendment, Thomas said he will ask congressional leaders “Why not have hearings, considering the gambling going on in Rhode Island?”

U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin continues to support the Chafee Amendment, but is “digesting” the draft bill presented by a lobbyist for the tribe, said his spokeswoman, Joy Fox. He is set to meet with Charlestown leaders later this month and intends to get perspectives from all the stakeholders, she said.

Sen. Jack Reed remains opposed to any repeal of the Chafee amendment, but is open to discussions with the tribe, said Regan Lachapelle, his spokeswoman.

Alex Swartsel, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s spokeswoman, did not return phone calls requesting comment yesterday.

Larisa said he was disappointed that the congressional leaders had not told him of their continuing contact with tribal representatives and that he plans to push the town’s case with all but Kennedy in the coming weeks. He added that he hopes the governor and the attorney general will join the town in opposition.

kmulvane@projo.com