Nickerson said, “Only a few months ago the BIA rejected the Schaghticokes’ petition for recognition indicating that the gaps in the tribe’s history were too great to overcome. The BIA may have been swayed by a much criticized affidavit, later withdrawn by the signers, in which the group of dissident Schaghticokes who had previously opposed the application reversed themselves momentarily.

It is important to recognize that all of this is about establishing a casino, not about Indian heritage and culture. The Schaghticokes have long proclaimed it is their intention to establish a casino but to do so not on land which they own in Kent, but rather on non-tribal land they might acquire elsewhere, some say in Danbury. In that event I would also urge Governor Rowland and Attorney General Blumenthal to challenge in Court any attempt by the Schaghticokes to acquire off-reservation property and then seek to convert it into an ersatz “tribal reservation.” Second, we will challenge the right of any tribe to establish any further casinos in Connecticut based on the legislature’s repeal of the so-called “Las Vegas Nights” law under which the original Connecticut Indian casinos were established.

This appears to be one more sad chapter in the weak and poorly run BIA’s unwillingness or inability to stand up to the phalanxes of lawyers, lobbyists, PR people and shadowy investors who want to win big at a casino at the expense of the rest of Connecticut, courtesy of a make believe tribe.”