FILE - In this March 12, 2015, file photo, Attorney General Eric Holder announces six pilot cities for the National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice, at the Department of Justice in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 26, 2008 file photo, the new Casino of the Wind at Mohegan Sun is shown in Uncasville, Conn. The two biggest tribal-owned casinos in the United States, Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun, have launched websites with online versions of casino games. Officials from the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and the Mohegan Tribe say they want to be prepared in case Internet gambling is legalized at the federal level or in their home state of Connecticut. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
FILE - In this Nov. 11, 2010 photo, buildings of the Foxwoods Resorts Casino rise over the landscape in Ledyard, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 11, 2010 photo, buildings of the Foxwoods Resorts Casino rise over the landscape in Ledyard, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
Photo: Jessica Hill / Associated PressConnecticut Attorney General George Jepsen meets with the editorial board of The News-Times Wednesday, March 25, 2015.
Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen meets with the editorial board of The News-Times Wednesday, March 25, 2015.
Photo: Carol Kaliff / Carol KaliffA sign at the MGM Grand advertises a bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao,Wednesday, April 22, 2015, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A sign at the MGM Grand advertises a bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao,Wednesday, April 22, 2015, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Photo: John Locher / Associated PressFormer U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder general says that Connecticut’s compact with the Mohegan Tribe and the Mashantucket Tribal Nation to build a third casino near Hartford is unconstitutional.
In a legal opinion rendered on Oct. 26 and obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media, Holder wrote that a law passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy earlier this year granting the two tribes exlusive rights to a new casino flies in the face of competitive bidding and fair contracting. The letter was addressed to state Attorney General George Jepsen.
Holder is a partner in the international law firm Covington & Burling, which is representing MGM Resorts International in a lawsuit against Connecticut over the monopoly.
The casino giant, which is developing a gambling resort just over the border in Springfield, Mass., is suing Malloy and other state officials over the constitutionality of the agreement.
“By granting the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Tribes the exclusive right to establish commercial casinos, Special Act 15-7 unfairly prevents any other individual or corporation from competing to provide the people and communities of Connecticut the best possible economic opportunities,” Holder wrote.
A spokesman for the joint casino venture between the two tribes referred questions on the matter to Jepsen’s office, which was preparing Thursday to renew its calls for MGM’s lawsuit to be thrown out by the U.S. District Court in Hartford.
“While we have great respect for Mr. Holder and his many accomplishments, we disagree with the legal conclusions he asserts on behalf of his client, MGM,” said Jaclyn Falkowski, a spokeswoman for Jepsen. “We will not comment further on his letter, but will instead respond in court to the claims asserted by him and MGM’s other lawyers. We are today filing a motion to dismiss MGM’s amended complaint.”
A spokesman for Malloy declined to comment Thursday.
Holder served as U.S. attorney general from 2009 until April of this year, when he was succeeded by Loretta Lynch.
“In passing Special Act 15-7, the legislature also contravened Connecticut’s longstanding policy of encouraging competition in state contracting,” Holder wrote. “Competitive bidding has long been the bedrock principle of state contracting in Connecticut precisely because it ensures that contractors provide the greatest possible benefit to the people and communities of Connecticut.”
Connecticut has two casinos, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, run by the tribes in the southeastern part of the state.
There is growing concern among tribal leaders and lawmakers that MGM’s arrival in Massachusetts in 2018 will cut into gambling revenues in Connecticut, however. So as a pre-emptive strike, a law was crafted that allows the two tribes to form a business entity together and open a third casino in the Hartford region with approval from the town or city hosting it.
Bradley International Airport, which is in Windsor Locks, has emerged as a candidate for the new gambling-only venture, as well as East Hartford.
“Although Connecticut has the right — indeed, the responsibility — to promote economic growth, to seek to ameliorate the historical inequities visited upon native Americans, and to create new jobs for its residents, the laws it enacts to achieve those goals must comply with the United States Constitution and Connecticut’s legal commitment to fair competition in state contracting,” Holder wrote. “Special Act 15-7 fails both of these tests.”
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