By CAROLYN THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer
CATTARAUGUS INDIAN RESERVATION, N.Y. (AP) - Newly elected Seneca
Indian President Barry E. Snyder Sr. said he put a lot of thought
into whether to pursue a fourth term as leader of the western New
York Indian nation.
Who can blame him?
With the state a signature away from collecting tax from tribal
cigarette sales and a mega casino project mothballed because of
economic and legal challenges, even by a former warrior nation's
standards there are tough battles ahead.
"A lot of our economic heart is at stake here," Snyder said
after being sworn in this month.
For more than 200 years, the Senecas were a little noticed band
in the rural reaches of western New York, eventually building a
modest reservation-based economy on tax-free gasoline and cigarette
sales.
That changed dramatically in 2001, when the 7,300-member nation
voted to go into the casino business. If approving a gambling
referendum was a hopeful first step toward economic independence,
the years since have been a full-out run.
Since 2002, the Senecas have built a $1.1 billion economy on
three popular casinos and two luxury hotels and entertainment
venues, broken ground on a topflight golf course to give
high-rollers more reason to stay and swelled their payroll to 6,300
people.
In the meantime, they have convinced two governors to back off
plans to collect taxes at its workhorse smokeshops, underlining a
level of respect - or perhaps fear - its leaders have commanded.
Lately, though, the troubled U.S. economy has been opening
potholes along the Senecas' business paths, tripping up plans for a
$333 million casino-hotel project in Buffalo, and leading
down-and-out New York state to pursue what it sees as a potential
$400 million-a-year revenue stream - the taxation of cigarettes
sold by Indian retailers to non-Indian customers.
Adding to the uncertainty is a federal legal challenge to the
Senecas' existing temporary casino in Buffalo by a well-organized
coalition of gambling opponents.
The Senecas are on the offensive. Only now, Snyder said,
"instead of using weapons for battle, the Seneca warriors of the
21st Century rely on intelligence."
In September, the nation made public a poll it commissioned from
Zogby International, which it said concluded that most western New
York residents believe Seneca businesses improve the region's
quality of life. Most also think attempts by the state to impose
taxes on Indian retailers would break historic treaties between
Indian nations and the U.S. government guaranteeing the nation's
sovereignty, the poll showed.
The poll has been followed by two multi-city print and broadcast
advertising campaigns meant to convince Gov. David Paterson to veto
the cigarette tax legislation, which would prohibit manufacturers
from selling tobacco products without a state tax stamp to any
wholesaler who doesn't certify the cigarettes won't be sold
tax-free.
The Senecas say the state's earlier restrictions on credit card
sales and shipping have already cut deeply into cigarette sales. In
2007, nation businesses sold 17.3 million cartons, down from 27.5
million cartons in 2005, according to Seneca figures.
But the New York Association of Convenience Stores says allowing
any tax-free sales to continue puts the association's taxpaying
members at an unfair disadvantage as they compete with lower-priced
Seneca smokeshops.
"I think most fair-minded citizens would agree that if you
contribute $1 billion a year to New York's economy, but stand in
the way of the state collecting $1 billion a year in legitimate tax
revenue it desperately needs, then your net economic impact on New
York state is zero," NYACS president James Calvin said.
Past attempts to collect taxes on reservation sales have been
met with violent protests, including tire fires that shut down a
portion of the New York State Thruway in 1997 - something no
governor is eager to see again.
Paterson spokesmen have said the governor will review the bill
and solicit input before making any decisions.
"He's got a tough job," Snyder, 68, said of Paterson, who has
estimated the state is $1.5 billion to $2 billion shy of balancing
its budget this year.
The Senecas have had their own cash flow troubles.
In August, the nation cited "challenging economic and capital
market conditions" before halting construction of the permanent
Buffalo Creek Casino, leaving a skeletal steel frame where it had
promised one of the largest private projects ever undertaken in the
economically struggling upstate city.
Work also was suspended at the nation's existing casino and
hotel in Salamanca, where a $130 million expansion was under way.
"You tell me when the economy is going to change around and
I'll tell you when we're going to start building again," Snyder
said recently. "I don't think anybody can tell us that."
In the meantime, a lawsuit by Citizens Against Casino Gambling
in Erie County seeking to shut down a temporary Buffalo casino,
which is operating pending completion of the larger one, continues
in federal court. In July, Judge William Skretny ruled casino
gambling illegal on the site - leading opponents to ask him to go a
step further and shut the temporary facility down.
"Four months is more than enough time to obey a court order,"
said Cornelius Murray, an Albany attorney representing the group.
Snyder said the lawsuit has so far not gotten in the way of the
larger casino plans, which are supported by Buffalo's mayor and
county leaders, but he said the nation will begin taking a more
active role in fighting it.
The nation, which because of its sovereign status is not a
plaintiff in the suit, was recently given permission to file
supporting papers and take part in a future hearing in the case.
Snyder foresees New York state eventually legalizing gambling
and building its own casinos, making finishing the Buffalo project
all the more important.
As he lays out other plans for the future - diversifying
businesses, creating five-year strategic plans, streamlining tribal
operations - Snyder sounds as much CEO as tribal president. But
there is more at stake than a company's bottom line, both for
individual Seneca members and the nation as a whole.
"I hope that the new administration will continue to fight to
preserve our race, our territory, our language and our culture,"
summed up outgoing President Maurice John.
Snyder acknowledges that even as the nation runs luxury hotels,
there are some Senecas without running water or sewers. Others are
in need of drug and alcohol counseling and children would benefit
from after-school programs and summer camps, he said.
But first, there is the tribe's economy.
"If you're not financially sovereign, you really don't have a
good reason to be sovereign," he said. "I think we'll get there.
It might take a little longer than I thought it would, but if we
don't start, we'll never know where the end's going to be."

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)