Despite the governor's arguments, Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas says the Narragansetts remain committed to their pursuit of tax-free cigarette sales and a West Warwick casino.

01:00 AM EDT on Friday, May 27, 2005

BY KATIE MULVANEY
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Narragansett tribal leaders went to the State House yesterday seeking talks about the sale of tax-free cigarettes. Instead, they were urged to get on board with a deal to add video-slot machines to Lincoln Park, according to Governor Carcieri.

"I'm trying to get away from this whole focus on the smoke shop because that is not really a major economic development issue," Carcieri said after the hour-long closed-door session with tribal leaders.

Under a bill unveiled this week by the governor and Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano, up to $10 million in slot revenue would go to the Narragansett Indian Tribe each year. The measure, approved yesterday by the Senate, is being pushed by BLB Investors, a consortium poised to buy the track.

The tribe could use the money to create long-term, sustainable business growth, Carcieri said.

"I am trying to help [the tribe]; I'm trying to work with [the tribe]. I am trying to bring resources . . . to find long-term economic development," Carcieri said. "Do I have to do this? No. . . . I feel it's a good thing."

Still, the tribe remains committed to its pursuit of tax-free cigarette sales and a West Warwick casino, Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas said. He said he had not read the governor's legislation.

"Our issue is not the BLB issue. Our issue is a casino in West Warwick," Thomas said.

The tribe requested yesterday's meeting following a federal appeals court decision that its lawyers claim allows the tribe to sell tax-free tobacco to Native Americans. The state plans to appeal the ruling.

"We feel that we have the right to sell to Native Americans. The governor has a different position," Thomas said.

The tribe's smoke shop was closed two years ago after the governor ordered the state police to stop what the state claimed was the illegal sale of tax-free cigarettes. The tribe will not reopen the shop until the court case is resolved, Jack Killoy, lawyer for the tribe, said yesterday.

Lawyers for the state and the Narragansetts will keep a dialogue going about cigarette sales, Killoy said.

Also at yesterday's meeting were the governor's chief of staff, Kenneth McKay IV; deputy chief of staff Jeff Grybowski; and executive counsel Andrew Hodgkin, as well as Narragansett First Councilman Randy Noka.

Tax-free tobacco sales have long caused friction between tribes and states. In some cases, compacts, or agreements, have been reached after years of legal wrangling.

After 20 years of disputes, Washington state entered a compact with its 29 tribes in 2001. Under that agreement, the tribes must charge the equivalent of the state's cigarette excise and sales tax, but the tribes keep that revenue.