Monticello, NY - Governor Urges Feds To Approve Casino Plan

Monticello, NY - The Pataki administration took its strongest position in years in favor of a Mohawk Indian casino at the Monticello Raceway, asking the feds to expedite their review and promising all the support needed to make it happen.

The support came in a letter from Greg Allen, Governor George Pataki's assistant counsel, mailed to the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. "The governor strongly supports the tribe's efforts to build a casino at the raceway site," Allen said in the letter. "I respectfully urge the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) to expedite its review process and promptly notify this office once the potential environmental impacts have been satisfactorily addressed."

The letter was the clearest public signal yet of Pataki's blessing for what remains the only Catskill casino plan that could feasibly be approved before the end of his administration. "We'll do what we have to do to get it done," said Pataki spokesman Saleem Cheeks.