BUFFALO, N.Y. — In early June the Seneca Nation and New York State announced an agreement in principal for a new 20-year compact agreement.
At the time, no details were made publicly available.
But word reached the Rochester delegation of the NYS Assembly that one of the provisions of the agreement was a Seneca-owned casino in Rochester.
Apparently, according to sources on the delegation, Governor Hochul's negotiating team did not let Rochester lawmakers know about that detail.
Governor Hochul recused herself from negotiations because of her husbands employment at Delaware North, a company that is also in the casino business.
Negotiations halted after the Governor was not given authorization to enter into a new compact agreement by the legislature. Even when a special session of the legislature was called at the end of June, the legislative body did not address the compact issue.
Now sources tell 2 On Your Side that the Rochester casino is no longer part of the compact negotiations. The Seneca Nation and state negotiators have met since the preliminary agreement was announced, and the pushback against a Rochester casino was enough to eliminate it from consideration moving forward.
The Seneca Nation provided a statement to WGRZ saying:
"Reaching a fair and equitable Compact agreement remains our priority, and should be the State's priority as well. New York's negotiators recently presented us an unreasonable, unfair, and unacceptable proposal that was far different than their position when negotiations were paused in June. This sort of game playing can’t continue. The Seneca people and our neighbors in Western New York deserve better. We were and are willing to negotiate a path forward. Our current Compact expires in less than 120 days. That is enough time to get a deal done, but only if the Nation has a reasonable partner at the table with us.”
The Department of Interior needs to approve a compact deal once one is reached between the Seneca Nation and the state. It's not exactly clear what will happen on December 9 if the current compact expires without a new one to replace it. While there are some provisions in place to keep the current compact going, it's not clear how long that could continue.
In response to an inquiry by WGRZ, Governor Hochul's office said "administration staff is working with the Seneca Nation of Indians to make sure we have an agreement that is fair, serves the interests of all parties, and addresses the needs of key stakeholders and we look forward to continuing to work toward an agreement.”