Thanks the digging done by The Day reporting David Collins, the public has been reminded of who is living in their backyard - on the land held in federal trust for the "native americans" recognized as the Mashantucket Pequots.
Collins column published on April 12, 2009 is a reminder of the lack of quality and character by which this Tribe is led. Its leader, Thomas, is a former drug dealer and it appears and he is being sued over a $5,000,000 loan that he has not repayed to Sovereign bank. The suit has actually been brewing for a while and the claim has risen from a $1,000,000 to $5,000,000. Thomas via his attorneys is now claiming that the loan was a "bribe". A smattering of famaliar names including scheming realtors from the 1980's right up to present day have been named in the lawsuit. Just up everyone has a prior record. So much for rehabilitation.
Perhaps the Mashantuckets should revise their charter to provide that former felons cannot hold office, but then they wouldn't be aspiring to be like Providence, Rhode Island.
My point here though is not to reiterate what David Collins has pointed out, but rather from a community perspective call attention to the fact that Ledyard has been grossly impacted by the existence of the Tribe's resort casino and has received little of its benefit.
The current Ledyard Mayor knocked on my door when he ran for office, and told me that he was in close with the Mashantucket leadership, and that he would work a deal for the town so its tax payers would get their just desserts. Well now that I see who that is, I have to say I am quite concerned and rightly so. I am concerned that our Mayor is in way over his head with what ever deal he is working on with the Tribe. When Wesley Johnson was Mayor the town used to receive a lot of assistance from the Attorney General's Office in dealing with Tribal matters. What do we get now?
Hopefully, some Citadel quality leadership will be enough....
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