Wampanoag casino foes sue tribe over shunning
An 85-year-old elder of the Mashpee Wampanoag and her son filed a lawsuit yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court, contending that tribal leaders banned them from meetings and a sacred cultural event because they challenged the tribe's push to build a casino.
Amelia and Steven Bingham are seeking unspecified damages and the right to attend meetings and powwows, said their Boston-based lawyer, Michael L. Altman. Altman asserted that the conduct of the tribe's leadership violates the Massachusetts Constitution.
Scott Ferson, a spokesman for the tribe, declined to comment yesterday, saying he had not seen the lawsuit.
The Binghams have been members of the tribe's governing body, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council, since its creation in 1981, and Amelia Bingham had been named a clan mother, a position of respect in the tribe, according to the lawsuit.
But the Binghams are ardent opponents of a tribal casino, and Amelia Bingham in particular "has spoken out against gambling interests and expressed concern about big money interests corrupting tribal values," Altman said in an interview yesterday.
In January 2007, the Binghams received letters from the Tribal Council informing them that they were banned from council meetings for seven years. The "shunning order" came just days after the Binghams sued in Barnstable Superior Court to force the council to account for $14 million that the tribe had received from Herb Strather, a prominent developer of a Detroit casino.
The case was later dismissed because the county court had no jurisdiction over the federally recognized tribe.
