But it doesn’t mean there won’t be political repercussions. If repealed, that legal obstacle is removed. Will the new county judge, after vowing not to approve a casino without local voter approval, as a 2018 county ordinance requires, pick the Cherokees? If he does, won’t somebody sue to enforce the voter ordinance? I think it’s constitutionally suspect, but it’s the law until a court says otherwise. A Mississippi casino investor contends it satisfied the constitutional requirement of local approval with letters from the lame-duck county judge and Russellville mayor in December, before they left office. Various prominent lobbyists and lawyers and PR agencies have been working for the competing interests.Įven if the Cherokee tribe has convinced the judge and Quorum Court of the superiority of its plan, legal obstacles await. Jones has local clout through his in-laws, the Chambers family in neighboring Yell County. It gained heft when it joined hands with an entertainment company whose owners include Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones. Former Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has been working for the Cherokee effort for a long time.
This is just about the smell you’d expected to arise from opening the door to a license to operate a casino cash machine in Pope County.
