Mohegan Sun casino is seen in this Sunday, June 10, 2012 photo, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Maybe Republicans don’t have all the answers about “foreign policy” after all. And maybe they do.
Before booking Mohegan Sun for their upcoming nominating convention for the midterm elections, Connecticut GOP leaders asked the party’s general counsel to look into the legal aspects of holding their biennial conclave in what the federal government recognizes as a sovereign nation for the first time, Hearst Connecticut Media has learned.
A number of party members privately wondered whether their endorsements for governor, Congress and five other constitutional offices could be subject to challenges.
“There’s nothing in the statute that requires it to be held in Connecticut,” Michael Goldfarb, the state GOP’s general counsel, told Hearst.
In front of the casino entrance, the flags of the United States and Mohegan Tribe are on display. Connecticut’s flag is conspicuously absent, however. The tribe has its own written constitution and governing council. The reservation occupies less than 1 square mile of land in the village of Uncasville in the southeastern corner of the state.
“It’s certainly within the borders of Connecticut,” said Goldfarb, an associate with the Hartford law firm of Murtha Cullina.
Av Harris, a spokesman for Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, said there is no prohibition on Republicans going to Mohegan Sun.
“All of that stuff would be up to the party,” Harris said.
Tribal nations have partial or limited sovereignty, Native American legal scholars say. While reservations are often held in trust by the federal government for the tribe occupying them, they are still considered part of the surrounding state territory. To varying degrees, they are exempt from state laws.
State GOP Chairman Jerry Labriola Jr. said the party got the “green light” on the location, which is a major departure from previous conventions held in Hartford.
“I did ask the question,” Labriola said. “It certainly wasn’t something that we didn’t think of.”