INDIAN TOWNSHIP – The Passamaquoddy Tribe’s state representative claims that people in southern Maine are being influenced by scare tactics and racist rhetoric and that is why they fear having a casino in their communities.

During the June 11 elections, voters in seven southern Maine towns rejected casino gambling in their municipalities.

“Those communities who voted against it have caved in to the ‘Casino No’ strong-arm … tactics,” the usually soft-spoken Rep. Donald Soctomah charged Wednesday.

The “Casino No” group was formed after the Passamaquoddy Tribe and Penobscot Nation said they were interested in building a $400 million to $600 million casino in southern Maine.

Among the scare tactics used by opponents, Soctomah said, was that a casino would lead to an increase in drug and alcohol problems and to more violence.

“That just is not true,” he said. “They’ve used every type of scare tactic there is just to strike at people’s fears before the true facts are brought out.”

Rep. Mary Black Andrews, R-York, who is co-chairman of the Casino No group in her area, did not return a telephone call Wednesday. But in a recent Bangor Daily News article, Andrews, who is against a casino anywhere in Maine, said she has “the fight of my life on my hands right now.”

The tribal representative also charged that the people leading the fight against the casino are the state’s wealthiest. “We’ve looked into the PAC [political action committee] organization for Casino No, and it’s the richest of the rich who are funding that,” he said.

Those rich people, Soctomah said, also are not addressing the issue of dwindling jobs and high unemployment in the state. “It’s almost like we’re the Third World here and extreme southern Maine is the Palm Springs of Maine,” he said. “It is not fair for them to dictate to people who want jobs, people who want a future.”

Soctomah has scheduled a meeting with the Calais City Council at 4 p.m. today to discuss the casino issue. The tribe views Calais as a strong ally and is looking to shore up its support for the project.

Some tribal leaders also had pinned their hopes on the candidates vying for the state’s top job: Democrat John Baldacci of Bangor, Republican Peter Cianchette of South Portland, Green Independent Jonathan Carter of Lexington Township, and independents David Flanagan of Manchester and John Michael of Auburn.

In news reports last week, Baldacci and Flanagan joined Cianchette and Carter in promising to veto any legislation that would allow casino gambling in Maine.

Michael told the NEWS this week that he was not in favor of expanding gambling in the state.

“I don’t support any exclusive business privileges for any one race. I find the whole idea of the Indian casino to be fundamentally racist,” Michael said. “We are saying if you are an Indian you can have a casino, but if you are Italian you can’t. I don’t understand how anybody could support that concept. It’s just mind-boggling.”

It is that kind of language, Soctomah charged, that has hurt the tribes’ efforts. He said Michael was “playing the race card.”

“I thought that was pretty sad for him to come out and make a statement like that,” Soctomah said. “He also lumped the Italians in there. Where does that come from? I don’t understand.”

“Soctomah is the racist,” Michael said Wednesday evening. “Because he only wants his race to have gambling. He doesn’t want Italians and French and Lebanese and others to have rights to gambling in the state. So it’s Soctomah and the Indians that are racist.”

Soctomah said he also took exception with Flanagan’s statement that a casino would “gain undue political influence.” He said that also was an example of a candidate using the “race card.”

“That’s pretty sad. Every business has influence. Look at the paper companies, they have influence. All we are trying to do is get a business established and provide jobs and revenue,” he said. Soctomah said the tribe should not be treated differently from any other business.

“I am insulted by that,” Flanagan said Wednesday night. “I’ve never met Soctomah. He has no business talking about what my attitude and values are without even the courtesy of talking with me. And I would say the same thing if it was a casino owned by the Elks, or a charity or Donald Trump or anybody else. The reality is that the way that is structured elsewhere in the country, there are huge amounts of free cash flow, discretionary cash flow. It would be so enormous on such a scale that it would inevitably be a major factor in Maine political life and anybody who doesn’t think so is only kidding themselves,” he said.