Column: Narragansett chief on casino campaign trail

Tuesday, September 19, 2006  

"Sure, there's Chafee, Whitehouse, Carcieri and Fogarty. But there's another top politician campaigning this year, even if he's not exactly a candidate.

He's Matthew Thomas, chief sachem of the Narragansett Indians. Through ads, TV interviews and local visits, you may see as much of him as you do of these other guys, all of whom, by the way, oppose the casino Thomas asks you to approve: Question 1, which would amend the Constitution to, as Governor Carcieri puts it, "help an out-of-state gambling company make a buck off the people of Rhode Island."

These Harrah's folks from Las Vegas promise economic development. Their slick, saturation referendum drive is an industry. I got a new appreciation of it last week when I watched Thomas address a Providence rally and then, with tribal First Councilman Randy Noka and campaign PR woman Clare Eckert, board a Taj Mahal of a bus to go to a Warwick senior center, the start of a traveling faith-healer crusade to spread the word on the West Warwick casino. Thomas and the bus also turned up that night at the AFL-CIO convention.

The bus has a bedroom, kitchen, luxurious couches, and -- a very nice touch -- a flat-screen TV whose picture comes from a satellite dish. Traveling with Thomas and other reporters reminded me of John McCain's Straight Talk Express. Except that the casino campaign's talk isn't straight."

Get the Story:
M. Charles Bakst: Campaign bus: Chief Thomas and the casino (The Providence Journal 9/19)
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