OXFORD — Opponents of the proposed Oxford County casino approved by voters Tuesday said they may fight the project on Maine constitutional grounds.
Dennis Bailey of CasinosNo! said the group is speaking with lawyers about terms in the bill that violate Maine’s constitution. He declined to name the lawyers.
“You can’t pass a law that gives exclusive rights to a certain individual or certain individuals,” Bailey said.
However, he said, the group is still determining whether the referendum’s wording violates the Maine Constitution.
Bailey said CasinosNo! and Citizens Against the Oxford Casino are still considering whether to request a recount.
H. Cabanne Howard, a former Maine assistant attorney general and current assistant professor of law and public policy at the University of Maine School of Law, said the anti-casino group was referencing the constitution’s public purpose clause.
In 1983, a case concerning public bonds funding a dry dock for Bath Iron Works called upon the public purpose clause and failed. In that case, brought by Common Cause against the state of Maine, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled that although the dry dock was specifically beneficial to Bath Iron Works, the dock did benefit the public.
Calls to Dan Walker, attorney for Black Bear Entertainment, were not returned Thursday.
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