Butler hoping for a fifth term as Mashantucket Pequot chairman
Mashantucket — Rodney Butler, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council chairman, will be seeking a seventh consecutive council term in tribal elections Sunday and, if successful, could then vie for a fifth straight term as chairman.
Seven candidates are running for the three seats up for election: the incumbents — Butler, Richard E. Sebastian and Daniel Menihan — as well as Darnika Eleazer, Heshima Harris Jr., Michele Scott and Mark Thornton. Terms are for three years.
Sebastian is seeking a seventh nonconsecutive term, while Menihan is seeking a third consecutive term.
Butler, first elected to the seven-member council in 2003, said Thursday in an email he hoped to win another term as chairman, a post he’s held since 2010.
“It has been a privilege to serve my tribal nation for the last 18 years, with 12 of those as chairman,” he wrote. “My community has consistently bound together through challenging times over my tenure that has only made us stronger as a people and nation. With the landmark pieces of legislation passed this year, it proves that our ‘Pequot Perseverance’ is alive and well. I couldn’t be more proud of my nation, am excited by what the future will bring, and would be honored to continue on as chairman.”
Butler represented the Mashantuckets, owners of Foxwoods Resort Casino, in negotiations with the Mohegan Tribe and Gov. Ned Lamont's office that resulted in this spring’s landmark gaming legislation authorizing the tribes and the Connecticut Lottery Corp. to provide retail and online sports wagering and the tribes to provide online casino gaming.
Tribal members eligible to vote will cast ballots Sunday at the community center on the Mashantucket reservation. Polls will open about 7 a.m. After voting for the council seats concludes around noon, nominations for chairman will be accepted.
Tribal members then will elect a chairman.
The council governs the more than 1,100-member tribe and oversees management of Foxwoods, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, the Lake of Isles Golf Club and other enterprises.
Earlier this year, the tribe reached an agreement with a hospitality investment firm to open the Foxwoods El San Juan Casino in the Fairmont El San Juan Hotel in Puerto Rico.
The councilors whose terms are not up Sunday are Latoya Cluff, Matthew Pearson, Merrill Reels and Crystal Whipple.
Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.
