UNCASVILLE, Conn. — After voting for a near-certain turnover in top
leadership, the ultra-rich Mohegan Tribe is waiting to see in what
direction it will take its budding national gaming empire.

The new nine-member council will be sworn in Oct. 3 in a 9 a.m. ceremony at
the historic Mohegan Church. New officers will be selected after the
inauguration. Although incumbent Chairman Mark Brown and former Chairman
Roland J. Harris remain on the council, the most likely candidate for new
chairman is considered to be Bruce “Two Dogs” Boszum, the tribal pipe
carrier, who received the highest vote total in the mail ballot concluded
Aug. 28.

According to Thomas Acevedo, Mohegan chief of staff, Boszum received 481
votes. More than 990 adults in the 1,600-strong tribe were eligible to cast
ballots.

A constitutional change this year sets up a council with staggered terms.
The top five vote-getters will serve four-year terms. The next four will
serve two-year terms. Both Brown and Harris wound up in the second tier.

Brown defeated Harris in 2000 for a five-year term as chairman. The
division persisted in the closely balanced council.

What impact the changeover would have on Mohegan investments is still
unclear. The corporate arm of the tribe has committed more than $500
million to the purchase and renovation of a harness racing track in
north-central Pennsylvania, part of a drive for geographic diversification.
The Mohegan Sun Pocono Downs racino is expected to operate 3,000 slot
machines by 2007. The Mohegans also have development and management
contracts with the Menominee Tribe in Wisconsin and the Cowlitz Tribe in
Washington state.

The pace of outside investments and the resulting debt burden of $1.27
billion has been an issue in council elections for several years. Boszum, a
traditional spiritual leader, came on the council last year in a special
election in which he criticized tribal business policy.

The Mohegan Sun casino is one of the most profitable in the world. Its
operator, the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, recently reported net
revenues of $342.5 million from its latest quarter, ended June 30, and a
nine-month total of nearly $1 billion. Net income for the nine months was
$101 million, from which $50.4 million went to the tribe.

But tribal policy has been to plow revenue back into investments and debt
service. Tribal per capita payments have been significantly less than those
of the nearby Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, owners of the equally
lucrative Foxwoods Casino Resort.

It is up in the air whether the new council will radically change this
policy. “We’re waiting to see what they’re going to do and how they’re
going to approach things,” said Acevedo.

The top vote-getters after Boszum were Lynn Malerba, with 470 votes; James
Gessner, 415; Mark Hamilton, 367; and Bill Quidgeon, 372. These five will
serve four-year terms. The next four, serving two-year terms, were Harris,
290; Brown, 288; Allison Johnson, 288; and Robert Harris-Payne, 286.