Glenn Marshall, Mashpee Wampanoag tribe leader and major force behind bringing casinos to Massachusetts, is leaving his position as chairman of the tribe council. He was caught lying about his military past and of hiding the fact that he was convicted of rape and cocaine possession.

Peter Kenney at Cape Cod Today first smelled something funny about Marshall's military service. The Cape Cod Times reported that Marshall did not participate in the battle of Khe Sanh during Vietnam, as he had claimed, nor did he receive five purple hearts and a silver star. Dave Wedge focuses on the fact that Marshall lied to Congress about fighting at Khe Sahn. Regarding the rape, he was convicted but served only 61 days for the crime. That's only the beginning.

It isn't clear what, if any, impact this will have on the casino in Middleborough, but it certainly isn't good PR for the Wampanoags. Wedge referred to Marshall as "the Wampanoag tribe's public face during its casino quest." However, Scott Van Voorhis at the Herald notes that Glenn Marshall has been around for a long time, and the Middleborough casino backers might not have minded his past.

Dan Kennedy at Media Nation (who also gives a huge shout-out to Kenney) takes the questioning to a new level and links the casino backers to one magic name - "Abramoff."

Cover of Harry Shearer's novel Not Enough Indians, which weaves a tale of tribe-casino goings-on, from Amazon.