MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – Governor Scott Walker said Friday that he has denied a plan by the Menominee Tribe to build an off-reservation casino in Kenosha.
In a statement, “After a comprehensive review of the potential economic impact of the proposed Kenosha casino project, the risk to the state’s taxpayers is too great,” Walker said. “Due to the compacts negotiated by Governor Doyle, the current cost to taxpayers of approving the proposed casino project is up to $100 million and the long-term economic hit to the state budget would be a potential loss of hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The project called for a partnership between the Menominee Tribe and Hard Rock International for an $810 million casino at the former Dairyland Greyhound Park dog track in Kenosha. Tribal officials claim the new casino would not only create over 10,000 jobs, but help pull the tribe out of poverty.
In 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs gave the Menominee Tribe the green light to move ahead with the project after reviewing the proposal for over 9 years.
“It is our belief that this project would have improved the lives of the nearly 9,000 members of the tribe,” Menominee tribal chair Laurie Boivin said in a news release. “Instead, one tribe – the Forest County Potawatomi – and one goal of Governor Walker – the presidency – has led to a no for our people.”
However, the Forest County Potawatomi has been staunch opponents of the plan. They argue it would slash profits from their casino in Milwaukee. The Potawatomi say their gambling compact with Wisconsin requires the state to refund hundreds of millions of dollars in back payments that Walker approved for the casino. The Menominee promised to make up any lost revenue.
Earlier this week, the Potawatomi Tribe filed a lawsuit over the rejection of language by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs regarding reimbursement.
PROTECTING WHITE HOUSE BID
Governor Scott Walker said he was protecting Wisconsin taxpayers — not his national political standing — when he rejected the $800 million Kenosha casino.
Walker announced his long-awaited decision this morning, just one day before he’s scheduled to appear with other possible GOP White House candidates in Iowa. The gathering comes about a year before next January’s Iowa presidential caucuses.
The conservative National Review says some political activists believe Walker would take “real risks of leaks in his Iowa coalition if he either approves expanded gambling,” or does not act on a right to work law for Wisconsin.
The governor told reporters in Milwaukee Friday that the timing of his casino announcement was not related to his appearance at the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines.
Democrats were livid, saying Walker put White House ambitions over the prospect of 10,000 new jobs and millions of gambling tourists at Kenosha.
MENOMINEE TRIBAL BOND
The Menominee Indian tribe offered to put up a bond of $200 to $250 million, to make sure no other tribes lost money from the Kenosha casino that Governor Scott Walker rejected.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said the Menominee wanted to make sure that taxpayers would not be on the hook if the Potawatomi or Ho-Chunk tribes lost gaming revenues to Kenosha.
However, the Republican Walker cited the possibility of hundreds of millions of tax dollars going to the Potawatomi not only to make up for losses from a Kenosha casino, but for refunds of past payments the Potawatomi made to the state.
Walker told reporters he tried working out a deal that would have accommodated both the current Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee and the Menominee Kenosha project. But he couldn’t strike an agreement — and Walker said the blame goes to former Democratic Governor Jim Doyle for approving the Potawatomi gaming compact which included the state’s potential payments.
In Walker’s words, “Had Governor Doyle not put in place this compact, we would be having a much different conversation. This wasn’t just an arbitrary decision we could make.”
(Additional reporting from FOX 11).
