Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s top aide, Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch, recently said Walker, who is running for re-election, may wait until after the November election to announce his decision on the Menominee tribe’s proposed 0 million off-reservation casino in Kenosha.
Huebsch stated the extra time may be required for outside attorneys and a financial adviser to review the issue. Dykema Gossett, a national law firm with 300-plus attorneys and a large Native American practice, will be paid up to $500,000 to lead the legal team that will help Walker make his decision. Huebsch said Dykema will be charged with finding a financial analyst to help determine how a Kenosha casino would impact southeastern Wisconsin’s economy. He said this study is necessary because the Menominee contend the Kenosha casino would create about 5,000 jobs and the Potawatomi said it would cost Milwaukee about 3,000 jobs.
The U.S. Department of Interior approved the Menominee’s application for the casino, to be located at the former Dairyland Greyhound Park, on August 23. Walker, who has the final word on the proposal, has one year from that date to decide whether or not to allow the casino, however, the state or the tribe can request a six-month extension.
Huebsch said the November election has nothing to do with Walker’s extended time frame. “We’re going to take criticism either way because it is a political year,” he said.
Among Walker’s three criteria for allowing the new casino was that all of Wisconsin’s 11 tribes must approve it. However, the Forest County Potawatomi and the Ho-Chunk tribes both strongly oppose the Menominee plan out of concern the Kenosha casino would lure gamblers from northern Illinois and parts of Wisconsin who otherwise would visit the Potawatomi’s Milwaukee casino and the Ho-Chunk’s operations near Madison and Wisconsin Dells. The Potawatomi’s Milwaukee casino wins $400 million annually and pays each tribal member about $70,000 a year. The Ho-Chunk, whose most profitable casino is near Wisconsin Dells, bring in $250 million and pay members $12,000 annually. Menominee officials said a Kenosha casino would generate $480 million by its fifth year and members would not receive a dividend. The Potawatomi and Ho-Chunk have contributed a total of more than $1 million over the years to Wisconsin political campaigns.
Huebsch said since the Menominee have teamed with Hard Rock International, owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, to develop and operate the casino, Walker may be leaning more toward approving the proposal. Hard Rock would receive $200 million in fees over the first five years of the casino’s operation.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, whose congressional district includes the Kenosha casino site, said he supported the proposal as long as competing tribes approved it. “I would like to think they could have a win-win situation and make it to the benefit for everybody. That would be my preference. So how you have an arrangement where the Potawatomi have a stake in Kenosha, I don’t know how you’d do it. Have some kind of an arrangement where they can make it mutually beneficial.”
In the state capitol, Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, a Democrat, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, both support the Menominee casino. Said Vos, “While the decision is ultimately the governor’s, I hope he will listen to us as we continue to communicate that new jobs in Racine and Kenosha are just as important as jobs created in any other area of our state.” He added he believes the project has a “better than 50-50” chance of approval.
And some observers believe Walker even could be preparing to back off his all-tribes-approval criteria, since the Potawatomi and Ho-Chunk remain resolute in their opposition.
