Members of the Menominee Nation and residents of Kenosha, Wisconsin are struggling to move on following Governor Scott Walker’s rejection of the tribe’s proposed 0 million Hard Rock casino and hotel—but not Walker, who recently said, “We tried to make it work, but in the end we’re at a point where it doesn’t, so we need to move forward.” Many others can identify with Tribal Chairwoman Laurie Boivin, who said, “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t cry for days. I mean, I had to stop reading emails. It kind of felt like someone went in a ripped the heart out. How I would characterize this? Everybody lost in this. Try to address all of those social issues that you just, that we do know so well, that was what the goal was. I believe the real facts were not looked at and a huge injustice was done. It’s a near fatal blow.”
The tribe’s 9,000 members saw the massive casino project as the last best hope to lift themselves out of poverty. Menominee Tribal Legislator Gary Besaw said, “It’s not a good thing to go on air and keep regurgitating the terrible health and social indicators of our tribe.”
But the facts, according to a University of Wisconsin Medical School report, indicated the Menominee tribe ranks last in overall quality of health and has the highest rate of mortality, obesity, unemployment, children living in poverty, violent crime rate and number of single-parent households in Wisconsin.
“The entertainment complex, 400-room hotel, conference center that we lack right now, all these jobs, people who are unemployed or underemployed, that’s all gone now,” said Kenosha Mayor Keith Bosman.
Walker informed the Bureau of Indian Affairs that he rejected the proposed casino at the long-shuttered Dairyland Greyhound Park because, “I cannot put the taxpayers of this state on the hook of losing about $100 million or more now and potentially even more in the future.” A report issued by Walker’s Secretary of Administration stated, “If the proposed Kenosha casino is approved, the Potawatomi will likely withhold future revenue-sharing payments and seek a refund of all past lump sum and revenue-sharing payments.”
Walker blamed the end result on former Governor Jim Doyle, who had signed a compact a decade ago with the Forest County Band of Potawatomi Indians. “In the end, what it really boils down to is there are more than 100 million reasons we had to make this decision, and they all fall firmly on the lap of Governor Jim Doyle,” Walker said.
The Potawatomis, who operate a lucrative casino in Milwaukee, strongly opposed the Kenosha casino, which would have been located 35 miles away. Just 72 hours before Walker announced his decision, the Menominees had agreed to cover losses at Potawatomi’s casino. Hard Rock International also agreed to post a $250 million bond to cover the state’s future losses.
The Florida-based Hard Rock, owned by the Seminole Tribe, had spent $6 million on architectural plans, real-estate options in Kenosha and other preparations. Opponents of the Kenosha casino said a large portion of its proceeds would have ended up in Florida. Hard Rock Chief Executive Officer Jim Allen said, “I think we respect that there are different points of view when it comes to gaming, but there is no doubt that the lion’s share of the money, upwards of 75 percent to 80 percent, is going to do directly to the Menominee Tribe.”
Walker’s critics said presidential politics played a significant role in his decision. A group of influential conservative voters in Iowa—where the first presidential primary is held–sent a letter to Walker, along with a petition signed by 600 Republicans, stating, “As you are contemplating a presidential bid, I sincerely hope you will consider a ‘No Expanding Gaming’ policy.”
The day after the casino announcement, Walker appeared at a forum for presidential contenders in Iowa. “To fly off to Iowa the next day, and to let a presidential bid influence what happens in the state of Wisconsin, I don’t have a word to describe what that really is,” Boivin said.
Noted Olson, “I look at it as, for every evangelical Christian out in Iowa, which is not the state he’s governor of, for every one of those, there’s 15 people on that reservation who you just demoted to a lifetime of poverty.
Walker denied presidential politics had anything to do with his decision. He said, “If that’s the case, I would have shut it down right off the bat. If it were political reasons, I would have done it a long time ago. The bottom line is, I said all throughout this process, I wasn’t going to make this decision based on politics.”
Menominee tribe and Kenosha officials said they will keep fighting for the project. A bipartisan group of state lawmakers recently held a news conference urging Walker to reconsider his decision—something he said he has no intention to do.
Walker’s decision was welcomed in states beyond Wisconsin. Paul Seago, executive director of the Florida-based anti-gambling group No Casinos, said, “Casinos are economic development like eating a quart of ice cream is dinner. Local businesses around it can’t survive. Restaurants, hotels can’t survive when the casino can give away those things as loss leaders to bring you in.”
And in Waukegan, Illinois, Mayor Wayne Motley said Walker’s decision to reject the casino in Kenosha, just 17 miles north of Waukegan, is one of two reasons he’s optimistic a casino could come to his city. The other is Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner’s assertion, “If voters and municipalities would like to see more gaming, I will be supportive of that.” Said Motley, “We have 33 acres that we set aside years ago strictly for the casino. For me, it would be a financial rebirth for the city.”
A decade ago, Waukegan was one of three finalists for Illinois’ 10th and last casino license, which went to Rosemont. But several years later, following corruption charges, the license went to Des Plaines. Now hope is spreading through Waukegan again. “We have a casino partner, and the news of Kenosha was extremely good news for them. Certainly, Waukegan is in dire straits financially, and the casino for us would mean several thousand jobs and new tax revenue. It could revitalize our community, turn it around completely,” Motley said.
