The Wisconsin state Senate delayed a vote Monday that would override Gov. Jim Doyle’s veto of a bill providing legislative oversight of tribal gaming compacts.

Republican legislators say they organized the action in frustration over Doyle’s negotiation of compacts with tribes, including the Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi nations, in perpetuity.

Doyle has argued that the compacts he arranged can be renegotiated in the future and has made the additional $237 million in revenue from the new compacts a central part of his budget balance plan.

“Every dollar we collect from the tribes is one less dollar we’ll have to cut from public schools, or the University of Wisconsin, or transportation,” Doyle said Friday in a statement regarding his veto.

Sen. Michael Ellis, R-Neenah, said all 18 Republican senators are prepared to vote to override Doyle’s veto. A two-thirds majority is needed in the Senate to override the veto and turn the bill into a law. To get this majority, there must be at least three dissident votes from Democratic senators.

“We adjourned until tomorrow, when we’re taking up a vote on it,” said Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills.

Darling said Sen. Gary George, D-Milwaukee, said he would vote with the majority and that she wouldn’t be surprised if Sen. Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, joined the majority, because there would be “no love lost” between Chvala and Doyle.

In January, Doyle authorized state Attorney General Peggy Lautenschlager to recover legal fees the state paid for Chvala and others embroiled in the caucus scandal. Chvala currently faces 19 felony counts, including abuse of power and extortion.

Darling said the third vote needed for the majority could come from Sen. Roger Breske, D-Eland, who is allegedly getting pressure from both sides of the issue.

“They just beat up on him all day,” Darling said.

Although senators on the state level aren’t allowed to filibuster, Ellis said Sen. Robert Jauch, D-Poplar, spent a lot of time speaking on the issue.

“Senators can talk three times, and many of them went up and did that,” Darling said. “Sen. Jauch talked for an awfully long time, and I think Democrats took that time to beat up on Breske.”

Sen. Robert Welch, R-Redgranite, said the vote was postponed until today because of shady doings behind closed doors.

“The Democrats didn’t have enough votes to uphold the governor’s veto, and then after a lot of closed-door meetings, they suddenly did,” Welch said. “We decided to sit on it, because something didn’t seem quite right.”

Welch said that whatever the outcome today was, the extra night’s deliberation would make it easier to understand how the swing voters changed their mind.

George, Chvala and Breske could not be reached for comment.