Tribal-gaming compacts negotiated by Gov. Jim Doyle outlived their 45-day period for possible objections by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Doyle’s compacts were the subject of heated debate in the Legislature when Republican lawmakers rushed a bill through an emergency session to necessitate legislative approval for the compacts after hearing rumors the compacts would be permanent.
Doyle vetoed the bill, and the Senate missed overriding his veto by one vote after days of heated debate and negotiation.
Tom Krajewski, a spokesman for the Forest County Potawatomi, said the federal government had fulfilled its duties and that the compacts will now take effect when the BIA publishes a notice in the Federal Register.
“The federal government has a responsibility to review any gaming compacts negotiated between a governor and tribes. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has to make a decision within 45 days, even though legislators asked that they hold the passage of the bill,” Krajewski said.
Doyle had first mentioned the compacts in his the presentation of his balanced budget, which relies heavily on the $237 million in state revenues generated by the new compacts. Some see the expansion of tribal gaming as possibly providing a step up for the state’s slipping economy.
“This is a victory for the tribes, a victory for the state of Wisconsin and a victory for the state’s tourism,” Krajewski said. “As a result of this compact, casinos in the state of Wisconsin will have the ability to raise betting limits to attract high rollers, place a lot of money on bets and spend a lot of money with area vendors. Casinos will be allowed to operate 24 hours a day and expand their games to include games already allowed in states like Michigan and Illinois.”
The Forest County Potawatomi already plan to expand their existing Milwaukee casino and hire 1,000 new positions to staff the facility. Krajewski said the building of the addition will employ about 300 to 500 construction workers for one and a half to two years.
“This means vendors will be able to plan for long-term compacts. They haven’t been able to do that in the past because they didn’t know if the casinos would last for any more than five years,” Krajewski said. “You don’t want to build up a large business and hire a lot of people if you’re not sure that business will be around for very long.”
However, members of the Republican caucus remain stoic in their opposition to the bill. Republican leaders such as Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mary Panzer, R-West Bend, and Assembly Speaker Rep. John Gard, R-Peshtigo, were instrumental in the bill attempting to obtain legislative oversight of compacts.
Rep. Frank Lasse, R-Bellevue, said the Republicans were continually disappointed in the nature of the negotiations.
“There has been a brief already filed by members of the Republican leadership with the Supreme Court asking them to take up the state constitutionality of these gaming compacts,” Lasse said.
Lasse said the compact would waive Wisconsin’s right to immunity if it got sued by one of the tribes. Lasse said the new levels of gambling allowed by the compacts also could be in violation of Wisconsin’s state constitution.
“I’m very disappointed in the governor,” Lasse said. “What Gov. Doyle did was plain wrong, and it is bad for the state of Wisconsin.”
