Other Wisconsin Tribes Still Suggest Walker Should Nix Kenosha Casino

Two native American tribes say if Gov. Walker gets more time to decide on a Kenosha casino, his decision still ought to be “no.”

The governor wants the federal government to let him wait until as late as next February before deciding on the off-reservation casino the Menominee and Seminole tribes want to build in Kenosha. Political analysts wonder if Walker is trying to just generate more campaign donations or avoid announcing a decision before the fall election.

The Forest County Potawatomi, owners of a Milwaukee gaming hall, say that even setting politics aside, the Governor should conclude that shipping hundreds of millions of dollars to the Florida Seminole tribe is not in Wisconsin’s best interest.

Ho-Chunk President John Greendeer, whose tribe owns two casinos in south central Wisconsin, agrees that Walker ought to deliberate more and still reject the Kenosha plan.

“The Ho-Chunk nation,” Greendeer said, “has been very clear about their opposition to off-reservation gaming in their traditional and cultural-historical area in southern Wisconsin.”

Greendeer says he hopes the Department of the Interior also realizes the Kenosha proposal has dramatically changed since the project got preliminary federal okay last year.