Diamond Jim's Conundrum
What's a governor to do when his special interests are at odds?
Why, start a bidding war, of course!
From today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
If a federal agency approves a Wisconsin tribe's plan to turn a Kenosha dog track into a casino, Gov. Jim Doyle will find himself trapped between two of his biggest financial backers.Which reminds me, there are only a few of those bumper stickers left, so drop me a line if you'd like one.
Casino investor Dennis Troha and his associates have spent more than $300,000 since 2002 to help Doyle.
Meanwhile, the Forest County Potawatomi - who fear their Milwaukee casino could lose customers to one in Kenosha - spent an estimated $450,000 on efforts to get Doyle and other Democrats elected in 2002. The Potawatomi and other tribes have not disclosed how much they plan to spend this year to get Doyle re-elected.
Doyle will have the final say on the casino at Dairyland Greyhound Park if the proposal clears the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.
"They're trying to outbid each other. . . . Both sides are contributing to him, and both sides can't win," said Kenosha County Supervisor Terry Rose, an opponent of the proposal. "And both sides expect his endorsement. How can he resolve that?"
In the past four years, gambling interests have spent $1.3 million to help Doyle and other Democrats, while giving almost nothing to other candidates for governor. When Republican Tommy G. Thompson was governor from 1987 to 2001, he received about $200,000 in contributions from gambling interests.
Gov. Scott McCallum, the Republican Doyle beat in 2002, received just $3,150 from gambling interests.
The two Republicans running against Doyle this year - Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and U.S. Rep. Mark Green of Green Bay - have received almost no contributions to their campaigns from gambling interests, according to figures compiled for the Journal Sentinel by the non-partisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
1 Comments:
Here's a bold prediction; if Craps loses re-election, he'll approve the Menomonee Dairyland deal on his way out of office for a song. Remember that his illegal almost-forever deal with the Potawatomi says that an arbitrator gets to decide whether the meager payments the Potawatomi make to the state continues if there is a casino at Dairyland, and there is better than a 50-50 chance of the arbitrator saying that the Potawatomis get to keep all their money.
Yes, Craps is THAT vindictive.
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