Justices to hear casino gambling lawsuits

Doyle's deal with tribes, constitutional challenge to be heard by court

By DENNIS CHAPTMAN AND STEVE SCHULTZE dchaptman@journalsentinel.com

Saturday, September 13, 2003

Madison -- Two gambling lawsuits -- one challenging Gov. Jim Doyle's authority to negotiate tribal casino deals and another claiming casino gambling is unconstitutional -- will be heard by the state Supreme Court, justices decided Friday.

Republican legislative leaders in April filed a lawsuit against Doyle, a Democrat, claiming he overstepped his authority by signing compacts that expanded gambling in exchange for higher payments from the tribes.

New casino deals call for lifting most previous restrictions on games and hours, ushering in craps, roulette and other table games.

Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer (R-West Bend) and Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo) claimed Doyle's actions pre-empted the Legislature's lawmaking powers. The leaders asked the Supreme Court to take the case directly to speed a decision.

The other lawsuit, brought by Kenosha's Dairyland Greyhound Park, seeks to halt all tribal casino gambling in Wisconsin. Dairyland claims that a 1993 amendment to the state constitution restricted gambling to traditional lotteries, bingo, raffles and racetrack betting. The Supreme Court agreed to accept an appeal of a February trial court ruling shooting down the suit.

In the suit filed by GOP legislators, Panzer and Gard agreed to an extensive series of facts on benefits of casinos and dire economic downsides if casino operations were discontinued, in a document filed in the case last month.

For example, they agreed that halting casino games would put more than 8,000 people out of work in Milwaukee County and drive the local unemployment rate from 6.4% to 8%. The state's largest-grossing casino, Potawatomi Bingo Casino, is located in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley.

A halt would further mean the loss of 6,000 jobs in Brown County and drive up unemployment there from 4.6% to 8.7%; and cause the loss of another 6,000 jobs in Sauk County, shoving that county's jobless rate from 4.0% to 19.5%, according to the court filing.

In addition, the Republicans agreed that casino gambling has provided 35,000 direct jobs in Wisconsin, some $207 million in payments to the state during the current two-year budget and $100 million a year after that. Panzer and Gard also acknowledged that halting casino gambling would cost the state $400 million in all over the next two years.

The figures were developed by a consultant for Wisconsin tribes, Michael K. Evans.

Tom Krajewski, a spokesman for the Potawatomi tribe, said Friday the admission was extraordinary considering the result of a victory at the Supreme Court could set off devastating economic consequences for the state.

"Sen. Panzer and Rep. Gard are rolling the dice with the livelihoods of 35,000 Wisconsin citizens," he said.

Gard said Friday that the main thrust of the Legislature's lawsuit was challenging Doyle's authority to unilaterally negotiate terms of casino gambling deals with tribes. However, he said the outcome of the high court's ruling could be "the most dramatic and important gambling ruling in Wisconsin for decades to come."

The court set a briefing schedule but no date for oral arguments in either case.

Dennis Chaptman reported from Madison; Steve Schultze reported from Milwaukee.

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