Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The: Kenosha casino supported; Most of 500 who turn out for hearing

Pleasant Prairie A plan to bring a tribal casino and entertainment complex to Kenosha drew a crowd of about 500 mostly staunch supporters Tuesday night, who stressed one main theme in urging federal officials to approve the plan jobs.

The Menominee tribe's $808 million project was repeatedly held out as a lifeline to a community battered by plant closings and job losses in recent decades.

A series of speakers, many sporting bright red hats that read "Kenosha Casino, Community Approved," beseeched U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs officials to look favorably on the plan to carve out 123 acres of federal trust land for the casino. The hearing on the project was held at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center.

The Menominee tribe, described as one of the state's most impoverished, would develop and run the casino in partnership with the Connecticut-based Mohegan tribe one of the nation's biggest tribal casino success stories.

"Our local economy has suffered," said state Sen. Robert Wirch (D- Kenosha). "This development will bring thousands of jobs back to our community." The plan envisions creation of an estimated 2,000 construction jobs and 3,000 permanent jobs eventually at the complex on the site of the Dairyland Greyhound Park racetrack near I-94, 35 miles south of Milwaukee.

Kenosha Police Chief Dan Wade declared: "The best way to reduce crime is to put people to work."

Construction workers, several from Milwaukee, also offered support and praise for the Menominee tribe's agreement to permit union workers at the casino a rarity for tribal gambling operations.

Not everyone at the hearing was sold particularly the workers and leaders of the Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee who attended.

The Potawatomi tribe has planned a $240 million expansion of its Milwaukee casino and has lobbied heavily against the Kenosha plan, saying it would siphon off customers and revenue that would otherwise come to an enlarged Potawatomi facility in the city.

John Cwiklik, human resources director for the Potawatomi casino, told the Indian Affairs officials his tribe was "fearful about the impact to our jobs and the jobs in the Milwaukee area." The Potawatomi casino has about 1,500 employees.

The Menominee tribe's $808 million plan envisions construction of the largest casino in the state, as well as a conference center, hotel, shops and other amenities.

The complex is aimed at capturing customers from both the Milwaukee and Chicago areas. A May report commissioned by the Menominee tribe predicted a Kenosha casino would generate $2.2 billion in gambling revenue over a five-year period, eclipsing what the rival Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee would make during the same 2007-'12 time frame.

Jeff Crawford, the Potawatomi attorney general, also says local gambling dollars spent at a Kenosha casino would leave the state because of the Menominee partnership with the Mohegan tribe. In a statement issued Tuesday, Crawford said the Menominee casino impact statement was incomplete because it failed to adequately address how the Milwaukee casino would be hurt.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore of Milwaukee and local business groups have sided with the Potawatomi tribe in opposing the Kenosha casino.

The federal approval being sought by the Menominee for the Kenosha casino is seldom granted. Just three tribes including the Potawatomi have won reservation status for a casino distant from a tribe's traditional reservation since the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act spelled out the procedure.

The Menominee casino also would require approval by Gov. Jim Doyle, who has not said what he'd do.

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