Feb. 25, 2003 
Doyle leaning toward veto of legislature's bill on compacts
The Associated Press 

WASHINGTON - Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle on Monday suggested he would veto a bill that would give the state's Legislature final say over gaming contracts with American Indian tribes.

"A bill that is enacted in one day, without any hearing being given to anybody, without even understanding the facts, I don't think is very good legislation," Doyle, a Democrat, said during a break at the National Gov.s Association meeting in Washington.

Doyle's comments came a few hours before his administration announced a deal in Madison that would let the Forest County Potawatomi tribe continue running its casinos indefinitely in exchange for five times as much money in annual payments to Wisconsin.

A similar deal with the Oneida Nation last week prompted the Republican-controlled Legislature to quickly pass a bill giving legislators the final say on compacts. It would take a two-thirds vote in the Legislature to override a Doyle veto.

Republicans called the Oneida deal payback for campaign contributions tribes made to Democrats last year.

Doyle denied that.

"It's not true," he said, noting the compacts were up for negotiation this year.

In the week before the Nov. 5 election, campaign finance reports show, the Ho-Chunk Nation, Forest County Potawatomi and the Oneida gave $725,000 to the Democratic National Committee, which sent more than $1 million to the state party, in part, to help elect Doyle.

The Ho-Chunk Indian tribe offered $500,000 to whichever gubernatorial candidate agreed to allow it to run its casinos with perpetual compacts, the campaign manager for then-Gov. Scott McCallum told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in Sunday's edition.

"They never said anything to me like that," Doyle said.

State Ethics Board legal counsel Jonathan Becker said even if there was a quid pro quo, the board would have nothing to investigate because state law does not explicitly ban trading campaign contributions for legislative action.

Doyle said he wouldn't make a final decision on the bill until he returns to Wisconsin, but he didn't seem to leave much wiggle room.

"I think it would set very bad precedent," he said, because the bill was passed so quickly without any hearings.

Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer, R-West Bend, said the Legislature usually doesn't move that quickly on legislation, but added, "I believe that the people get the concept of this bill, which is ratification by the Legislature, checks and balances."

"Gov. Doyle has said on previous occasions that he supports legislative oversight on the compacts. I would hope that common sense would prevail, and that the Legislature would have the authority to ratify these compacts."

Wisconsin Indian tribes, which now operate under five-year deals, have pushed hard for longer agreements so they can secure financing to expand their operations and improve life on the reservations.