March 17, 2003
Lawmakers should have say in gaming, people say
68% of state residents polled favor oversight of tribal compacts
By DENNIS CHAPTMAN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinal

Madison - More than two-thirds of Wisconsin residents believe the Legislature should have the final say over tribal gambling compacts negotiated by Gov. Jim Doyle, a statewide poll released today shows.

Pollsters found that 68% of those surveyed favored lawmakers getting a vote on the big-money deals that Doyle needs to balance the upcoming state budget, while 29% said the governor should continue to have ultimate approval of the deals.

The Badger Poll, conducted by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center and sponsored by the Journal Sentinel and The Capital Times, found respondents more closely split on the question of whether they support the open-ended deals in exchange for bigger payments from the tribes.

The poll, which also took the temperature of state residents on Wisconsin's budget crisis, found that 52% favored the open-ended tribal deals, while 44% opposed them. And a majority of respondents also gave a thumbs-up to video gambling in taverns on a 58% to 37% split, if the taverns paid a fee to the state.

The extent of lawmakers' power over the compacts has been at the center of a Capitol feud between the Democratic governor and Republicans who have campaigned to strip Doyle of his final say over the open-ended deals.

G. Donald Ferree Jr., associate director of public opinion research for the survey center, said the results seem clear.

"The general idea of legislative approval gets a favorable response, and one somewhat less tempered than the general reception for the deals themselves," he said.

Dan Leistikow, Doyle's spokesman, said Sunday that the governor still feels that it is impossible to negotiate the gaming compacts while having the Legislature involved.

"The real question is, should we collect hundreds of millions of dollars from the tribes or should we raise taxes and cut services? That's the question that the Legislature hasn't answered and that the poll doesn't ask," Leistikow said.

State Sen. Bob Welch (R-Redgranite), a leader in the fight for legislative oversight on Indian gaming, said the poll results square with what he hears from constituents.

"The governor should listen," Welch said. "People are not necessarily opposed to the general framework he set out for negotiating, but I think they are very concerned that they are forever and that there is no chance for oversight today or in the future."

The Senate earlier this month upheld Doyle's veto of one bill that would have given lawmakers approval rights, and the governor has indicated he will veto a similar measure passed by the Legislature last week.

An economic boost?
Doyle said the state needs the $237 million he hopes to get from tribes in the new compacts to balance the state budget and spur economic development, and argued that legislative approval would needlessly delay the process.

Jason Kohl of Appleton questioned claims that gambling is a way to promote economic development.

"It makes it look like it helps the economy because they give money back to the state, but would it have to come back to our community if it wasn't taken out by the tribes in the first place?" he asked.

Kohl, a student at Lakeland College, said he favors legislative oversight.

"It's kind of like a dictatorship when one person is left to make decisions like that, especially for special interests," Kohl said. "You need somebody to kind of balance that power."

Deb Bomkamp of Muscoda in Grant County favors the tribal deals.

"As long as they've got it going, and they want to do more, they should be paying for it," said Bomkamp, a medical assistant who also runs a farm. "As long as we're in such an awful budget crunch right now, I'd rather see them pay for the gambling rather than have the governor raise our taxes."

Support for video gaming
Bill Harper, who has owned the Village Tavern in Spring Green for 21 years, said he believes more than 58% of state residents favor video gaming in taverns. He said allowing taverns to have the machines would help neighborhood bars survive.

Harper, president of the Sauk County Tavern League, said his business dropped off significantly after the Ho-Chunk Nation opened its casino in Lake Delton.

"They want exclusive rights, and I think that somebody besides one man in the state should be deciding the economy of the state as far as gambling. The legislators should be involved," Harper said.

Both Kohl and Bomkamp said they oppose gambling in taverns.

"It's easy enough to lose your money when you're sober. What'll happen when you're drunk?" Bomkamp said.

Doyle supported on budget
Doyle spokesman Leistikow said the most important finding in the poll was the high level of support for Doyle's 2003-'05 budget proposals.

The poll found 63% of people saying they somewhat favored or strongly favored Doyle's job- and program-cutting plan to deal with a projected $3.2 billion deficit.

"He's laid out a plan to balance the budget without raising taxes and without cutting the services that people depend on," Leistikow said.

The poll results are based on phone interviews with 507 Wisconsin adults between March 4 and 12. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Alan J. Borsuk of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

A version of this story appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on March 17, 2003.