Editorial: Resolve Ho-Chunk Nation compact

Friday, July 6, 2007  

"It's difficult not to empathize with the Ho-Chunk Nation on why it will not pay the more than $70 million the state says it owes on its casino revenue.

After all, that amount was predicated on a deal, a key provision of which the state Supreme Court essentially voided. The Ho-Chunk nation negotiated a perpetual casino compact, and the court in 2004 said Gov. Jim Doyle exceeded his authority in signing such a deal with the Forest County Potawatomi.

But surely the Ho-Chunk Nation is not contending the state is owed nothing annually for doing business here. Even considering Indian sovereignty, this would be an untenable argument. The Ho-Chunk nation paid an initial $30 million but has not paid subsequent invoices.

The state is both in negotiation and in litigation with the tribe over this issue. May we suggest that, until those negotiations and the litigation bear whatever fruit they will, the state and the tribe endeavor to agree on at least one point: what an interim annual payment to the state should be."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Negotiate this point (The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel 7/6)