Walker Says Delaying Casino Decision Practical, Not Political

Gov. Walker says his request for more time to announce a decision on a casino in Kenosha has nothing to do with this fall’s election.

Last Friday, the state asked the Interior Department to allow a 180-day extension of deliberations on the Kenosha casino. The Menominee and Seminole tribes want to open a gaming hall and entertainment complex on the site of the former Kenosha dog track.

If the extension is approved, Walker’s deadline would go from August 2014 to next February: well after the November election. In Milwaukee Monday, Walker brushed off a question about him playing politics.

“We’re following the law: the law allows any governor, whether they were up for election or not, to take up this amount of time, and so we’re going to do our due diligence and take the amount of time that we have,” Walker said. “If people were frustrated with the timing, it took nine years for the federal government to act on it. We’re still going to end up acting on it in a lot shorter amount of time than that.”

Walker’s expected Democratic opponent for governor, Mary Burke, says the governor is making the casino decision into a political one. Walker says he’s still looking for ways that the Kenosha casino would thrive while not harming other Wisconsin casinos, or the casino revenues the Native American tribes pay to the state