GOP CARRIES POLITICAL GAMES
INTO COURTS AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE
MADISON – State Representative Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee), Assistant Democratic Leader, today criticized Republican legislative leaders for continuing a political fight over gaming by spending taxpayer funds for a longtime Republican lawyer to pursue weak claims.
“They have been losing in the Legislature, under rules that they themselves supported and wrote – the state statutes,” Richards, an attorney noted. “Now they want to change the rules in the middle of the game. It’s like Marquette getting to the Final Four, then being told they have to play football.”
Richards cited state statute 14.035, created by 1989 Assembly Bill 927. The statute states that the Governor “may, on behalf of this state, enter into any compact that has been negotiated under 25 USC 2710 (d).” Representative John Gard, now Assembly Speaker, and Representative Mary Panzer, now Senate Majority Leader, both voted for passage of the bill. The bill was signed by Governor Thompson and became 1989 Act 196. (See attached Assembly Journal)
“They’re hiring an attorney at taxpayer expense to argue against the authority the Legislature specifically gave to the Governor to negotiate compacts, and that they themselves voted for,” Richards noted. “Where was the outrage the last 13 years?”
Richards also noted the Republican legal arguments are weak.
“They cite an expansion of gaming with the Potawatomi, yet that question is currently in front of the Court of Appeals in another case,” Richards stated. “So now we are going to waste taxpayer dollars to argue a question already in the courts, at a time of a record deficit? This is ridiculous.”
Finally, Richards noted that Republican claims about the compact appropriating funds are weak because the compact does not appropriate funds. The Potawatomi are making a payment within the compact. The final budget will be approved by the Legislature.
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