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Casino backers give to Doyle
Supporters of Kenosha site at fund-raiser
By STEVE SCHULTZE
sschultze@journalsentinel.com
A Feb. 2 fund-raising dinner for Gov. Jim Doyle at the Kenosha Country Club yielded $135,000 - much of it from backers of a proposed off-reservation casino, including local construction firms eager to capture a slice of the $808 million casino-hotel development.
Election 2006
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Of course, no donation would influence the governor in any way on any issue.
- Melanie Fonder, spokeswoman, Gov. Jim Doyles re-election campaign
Doyle & Casinos Background
7/14/06: High court upholds casino compacts
7/4/06: Hiring of casino lawyer faulted
5/26/06: Casino bill is veto-bound
2/19/06: Doyle caught in center on casino
2/11/06: Reform trend may curb casino plans
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Campaign records filed with the state show that at least 28 attendees wrote checks to Doyle, including six who gave the maximum $10,000 each.
Among the givers were executives of the Mohegan tribe or its gambling operation, who gave $6,000; owners or board members of Dairyland Greyhound Park, who gave more than $24,000; and executives of Kenosha-area construction firms, who gave the rest.
The Connecticut-based Mohegan tribe is partners with the Menominee tribe of Wisconsin in a bid for a Kenosha casino, and the cash-rich Mohegans are helping to bankroll the project. Dairyland owners have a $40.5 million deal to sell the track and surrounding property for the casino.
John Camosy, senior vice president for his family's Kenosha construction firm, said he attended the event and gave $5,000 for several reasons, including his interest in having the casino come to Kenosha.
"It would be a big boon to our economy here," Camosy said. He said Doyle spoke to a group of about 50 on Feb. 2 and the governor mentioned the casino project and a few other big issues.
Many of the questions from the group to Doyle were about the casino project, but the governor did not say whether he would support it, Camosy said.
"He was sort of non-committal, if it got to his desk, on whether he would sign it," Camosy said. If the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs approves the project, Doyle has the final say on whether it goes forward.
Camosy's only contribution to a state candidate in the past was $100 to a Republican legislator in 1993.
He said he made the big Doyle donation because "the governor's been quite good, surprisingly" on issues of importance to the construction industry.
Other Kenosha-area contractors making big donations to Doyle included plumbing, electrical and construction executives and real estate officials. Few had a history of making large political donations.
Larry Rasch, president of Rasch Construction, said he gave $10,000 to Doyle because "I'd like to see him get re-elected. I'd like to see the casino go ahead, but that's probably not my main motivation."
Melanie Fonder, a spokeswoman for Doyle's re-election campaign, said the donations would have no influence on Doyle's decision on the casino.
"Of course, no donation would influence the governor in any way on any issue," Fonder said. "People support this governor because they believe in his leadership, his tremendous record and his visions for moving Wisconsin forward."
The presence of the Mohegan executives at the Feb. 2 fund-raiser was "a tell-tale sign" that the event was aimed at luring casino-related donations, said Michael McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a non-partisan group that advocates for campaign finance reform.
"It shows that the amount of money that has a connection to the Kenosha casino continues to rise," McCabe said. "It hasn't ended and in fact continues to intensify."
Doyle's campaign report for the first half of this year showed seven leaders of the Mohegan tribe, its gaming authority and from the Mohegan Sun casino gave a combined $6,000 in early February. Mohegan tribal officials previously donated $20,000 to Doyle.
The Mohegan Sun is one of the country's most successful Indian casinos, with revenue of $1.2 billion last year.
Kenosha businessman Dennis Troha, the casino's developer, said he helped arrange the Feb. 2 Doyle fund-raiser and helped invite construction firms. Troha said he had made "absolutely no assurances, no threats" to persuade the contractors to make large donations.
Troha said, however: "Anybody who is a friend of the project, a friend of the governor's, is a friend of mine."
The casino project will be competitively bid without regard for who gave money to Doyle, Troha said.
Troha, members of his family and employees of his firms have given a total of nearly $237,000 to Doyle since 2002, according to figures compiled by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
The Dairyland track officials' donations after the February fund-raiser were made because Doyle "has been very supportive of Dairyland's staying in business," said Craig Peterson, a spokesman for Dairyland. "He has been a pro-economic development governor when it comes to Dairyland dog track."
Officials from the Forest County Potawatomi tribe gave Doyle $3,653 in the first half of this year, campaign records show. That included donations from Potawatomi tribal leaders, a tribal lawyer, a lobbyist and the assistant manager of Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee.
Potawatomi leaders have spoken against the proposed Kenosha casino, saying it would hurt business at its Milwaukee casino and siphon money from Wisconsin to the Mohegans in Connecticut.
Doyle has said he hopes to raise as much as $13 million in his tough re-election fight with U.S. Rep. Mark Green, a Green Bay Republican, who has indicated he hopes to raise about $7 million.
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