Press release from Andy Craig and the Libertarian Party of Milwaukee County:
Libertarians in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties are calling for Governor Scott Walker to accept the proposed Menominee offer to pay for the state’s portion of the new Milwaukee Bucks arena. The offer is conditional on the Governor reversing his decision to not allow the proposed Menominee/Hard Rock casino in Kenosha. Walker recently announced a plan that would provide $220 million in state-backed financing for a new arena, to be paid for by diverting tax revenue generated by the team and a new tax district covering the Milwaukee area.
“The Wisconsin Libertarian platform calls for the repeal of laws restricting or prohibiting gambling, and we also oppose taxpayer subsidies for private businesses,” says Andy Craig, chair of the Milwaukee County Libertarians and a candidate for the 4th congressional district. “Anybody, tribe or not, should be free to offer voluntary gaming for consenting adults at their establishment. Restricting gaming based on special-interest protectionism is a failed policy, and makes even less sense when the trade-offs are highlighted as clearly as they are by this offer.”
The Menominee tribe has not only offered to pay for the state’s portion of a new Bucks arena, they have also offered to indemnify the state against its claimed potential losses for not guaranteeing a 50-mile monopoly to the Potawatomi casino in Milwaukee. This has been cited by Walker as a reason for blocking the Kenosha casino, even though the state’s own lawyers dispute that any such liability exists in a manner that could be enforced.
“Twice now, offers have been refused from a casino to provide the new venue for the Bucks at no cost to the taxpayers. First when the Potawatomi were denied their proposal of a downtown mixed-use venue, and now yet again with the rejection of the Menominee offer. From a dollars-and-cents perspective, it simply doesn’t make sense,” says Chuck Schilling, an avid Bucks fan and member of the Libertarian Party of Waukesha County.
The Libertarians also say Speaker Vos and other state legislators should be prepared to take legislative action to over-ride the Governor’s decision, if he refuses to do so himself.
Yep, I found it to be that way with a lot of things. Doing something a lot increases the chances it will work some of the time, and a lot of times it is hard to predict which of your attempts will connect.
Always surprises me what gets picked up by major media and what doesn’t. Timeliness, and just plain luck, seem to be the main factors I’ve noticed.
Sitting down to type something up almost as an afterthought at 11pm on a Saturday, and then having it reported on as a newsworthy directive to the Gov & Leg on TV the next evening, is a little surreal… 😉 Of course the statement on the Iraq/Syria war, that I worked much harder and more carefully on and consider much more important, got bupkis outside of social media. :p
Nice!
Made the local CBS news:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifYRR-WUhn4