ANTI-CASINO GROUP MAKES FALSE CLAIMS IN FIRST AD

By Michael Horne

Exclusive for the readers of www.milwaukeeworld.com

A new group called Wisconsin Gaming for Wisconsin has hit the airwaves with an advertising campaign opposing construction of an Indian casino at the Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha.

The group’s tools are its affiliations with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Urban League, and VISIT Milwaukee. These alliances are brought to a simmer in a pot of Potawatomi Bingo Casino money and seasoned with a hefty dose of lies.

The group’s first ad says the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut, proposed initial operators of the casino, are lobbying to “suck” money from Wisconsin and send it to the Nutmeg State.

Specifically, the ad states:

“The land in Kenosha [where the casino would be located] is owned by an Alabama dog track operator who has been lobbying Madison politicians to let the Mohegans move in.”

[To view the advertisement, click on this link, and select “TV AD1”]

This is a concise statement, but it is not based on fact. It would be fair to characterize it as a lie. Why?

Lobbying in Wisconsin is regulated by the Wisconsin Ethics Board. Rime Management, Inc., of Alabama, is the majority owner of Dairyland. Its statement filed with the ethics board does not show any lobbying effort regarding the Mohegans. The same goes for Dairyland Greyhound Park, Inc., the actual operator of the track, in its ethics statement. Furthermore, Dairyland specifically denies that it has engaged in a campaign to “lobby Madison politicians” on this issue.

So, either Dairyland is lying when it says it is not lobbying the legislature on this issue and has compounded the lie by filing false lobbying statements with the ethics board or the “Wisconsin Gaming for Wisconsin” group simply made up the false allegation.

David Fantle, vice president of public relations for VISIT Milwaukee, and the designated spokesperson for Wisconsin Gaming for Wisconsin, responded to a request from www.milwaukeeworld.com to demonstrate the truth of the lobbying claim by saying, “we are in process of getting you this information.” [It will be posted here as an update when it is received. – Ed.]

Of course, this brings up the issue of why is the Milwaukee convention and visitors bureau mixed up in the Kenosha Casino Caper?

Well, for one thing, the Potawatomi casino pays the group about $250,000 a year as lead partner. And there would be little room for concern if the group got all of its money from private sources. But the fact is, it receives $4 million a year from the Wisconsin Center District, a taxing authority that levies 2% on hotel rooms, 3% on car rentals, another 7% on hotel rooms and 0.25% on all food and beverage sales in Milwaukee County.

Furthermore, the Visit Milwaukee code of ethics makes me wonder why the organization is mixed up with the distasteful subject of gambling. For one thing, the ethics statement says employees should “issue no false or deliberately misleading statements or advertisements … either affiliated with or unrelated to the convention and visitor industry.”

Also, employees should “comply with all levels of governmental regulations concerning lobbying and political activities and use only legal, ethical and moral means when attempting to influence legislation or regulations affecting the GMCVB or the convention and visitor industry.”

Assisting in the publication of false and misleading advertisements and accusing others of illegal lobbying are not good ways for a new organization to gain the public’s trust.

Coming tomorrow: When Enough! is not enough – similarities of current and former anti-Kenosha casino efforts.