Tribal forum: Candidates discuss future of Menominee Tribe

KESHENA — Ongoing efforts to open a casino in Kenosha dominated topics covered during a forum of legislative candidates Monday night at the College of Menominee Nation.

“This is the single most important thing that this tribe can get that will help us out of the financial crisis that we have,” said Laurie Boivin, who is running for her second term on the Legislature.

The tribe’s future without the Kenosha casino would be “very bleak,” Boivin said.

“We simply don’t have the revenue to put into economic development under our current circumstances,” she said.

Chairman Michael Chapman, also seeking a second term, said the Kenosha project is moving forward.

“We are making progress, but there are some hurdles,” he said.

One of the biggest hurdles has been the lobbying against the Kenosha project by the Potawatomi tribe, which maintains it will lose an estimated $162 million a year in revenue if a Menominee casino opens in Kenosha.

Chapman, who called the Potawatomi figure a scare tactic, said the Potawatomi have appropriated $7.2 million in their budget for “political contributions” versus the $5,000 set aside in the Menominee budget for lobbying.

Chapman said the Bureau of Indian Affairs is currently evaluating an environmental impact statement (EIS) along with the tribe’s application to put the Kenosha property into trust.

Tribal forum: Candidates discuss future of Menominee Tribe

KESHENA — Ongoing efforts to open a casino in Kenosha dominated topics covered during a forum of legislative candidates Monday night at the College of Menominee Nation.

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