.svg)
Body
The outrage immediately following Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s rejection this month of a $180m casino proposal by a Michigan tribe seems to be fading, as other tribes in the state praise the governor’s decision.
When Whitmer announced her decision on June 15, Larry Romanelli of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians in northwest Michigan told reporters his tribe was “absolutely devastated.”
“This project would have created and supported 3,000 jobs for tribal members and families in the community along with providing funds for healthcare and housing,” said Romanelli, who is the tribe’s ogema or chief.
“Our tribe has worked hand-in-hand with the Muskegon [Michigan] community for the past 12 years to gain approval from the federal government and state government,” Romanelli said.
But Frank Cloutier, a former chief of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, praised the governor for rejecting what he described as an off-reservation casino.
“They’ve got a gaming compact, the same as we do,” Cloutier said of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians.
“In the compact for Little River, they’re very specific in where their identified lands were and the Muskegon property was not part of their compact,” Cloutier, who now serves as his tribe’s public relations director, told VIXIO GamblingCompliance in a phone interview on Monday (June 27).
Both the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, which operates three casinos, are recognized by the federal government.
Two other federally-recognized tribes with casinos in Michigan — the Gun Lake Tribe and the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi — also opposed the casino proposal by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians.
Romanelli did not respond to requests for comment from VIXIO.
Whitmer said she had no choice but to reject the casino proposal because the U.S. Department of the Interior refused to grant her request for another six-month extension to make a decision.
The Interior Department granted the first six-month extension last December, but federal law does not allow a second extension.
Both Whitmer and the Interior Department declined to comment on the extension requests.
Tribes in California and other states also have disagreed on terms of gaming compacts and territorial rights, contradicting any notion of unanimity in Indian Country.
It is hard to tell what impact, if any, Whitmer’s rejection of the casino proposal, will have on her re-election prospects this year.
The Cook Political Report lists the governor’s race in Michigan as a toss up.
“There is a feeling in Michigan, broadly speaking, that we’re saturated with casinos right now,” said Bill Ballenger, a Michigan political pundit who is a former Republican member of the state's House and Senate.
Ballenger said the financial support Whitmer has received from Detroit’s three casinos may have been a factor in her decision to reject the proposal by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians.
Whitmer also has been slow to embrace Senate Bill 397, an instant racing bill sponsored by the Michigan Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich.
The hope is that Ananich’s bill would help restore thoroughbred racing in Michigan. The state has only one harness racing track, Northfield Downs near Detroit.
