Baldwin Asks Interior Secretary Salazar to Reconsider Beloit Casino Decision

Press Release

Baldwin asks Interior Secretary Salazar to Reconsider Beloit Casino Decision

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin today sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar calling on him to reconsider the application of the Bad River Band and St. Croix Chippewa Indians for a gaming facility in Beloit. That application was rejected in the final days of the Bush Administration by then-Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne who, Baldwin said, "…made a decision based not on law, but on his own personal bias."

In her letter, Baldwin explained that the Beloit casino project "enjoys extraordinary community support. The benefits to the community and tribal members (including job creation) were well documented. The recent closure of the General Motors plant in Janesville, Wisconsin has made this job creation even more important."

Despite the clear benefits to the tribes and the community, Baldwin told Salazar that, "…under Secretary Kempthorne, the department manipulated the process to obtain a result consistent with personal hostility to off-reservation gaming, essentially rejecting the finding of the regional BIA staff."

Baldwin asked Salazar to "…take steps to expeditiously review the decisions made in the final days of the Bush administration. In those cases where it appears that decisions were grounded in a flawed process or the failure to follow the law, regulations or longstanding departmental policies, I ask that you reconsider those decisions."

Source