Tuesday, September 23, 2008

We talked late last week about the utter hypocrisy of the Potawatomi – who have spent millions to hurt the Menominee Tribe and its Kenosha project – being founding members of a group committed to increasing economic opportunities for poor tribes. That group, the Native American Trade Network, has its big kickoff in Washington today, and here’s the statement we released on the irony of it all.


FOREST COUNTY POTAWATOMI PUT HYPOCRISY ON FULL NATIONAL DISPLAY
IN WASHINGTON, D.C., PUBLICITY STUNT
* * *
Multiyear, multimillion-dollar effort to stifle poor Wisconsin tribe’s economic development project is polar opposite of new claim

Evan N. Zeppos, spokesman for the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin’s proposed entertainment center and casino in Kenosha, Wis., today issued the following statement regarding the Forest County Potawatomi’s membership in the newly created Native American Trade Network. The Network, launched today at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C, bills itself as a partnership of some of the nation’s wealthiest tribes with the goal of increasing economic opportunities for disadvantaged tribes. The Potawatomi have been vocal opponents of the Kenosha project, which would compete with Potawatomi’s lucrative off-reservation casino in Milwaukee.

“It is reprehensible that the Forest County Potawatomi would stand up in our nation’s capital and claim to be in favor of spreading economic opportunity to disadvantaged tribes.

“Potawatomi’s D.C. appearance is a blatant and duplicitous publicity stunt that conveniently sidesteps the millions of dollars they’ve poured into ads, lobbyists and other political and legal chicanery to preserve the casino monopoly that has made them rich. To now declare they want to help less-fortunate tribes is laughable at best, shameful at worst and supreme hypocrisy any way you look at it.

“If Potawatomi’s leaders really cared about disadvantaged tribes, they’d take a walk across the Mall after their photo-op and ask the BIA to approve the Kenosha casino and its life-changing boost for an impoverished tribe. Unfortunately, with a record of shameful conduct that directly opposes the noble intentions of the Native American Trade Network, the Forest County Potawatomi seem to be content spreading something less admirable than economic opportunity.”

###

Speak out against Potawatomi’s hypocrisy and in favor of fair casino competition in Southeast Wisconsin by signing the online petition.

Friday, September 19, 2008

What Potawatomi is spreading doesn’t smell like “economic opportunity”

We thought it had to be the latest headline from The Onion.

But we did some checking around after several Casino Competition for Wisconsin supporters e-mailed us this news flash today, and it’s apparently true.

That’s right. The same Forest County Potawatomi Community that has spent millions upon millions upon millions of dollars to kill the proposed Kenosha casino – a much-needed economic development project that will help lift a very poor, very large Wisconsin tribe out of extreme poverty – is now part of a national consortium dedicated to (emphasis ours) promoting economic development for ALL tribes.

Huh?

According to a press release issued by a Washington, D.C., PR firm, the Potawatomi will travel to Washington next week to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the richest tribes in the nation as they launch the “Native American Trade Network.” The media is invited – of course – and the group’s executive director says the network’s purpose is to “spread economic opportunity in Indian Country.”

Potawatomi’s spreading something, all right – but it’s not economic opportunity. After all, how many “economically advantaged” tribes that truly care about helping their struggling counterparts would:

• Organize front groups -- one, two, and possibly a third – to oppose an impoverished Tribe’s economic development plan.
• Spend more than $1 million on a massive, extremely negative campaign to defeat such a plan at the polls.
• Bus their own casino employees to a hearing to speak out against the other Tribe’s economic development efforts.
• Fund a flawed economic study falsely attacking the other Tribe’s project.
• Spend millions on lobbyists trying to hurt the other Tribe’s efforts in the State Capitol, the U.S. Capitol and even the Executive Office of the President of the United States.
• Drop big bucks on a glitzy TV ad campaign attacking another successful Tribe for helping a disadvantaged Tribe rise out of poverty.

What is Potawatomi doing? Are they really committed to helping disadvantaged tribes? If so, they’ll stop fighting competition. They’ll embrace the Kenosha project and all it would do for a fellow Wisconsin tribe and for Wisconsin as a whole.

But we’re not holding our breath.

Promote real support for disadvantaged Tribes by signing our online petition.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Mohegan commitment to Menominee, Kenosha and Wisconsin draws more praise

A few weeks ago, a great letter to the editor in the Kenosha News effectively shot down the silly criticisms the competition-fearing Potawatomi have been spouting about the Mohegan Tribe, which is helping Wisconsin’s Menominee Tribe get the Kenosha casino project up and running. Today, the letter writer, a Kenosha businessman, outlines his thoughts even further in a thoughtful commentary on Small Business Times’ Milwaukee Biz Blog.

It’s worth reading.

You’ll recall that as part of their multimillion-dollar scheme to fend off competition and hang on to their monopoly, the Potawatomi have taken every possible opportunity to blast the Mohegan Tribe because it is – brace yourself – from Connecticut.

The Potawatomi apparently don’t want outsiders playing in Wisconsin’s business market, making nuisances of themselves by helping:

Perish the thought.

Fortunately, people like this letter writer and others are seeing through Potawatomi’s anti-competition tactics. They’re recognizing the value a solid corporate citizen like the Mohegan Tribe – and its support of a very large, very poor tribe like Wisconsin’s Menominee – will bring to our state.

Join the call for real casino competition in Wisconsin by signing our online petition.