Editorial: Voters should decide on Potawatomi casino

Thursday, December 20, 2007  

"One of the arguments used by state officials to support relocation of the State Police headquarters to downtown Lansing is it will bring construction jobs and employment to the capital city. In that light, then, should not state officials - and mid-Michigan residents - be looking on with envy at what's happening in Calhoun County? There, a Potawatomi Indian tribe has hired Lansing-based Clark Construction to build its new casino between Marshall and Battle Creek. The job will create 700 construction jobs and 2,500 jobs when the casino opens, the Jackson Citizen-Patriot reports.

Remember back to 2004, existing casino interests, Indian and Detroit-based, got behind a ballot initiative to limit casino gambling. Prop 1 of 2004 created a scheme whereby a community could not get a casino, even with local consent, unless the voters statewide also approved.

In other words, Prop 1 gave a resident of Houghton the same influence on Lansing policy as someone who lives on Kalamazoo Street.

To their credit the people of Ingham County saw through this particular political favor, rejecting Prop 1, 67,438 to 61,994. Clinton County nearly defeated it, too, while Eaton County voters mirrored the state trend in decidedly approving Prop 1.

The practical impact of Prop 1 hasn't been to stop casinos or gambling in Michigan; far from it. Detroit gets to proudly tout its state-approved casinos. And Indian tribes in Michigan retain their ability to add casinos on trust land scattered about the state.

But for communities like Lansing that may have a market and desire for a casino, the hurdles really couldn't be higher."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Casinos: Lansing could benefit with reconsideration of Prop 1 (Lansing State Journal 12/20)