Betting on the Constitution Assembly Speaker John G. Gard News-Chronicle This week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court declared that the gambling compact negotiated in secret between the Forest County Potawatomi Indian tribe and the Doyle administration was unconstitutional. When those secret compacts were first disclosed a year ago, Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer and I were extremely concerned about the content of the compacts. The governor had given away a permanent monopoly on gambling and a massive expansion of gambling to the tribes at a bargain-basement price. We were more concerned, however, that the compacts were a flagrant violation of the Wisconsin Constitution. The new deals were permanent - prohibiting any future governor or legislature from ever exercising oversight over gambling or revisiting the compacts. The deals gave away the state's sovereign immunity - opening up Wisconsin taxpayers to unlimited lawsuits against them by the tribes. And the deals included games specifically prohibited by the voters of Wisconsin when they amended the state constitution in 1993 to specifically define what gambling would be allowed in Wisconsin. These concerns led us to challenge the compacts in court. The court has now ruled that: "We hold that the Governor exceeded his authority when he agreed unilaterally to a compact that permanently removes the subject of Indian gaming from the legislature's ability to establish policy and make law. Further we hold that the Governor acted contrary to the public policy embodied in state law and therefore acted without authority by agreeing to allow the Forest County Potawatomi Tribe to conduct new games that are prohibited by Article IV, Section 24 of the Wisconsin Constitution and by Wisconsin's criminal statutes. Finally, we conclude that the Governor exceeded his authority by agreeing to waive the state's sovereign immunity, an act which he had no inherent or delegated power to undertake." Since the court ruling, the governor and his allies in this case have complained that undoing this compact puts at risk payments that the Indian tribes had pledged to the state and creates fiscal pressure within the state budget. The high court appropriately pointed out that that argument is irrelevant. Every lawmaker takes an oath to defend the Wisconsin Constitution. Sen. Panzer and I brought this lawsuit challenging Gov. Doyle's unconstitutional gambling compacts because we take that oath very seriously. The court's decision reaffirms that the Wisconsin Constitution is not for sale - not to the governor, not to the tribes, not to anyone, for any amount of money. Every citizen of the state - regardless of their political affiliation or their position on gambling - should celebrate the fact that the high court has so aggressively stood up to defend the integrity of our constitution and to demonstrate that no individual, even the governor, is above the law. Since last spring when the governor announced this unconstitutional compact, the 'marketplace' for tribal gaming compacts has changed dramatically. Tribes are now in discussions with other states and other cities about agreements that offer payments five to six times higher than the ones agreed to by Doyle. While some people may try to portray this week's court decision as a major defeat for Doyle, I think the decision also presents him with a golden opportunity. The Supreme Court's decision gives the governor a do-over on the biggest mistake he has made since taking office. With the clean slate given to him by the court, Doyle now has a second chance to negotiate compacts that are constitutional, fair to the tribes and an even better deal for the Wisconsin taxpayers. I hope he will work with legislative leaders in the light of day to seize that opportunity. Gard, a Republican from Peshtigo, represents the 89th District in the state Assembly and is speaker of the Assembly. Contact him via e-mail at [email protected]