We got a number of emails from TPMm readers in Michigan about today’s item in the Daily Muck about Majority Leader John Boehner’s (R-OH) lucky break at the slots. According to Boehner’s spokesman, he won this money at a “rest stop” when he stopped off to go to the bathroom - his aide told The New York Times he gambled “to pass the time at a rest area while waiting for a colleague.”
But there’s a problem.
There are no rest stops with gambling in them, our intrepid readers pointed out. If you want to gamble in Michigan, you either go to Detroit, where there are three casinos, or to the numerous Native American casinos throughout Northern Michigan.
So what’s Boehner talking about?
Well, on his disclosure form, Boehner reported that he’d won the money in Manistique, Michigan. So I called up the Manistique City Hall and asked, if I wanted to pee and gamble in Manistique, where would I go?
Turns out, I’d only have one option: the Kewadin Casino, which is run by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. “Would you call that a rest stop?” I asked. “Well, they have bathrooms in there,” replied Rebecca Weber, who works for the city of about 4,000.
So there. This is what Boehner calls a rest stop.
I left a message for Boehner’s spokesman, but my call wasn’t immediately returned.
Update: Apparently the above picture is of another Northern Michigan Kewadin casino. This, apparently, is what the one in Manistique looks like - more modest, but still a remarkable rest stop. Thanks to reader MT.
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