HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA Executive Newsletter

HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA
Executive Newsletter
A daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyond
Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor
THE TEA PARTY GROWS NASTY
Things grew testy in the Massachusetts legislature
yesterday, erupting into what the Boston
Globe’s Boston.com called “a political brawl.”
Supporters of Gov. Deval Patrick’s three-casinono-slots-at-racetracks
proposal accused House
Speaker Sal DiMasi of “orchestrating a defeat
of the governor’s casino legislation even before a
legislative committee publicly airs the pros and
cons next week.” One legislator supporting the
legislation said, “There were a lot of reps walking
on eggshells” yesterday. DiMasi continued to
pressure colleagues, and one of Patrick’s spokesmen
said, “From the signals we’re getting we’re
concerned a full and open debate on the merits
is not going to happen.” Observers watched the
battle with humor, the renowned Boston College
theologian and mediator Rev. Raymond Helmick
replying to a reporter’s question of what Gov.
Patrick should do by saying, “Cry,” adding that,
“If DiMasi is determined to stop this, Patrick
has already lost.” Democratic strategist Mary
Anne Marsh was quoted in the Boston Herald as
saying the governor “should just wind back the
clock, walk back out the door and start over.”
She said if he doesn’t make peace and expects
to get anything done over the next three years,
“good luck.” PR specialist George Regan said,
“Sal’s a sensitive guy. If Patrick were smart, he’d
apologize over pasta at Joe Tecce’s (a Boston restaurant)
and move on.” The interim dean of
Boston University’s College of Communications,
Tobe Berkovitz, had a different idea about how
Gov. Patrick should handle DiMasi. “Appoint
him to the Supreme Court (where justices hold
office until 70) and get him the hell out of there,”
he said. The Herald ran all of those, and one
from author and therapist Mira Kirshenbaum,
who said Patrick had three options: Declare
victory and embrace DiMasi, celebrating
progress; Declare defeat and wear a
crown of thorns; Declare a new war.
March 14, 2008
A SUPER CASINO FOR OHIO?
Plans for a casino bigger than Paris Las Vegas,
the Luxor or the Venetian was unveiled yesterday
by two Cleveland investors. The Columbus
Dispatch reported them as saying their $600 million
resort casino would not be glitzy, like Las
Vegas, but built with “Midwestern sensibilities,”
which the paper said meant no gigantic neon
signs or flashy architectural flourishes. Casino
gaming currently is illegal in Ohio, of course,
but Rick Lertzman and Brad Pressman, who announced
the grandiose plans and need 400,000
valid signatures by August to get the issue on the
November ballot, say they will begin radio and
television advertising by the end of this month
seeking statewide support. Yesterday’s announcement
differed from an earlier one by the
pair two years ago, changed after a proposal for
31,500 track slots was roundly defeated in Ohio
last November. This time the pair say they seek
one casino, with 4,000 to 5,000 slots, 100 table
games and 20 poker tables. They also hope to
have 100,000 square feet of specialty retail shops,
eight restaurants, a 1,500-room hotel and conference
center, and a 2,500-seat theater. The two
Clevelanders say a major midwestern gambling
company will finance their proposal.
IT’S LEGAL, BUT LET’S TALK
That was the message in Connecticut yesterday,
where attorney general Richard Blumenthal told
the General Assembly it had the legal authority
to enforce a smoking ban in the state’s two
huge Indian casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan
Sun. He also said that the ban could and would
be upheld, he felt strongly that the legislature
should try to negotiate a compromise with the
two tribal governments, rather than engage in a
costly legal fight with the wealthy Mashantuckets
and Mohegan tribes.
Legislators indicated
they are likely to pursue that path, rather
than plunge ahead with lawmaking.