* To think this man was at one point just months away from owning a racino…
The Illinois Gaming Board has moved to strip video gambling operator Rick Heidner of his license after accusing him of offering a $5 million “illegal inducement” to the owner of a chain of gambling parlors, records show.
State officials filed the action Tuesday, saying they had learned that Heidner, who operates Gold Rush Amusements, had offered the money after the owners of Laredo Hospitality told him they were moving to pull his video gambling machines from 44 of their gambling parlors, according to the complaint for disciplinary action filed with the board by its staff. The Tribune obtained the complaint through an open records request.
During a Nov. 16, 2018, meeting at a Rosemont steakhouse between Heidner and the CEO of Laredo, the executive told Heidner that after a recent ownership change, Laredo would be severing its relationship with Gold Rush, according to the complaint.
Two weeks later, Heidner met with Laredo’s new owner, Daniel Fischer, and offered to buy Laredo for $5 million more than Fischer had just paid for the company, according to the complaint. Fischer declined the offer, according to the complaint.
Heidner then sent a series of text messages to Laredo’s former CEO, Gary Leff, detailing the offer, the Gaming Board says.
Man, that is a huge video gaming empire which just went kerplop. Go read the rest.
*** UPDATE *** The Tribune has updated its story…
[Heidner spokesman Randall Samborn] called the allegations against Heidner “an orchestrated smear campaign,” describing Heidner as the victim of an “illegal inducement” paid by one of his competitors to replace Gold Rush at Laredo’s locations. He said they are related to an ongoing lawsuit.
6 Comments  
|
Question of the day: Golden Horseshoe Awards
Wednesday, Dec 18, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The 2019 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Legislative Liaison goes to one of the crowd’s favorites Carter Harms…
Carter Harms is the best. I got to work with him on an issue this session, it was one of the best experiences I’ve had working with a state agency. He’s smart, kind, and a pleasure to work with.
You can’t get a much stronger recommendation than that.
* The 2019 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best “Do-Gooder” lobbyist goes to Kathy Drea…
I think strong consideration has to be given to Kathy Drea of the American Lung Association. She’s been on the front lines of the anti-tobacco effort for decades. And her cause just came off the best legislative session in a generation: Tobacco 21, cigarette tax Increase, and registration of all e-cigarette retailers passed during the Spring session. And then, they came back and got important changes to the marijuana legalization bill in veto that clarified how the law works with the Smoke Free Illinois Act.
She’s compiled an amazing record, and she’s a great person too.
That do-gooder pick was one of the most difficult so far. But Kathy did have one heck of a year.
…Adding… Kathy told me this afternoon that she put in her notice that she’s retiring. So, she’s going out on top.
* On to today’s categories…
* Best US Representative
* Best Elected Statewide Officeholder
Statewides can include US Senators, by the way. Please explain your nominations or they won’t count and please nominate in both categories or I may ignore your opinion. But, most of all, have fun!
20 Comments
|
Did Syverson’s guest violate Senate rules?
Wednesday, Dec 18, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Mark Maxwell at WCIA…
In a brazen move that violated Senate rules, state Senator Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) brought Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician Rick Nielsen, the guitarist for Cheap Trick, onto the chamber floor in May during a sensitive time when his colleagues were considering whether or not to approve a Rockford casino and when Nielsen was lobbying support for one.
Nielsen stands to gain significant personal wealth if the Illinois Gaming Board approves the Hard Rock casino bid because his wife invested in the project. Nielsen is also in business with Syverson through the Stockholm Inn in Rockford.
On May 15th, Nielsen visited the statehouse to build support for the Rockford casino project. During his visit, he staged a public press conference from the statehouse press room, sought an audience with the governor, and passed out guitar picks to legislators on the floor in the House and Senate, all in support of approving a Rockford casino.
“I’m trying to help in the gaming industry,” Nielsen told TV cameras during his visit. “I came down here to see if I could kick it in the butt a little bit.” […]
According to Senate rules, “No person who is directly or indirectly interested in defeating or promoting any pending legislative measure, if required to be registered as a lobbyist, is allowed access to the floor of the Senate at any time during the session.”
According to the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, Nielsen never registered as a lobbyist. Had Nielsen registered as a lobbyist, he certainly would have been banned from entering the chamber. A Senate spokesman said, “The Secretary of the Senate was not aware of any reason he should not be a guest on the Senate floor.”
You could make an argument that Nielsen should’ve registered as a lobbyist. A press conference is not lobbying. But handing out those guitar picks thing could’ve been over the line. Still, I’m not sure there was a brazen violation of the Senate’s rules if that is an open question.
Either way, another day, another Syverson story. Not good.
…Adding… The Senator never should’ve allowed his floor guest to hand out these guitar picks…
36 Comments
|
* Politico…
Turns out Ald. Jason Ervin and some members of the Black Caucus may not be the only ones supporting a delay in selling recreational marijuana in Chicago. Lobbyists for two white-owned cannabis companies would benefit if Chicago held off on selling cannabis.
MedMen Enterprises, which has an Oak Park dispensary, and Green Thumb Industries (GTI,) with dispensaries in Joliet and Naperville, have a heavy lobbyist contingent in City Hall this week as aldermen debate whether to push back the sale of recreational weed until July 1 in an effort to ensure diversity among dispensary ownership.
MedMen and GTI don’t have an immediate stake in a Jan. 1 opening in Chicago. So why should they care when sales begin?
The two companies are in line to open secondary dispensary locations in Chicago in mid-2020. They’re currently going through the zoning and start-up process, which takes months. By delaying Chicago’s start-date for recreational sales, MedMen and GTI would be able to open at the same time as the current dispensary owners — Cresco Labs, Columbia Care and 4Front.
OK, that may well be true, but it misses the point that Oak Park is on Chicago’s border. If the city’s implementation is delayed, MedMen’s Oak Park dispensary is gonna do blockbuster business.
* Sun-Times…
Chicago sales of recreational marijuana would be pushed back until July 1 under an ordinance that squeaked through a City Council committee Tuesday at the behest of black aldermen demanding diversity among dispensary ownership.
The 10 to 9 vote by the City Council’s Committee on Contract Oversight and Equity was a political embarrassment to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, whose administration tried desperately to appease the Black Caucus during negotiations that continued during the meeting. […]
Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), the mayor’s floor leader, was asked whether there are 26 votes in the full City Council to approve the six-month delay.
“Looking at the roll calls, I think right now the votes are there to have a delay, yes,” Villegas said.
* Tribune…
After the vote, Lightfoot released a statement saying her administration’s been working with the Black Caucus to make changes and criticized them for the vote. Delaying sales, Lightfoot said, “will have a multitude of unintended consequences, including fueling illegal sales, placing the start of a new industry at the same time when our full public safety resources must be dedicated to combatting summer violence, and most importantly, stripping money from the social equity funds intended to benefit Black and Brown entrepreneurs.”
“I have repeatedly asked the members of the Black Caucus to devise a strategy that addresses equity. Instead, we have primarily been met with a litany of complaints, but no tangible solutions. Crossing our arms and walking away is a tactic, not a strategy and is not only unacceptable but irresponsible,” Lightfoot added. “We have a tremendous opportunity to come together to do the work necessary to fulfill our vision of truly equitable legalization. Cannabis will be legalized across the State of Illinois starting on Jan. 1, and I have no intention of Chicago being left behind. It is unfortunate that the Black Caucus has chosen to remain on the sidelines.” […]
In particular, they are upset that the 11 medicinal cannabis dispensaries that get to immediately expand to recreational sales on Jan. 1 under state law are overwhelmingly white-owned establishments. And the early returns on other applicants for recreational licenses in Chicago show few minority owners.
“We would never, as a body, allow anything to pass through this with this magnitude of economic impact, and not have (minority) participation,” [Black Caucus Chairman Jason Ervin] said during an earlier hearing on his ordinance. “Every bond deal that goes through here, we’re hawks on if there’s African American, Latino participation. Every other type of financial transaction that comes through this body, we have these same questions, and this same question needs to be asked about … adult-use cannabis here in the city of Chicago.”
* Um, alderman, do you remember this 2017 story?…
A strip club owner and trucking executive plans to open a medical marijuana dispensary soon just south of the Illinois Medical District.
After nixing plans to open in Fulton Market, businessman Perry Mandera plans to open The Herbal Care Center, or THC Center for short, at 1301 S. Western Ave. in Chicago. […]
Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), whose ward includes the site, said he doesn’t have any objection to the dispensary opening there. […]
But under pressure from neighbors, Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. (27th) said in March 2015 the plan for a Fulton Market dispensary would be “very hard” to support, effectively killing it.
That dispensary, which Ervin approved in his ward after Burnett rejected it, is set to begin adult-use sales on January 1.
*** UPDATE *** Maybe cooler heads can eventually prevail…
*** UPDATE 2 *** Hmm…
*** UPDATE 3 *** This debate is really over the top…
*** UPDATE 4 *** Sales will commence on January 1st…
38 Comments
|
Question of the day: Golden Horseshoe Awards
Tuesday, Dec 17, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The 2019 Golden Horseshoe Award for Lifetime Service in the Illinois House goes to former Rep. Michael McAuliffe (R-Chicago)…
His history in the House is fascinating if you take a long view. He was one of the few republicans who got along really well with Madigan until the relationship soured. I believe he served as a chair of a committee at one point. For years he was known as one of the most bipartisan members, often helping newer Democrats learn how to deal with the republican caucus. Add to the equation that he’s passed some great bills, helped mentor dozens of GOP members, and was lucky enough to marry an amazing wife.
* The 2019 Golden Horseshoe Award for Lifetime Service in the Illinois Senate goes to retiring Sen. Dale Righter (R-Mattoon)…
Senate debates will never be the same after Dale Righter is gone. He could briefly look over a bill and then immediately tear it apart from top to bottom, and he could make anyone, on any side of the issue, reconsider their plan to vote. He is so fast and so smooth and could verbally destroy your bill while maintaining the utmost respect for you and the institution of the Senate to the point that many of his “victims” would smile and get a kick out of the verbal barrage. Absolutely a one-of-a-kind debater. Will be missed by all. Plus there’s that one really tough vote he took…
Again, lots of very solid nominations were made. Thanks to those who participated and congrats to our winners!
…Adding… From Sen. Righter…
Rich, if you would, please pass along my thanks to the commenters who were very gracious in their words
* On to today’s categories…
* Best Legislative Liaison
* Best “Do-Gooder” Lobbyist
Please explain your nominations or they will not count and please nominate in both categories if you can. Have fun!
39 Comments
|
* Cole Lauterbach at the Center Square on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s unsuccessful veto session bid to change the state gaming law to help Chicago land a casino…
But her lobbying efforts hit a roadblock when news broke that a state lawmaker had been arrested for allegedly offering a state senator who had been wearing a federal wiretap a series of bribes in exchange for supporting another piece of gambling legislation.
“It didn’t help that, on the very first day of veto session, there was a criminal charge announced of a legislator around gaming,” Lightfoot told the Economic Club of Chicago. “I felt like at that point we may not even be in the conversation.”
As the veto session came to a close, it became clear that Lightfoot would come up short. She revealed Tuesday just how close it was.
“By our whip count, we had fifty-five votes in the House and we needed sixty so we were close despite those odds,” she said.
One of the difficulties she said her team ran up against was a legislative effort to add what she called “tinsel to the Christmas tree,” or markup the bill with add-ons they wanted.
“They saw this piece of legislation, particularly around casinos, as their one opportunity to get something that they felt they were promised,” she said. “People came out of the woodwork with their ‘letters to Santa.’ ”
The impetus for the change in the already passed gambling legislation was a report that said the tax and fee structure for a Chicago casino was too high to attract a developer.
Lightfoot said she was confident an agreement could be reached when lawmakers return to Springfield in 2020.
Legislators were, indeed, asking for a lot of stuff. Some thought they had an agreement with the mayor and then others jumped in when they saw goodies being passed out.
It’s never easy to pass a gaming bill, particularly a stand-alone bill like this one which the mayor tried to muscle through in a hurry.
…Adding… Some good points here…
Yep.
16 Comments
|
* Tribune…
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is working to form a city-owned marijuana cultivation co-op that aspiring entrepreneurs could buy into to address some of the inequities in the legal marijuana business, she said Monday.
“I would like to have the opportunity for the city to create a cooperative cultivation center so that we can bring a professional in … then people will buy into the cooperative even with a modest cash investment or sweat equity and eventually, after they learn the business from top to bottom, turn that over to them,” Lightfoot said.
* Sun-Times…
Lightfoot said up to $15 million generated by tax-increment financing could be used as seed money for the plan to open a “cooperative cultivation center” that residents of color could “buy into” — either with a “modest cash investment” or with “sweat equity.”
She said the idea is aimed at overcoming the biggest impediment to minority ownership: access to capital.
“This is a very, very expensive business to get involved with. The basics to be a cultivator requires about a $13 million to $15 million investment. There are not a lot of people that have that, particularly in a market that a lot of banks and traditional lenders won’t touch,” she said.
“I think the only way to really crack this nut is for the city to invest its own resources to get engaged, get diverse entrepreneurs involved in the most lucrative part of the business, which is cultivation,” Lightfoot added.
It may be lucrative, but growing anything involves significant risk.
* Crain’s…
As interesting as it sounds, it’s not clear how, or if, it could work. Marijuana businesses are licensed by the state, although local governments have control whether to allow them to set up shop via the zoning process. As Chicago has found, it’s often not clear where one stops and the other begins.
The state isn’t planning to issue new cultivation licenses, beyond the 22 facilities licensed under the medical-marijuana law, for another two years. […]
The state soon will take applications for 40 “craft-grower” licenses that will be awarded in July. Under the law, such growing facilities could be 5,000 to 14,000 square feet. Cultivation centers can be up to 210,000 square feet. Up to 60 more “craft-grow” licenses will be issued by Dec. 21, 2021.
In an effort to increase diversity, the state will award a 20 percent bonus to applications from people who qualify for “social-equity” status because they’ve lived in areas hit hard by poverty and the war on drugs or have criminal records related to minor marijuana possession offenses.
* Pritzker administration…
The administration is excited that people are discussing new and innovative approaches to equity and we look forward to exploring those options when the application period for cultivation centers begins in 2021.
* Context from CBS 2…
Facing a potential City Council showdown over an alderman’s bid to push back the start of recreational marijuana sales in Chicago from January to July, Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday said she’s confident she’ll be able to work out a compromise to avoid a delay.
Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), who chairs the City Council Black Caucus, has moved to force a City Council vote this week on his proposal to delay legal weed sales in the city for six months.
Ervin’s ordinance has been bottled up in the Committee on Contracting Oversight and Equity since he introduced it in October, receiving only a subject matter hearing – but no vote – since then. So he has invoked a City Council rule allowing him to force a vote on proposed legislation after it’s sat idle for at least 60 days. […]
Lightfoot sounded cautiously optimistic that, one way or another, she will avoid a delay in recreational marijuana sales in Chicago.
“I met with Alderman Ervin last week, and my staff continues to talk to he and other members of the Black Caucus,” she said. “I think we’re going to get there. I understand their concern. They want to make sure that this new law speaks to the inequities that have befallen black and brown communities, particularly over the war on drugs.”
* ABC 7…
Monday members of the Black Caucus met at 6th Ward Alderman Rod’s Sawyer’s South Side office to discuss options.
“What we gain is the fact that no sales, no commerce. Again we have very specific points that we have brought about that we would like to see changed, the state didn’t give us a lot of flexibility in this matter,” said Ald. Ervin.
But one of the chief architects of the law, State Representative Kelly Cassidy, said delaying sales would be counterproductive, because income and fees from medical dispensaries, which will be the first to sell adult-use cannabis, provides money for loans and grants for minorities applying for licenses.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
As social equity applicants continue to apply for the coming round of cannabis dispensary licenses, the Pritzker Administration today opened applications for the first $21 million Low Cost Loan Program that was authorized in the cannabis law signed in June. The initiative is funded through the Cannabis Business Development Fund, created by the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, to support social equity applicants seeking cannabis business licenses.
The fund is primarily supported through the licensing fees of the first round of dispensaries and cultivators, among other sources. As additional early use licenses for dispensaries and cultivators are awarded, the available funds for loans are expected to surpass $30 million. […]
The low-interest loans will be available to those applying for a license to operate a cannabis business that meet the following criteria as set forth in the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act:
• Has at least 51% ownership and control by one or more Illinois residents who:
o Have lived in a Disproportionately Impacted Area in 5 of the past 10 years. Disproportionately Impacted Areas are census tracts that have high rates of arrest and incarceration related to cannabis offenses, among other qualifications including high poverty and unemployment. A map of these areas is available here.
o Have been arrested for, convicted of, or adjudicated delinquent for cannabis-related offenses eligible for expungement, including cannabis possession up to 500 grams or intent to deliver up to 30 grams.
o Have a parent, child, or spouse that has been arrested for, convicted of, or adjudicated delinquent for cannabis-related offenses eligible for expungement, including possession up to 500 grams or intent to deliver up to 30 grams.
• Has more than 10 full-time employees, and more than half of those employees:
o Currently reside in a Disproportionately Impacted Area.
o Have been arrested for, convicted of, or adjudicated delinquent for cannabis-related offenses eligible for expungement, including cannabis possession up to 500 grams or intent to deliver up to 30 grams.
o Have a parent, child, or spouse that has been arrested for, convicted of, or adjudicated delinquent for cannabis-related offenses eligible for expungement, including possession up to 500 grams or intent to deliver up to 30 grams.
In addition to the above, other criteria will be considered for qualification for a loan, including business plans, financial details, operational and compliance information, and need. While the interest rates for all loans will be below market rate, the specific rate, size and duration of each loan will be determined on a case-by-case basis. Successful applicants will receive pre-approval for a Cannabis Social Equity Loan, conditional on receipt of a license.
11 Comments
|
|
Support CapitolFax.com
Visit our advertisers...
...............
...............
...............
...............
...............
...............
|
   
|
Hosted by MCS
SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax
Advertise Here
Mobile Version
Contact Rich Miller
|
