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Caveats

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* We talked about Speaker Madigan’s proposed gaming expansion bill yesterday. Today, let’s look at some caveats. First up, is a final deal likely soon? Maybe, maybe not…

State Sen. Christine Radogno, a Lemont Republican who has been a negotiator at the legislative talks, said she would not “characterize today’s development as putting us on the eve of a deal” for the remaining issues. A resolution to all the issues could occur in January, she said.

January is surely a possibility. Our woes continue.

* State Sen. Terry Link, a big expansion proponent, also had some doubts…

…Link said his concerns start with a provision that would give 2 percent of gross revenue to the host community and 3 percent to the host county. Previously, those numbers were 5 percent to the city and 1 percent to the county.

“I’ve got a little bit of a problem with that,” Link said. “Waukegan has to put in all the infrastructure (but) the county gets more revenue? That makes no sense. This is not a done deal by any means.”

Link added said he’s “not a proponent of slots at the tracks,” because “what we do there is basically set up five more land-based casinos.”

He also predicted that provisions about minority and women investors “will be a big stumbling block” because it allows for individual investments in what would be a multimillion-dollar bidding process.

* And what about that minority investment issue? The Tribune has more…

Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), who pushed his own massive gambling expansion through his chamber earlier this year, was noncommittal. But his spokeswoman later directed reporters to state Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago), who predicted the Madigan-backed plan would be “DOA” and never come up for a Senate vote.

Hendon said his biggest problem is the “crumbs” it throws to the minority business community. Minorities would get to own 20 percent of each of the two new non-Chicago casinos, and women would get to own 5 percent, with would-be investors going into a lottery system.

“The speaker has made his mind up that any black with wealth should have no opportunity to participate, but he is not saying that to white people,” Hendon said. “That is called discrimination. That is called Jim Crow. I know people don’t want to talk about race these days, but we are not going to run away from it.” […]

Rep. Marlow Colvin, a Chicago lawmaker who is co-chairman of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, also is opposed to Madigan’s set-aside plan.

“You can go into any Charles Schwab office in the country and get the same kind of return on a $5,000 investment,” said Colvin, who didn’t rule out voting for Madigan’s gambling package. “You don’t need a riverboat to do that.”

Jones often prefers to stay above the fray and allow Hendon to speak for him, so directing reporters to Hendon was telling.

* And then there’s this…

The House hopes to vote on the gambling expansion plan and mass transit aid early next week, but a construction projects bill may not be ready then, [Madigan’s spokesman Steve Brown] said.

Without a capital bill, the vote on the transit plan could turn out the same as before, which means no progress.

* More gaming stories…

* Madigan makes gambling proposal

* Madigan pitches gambling plan to fix cash woes

* House Dems push gaming bill

* Madigan backs three new casinos

* Gambling plan could put slots at Fairmount, boost casinos

* Gaming plan includes Chicago casino

* State legislators propose Chicago casino, slots at Arlington Park

* Bethany Jaeger: The chips may fall, but…

* Critics say gaming expansion has huge social costs

Discuss.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 10:14 am

Comments

“The speaker has made his mind up that any black with wealth should have no opportunity to participate, but he is not saying that to white people,” Hendon said. “That is called discrimination. That is called Jim Crow. I know people don’t want to talk about race these days, but we are not going to run away from it.” […]

I’m certain that there is nothing that prevents minorities from being the main investors in the casino. In fact, Hendon’s comment underscores one of the few legitimate criticisms of affirmative action set-asides: that the main beneficiaries are rich.

It seems to me that we should not be using affirmative action entitlements to help the rich. Rather, affirmative action should be directed towards the main victims of past present discrimination: working class minorities who were/are discriminated in jobs, decent housing, and education.

Comment by the Other Anonymous Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 10:27 am
That’s right, this is Jim Crow. And it’s also the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Comment by Greg Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 10:29 am
WHat is hendon talking about? ===“The speaker has made his mind up that any black with wealth should have no opportunity to participate, but he is not saying that to white people,” === Where does it say that a wealthy black is prohibited from bidding on and winning the license??? In fact, technically wealthy minorities could bid for and obtain both licenses, and the set aside only gurantess owenrship to women and minorities.

The only group guranteed ownership is women and non-whites.

If he ias saying he wants wealthy minorites to get a guaranteed license without having to bid…i.e. having to compete, so that they can buy the license cheaper then it would cost if competively bid, I disagree with that.

Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 10:32 am
Wow — all this haggling. Let’s just get to gaming.

Let’s get down to brass tacks and make sure there’s a good mix of no-limit, pot-limit, and low-limit Hold ‘em tables. I don’t hear anybody worrying about that.

I must be the only one in the state eagerly awaiting the coming gambling mecca.

Comment by Macbeth Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 10:33 am
If Link has a problem - there is a problem. When Radogno has a problem - there are two problems. When Hendon starts talking, deals start to unravel.

OY!

Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 10:37 am
When hendon speaks I think it comes with the implicit cry “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 10:43 am
This whole gaming idea is really bad public policy. So is allowing a few fringe legislators to extort capital from the Chicagoland area for unneeded interstates that nobody drives on and bridges to nowhere, along with a few schools that no students attend. Let ‘em put those casinos and slots in Marion, Carbondale, and Jacksonville and get the money from their own residents and, in turn, ruin their own areas.The revenue estimates of expanded gambling are greatly exagerated and the social costs are greatly under-estimated. The Madigan gambling bill weill ruin Illinois.

Comment by Bill Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 10:54 am
So then Bill you thought Keno was a bad idea as well?

Comment by OneManBlog Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 11:08 am
Sheesh Bill, I drive on a lot of those downstate interstates “nobody” drives on, so I guess I’m a nobody too… but you must be trolling again. But I do agree that gambling is overrated as a revenue source.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 11:10 am
Sen. Hendon, I don’t think Blacks with wealth are actually in need of any protection. Actually, I don’t think that the wealthy, in general, should receive any special “protection” under our laws. I would think you have far more Black constituents with $5,000 in their bank accounts than those with millions. Seems that when it comes to “constituents” versus “contributors”, the contributors always seem to be priority number one. Sigh.

Comment by Snidely Whiplash Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 11:16 am
Bill the Madigan gambling bill…didn’t Madigan oppose gambling increases. But Governor Blagoveich has been meeting with the leaders and pushing an increase in gambling to generate the money he needs. I agree with you that the income appears to be to high, which is why Blago needs to drop the idea of using gaming to pay for his pet projects.

Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 11:38 am
OneMan,
“Keno” was not going to make Illinois the second largest gambling state after Nevada and, as I recall, they weren’t going to bond billions of dollars dependent on Keno revenue.
If they want to spend the money they should fund it the right way, through taxation, or don’t spend it at all. There is no free lunch and I think you know who is going to end up paying for this whole fiasco in the end.

Comment by Bill Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 11:39 am
Ghost, yes, Madigan at one time opposed expansion of gambling, so did Blagojevich. Now they both have flipped and are pushing gambling. Big msitake.

Comment by Bill Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 11:43 am
Things were so less hypocritical when the mobsters when the ones running the casinos.

Comment by Leroy Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 12:10 pm
I still think they should make everyone have to do the lottery.

Then everybody has the same power, as opposed to the lotteried minorities getting no power whatsoever.

Comment by JohnR Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 12:51 pm
- Leroy -
They still are - they just have come in from the cold. And the added benefit is that they are “legal”. Bill is right, gambling is not a positive influence on the well being of the citizens, it really is corrosive.

Comment by A Citizen Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 12:55 pm
So it’s clear then — Emil Jones is determined, more than anyone else, maybe even more than the governor, not to compromise one iota. His pre-eminent priority — maybe his only priority — is that his political allies get the spoils. Transit for his constituents and his fellow Chicago residents, and roads everywhere, barely even rate a mention.

Chicagoland, get ready for transit doomsday. Downstate contractors, I suggest you take a look at neighboring states to bid on highway contracts, because you’ll need the business. Chicago drivers, guess you’re stuck with the 70-year-old concrete on north Lake Shore Drive. Downstate drivers, just be thankful you don’t have to share your roads with other vehicles.

Comment by Angry Chicagoan Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 1:00 pm
“But his [Jones’s] spokeswoman later directed reporters to state Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago), who predicted the Madigan-backed plan would be “DOA” and never come up for a Senate vote.”

Duh, Rickey.

Now do you get the joke?

Of course its DOA in the Senate. That’s the point. Madigan gets to tell all of the building trades crying for a capital bill that the balls in your court now. He gets to force Jay Hoffman to vote for it by virtue of the fact it has slots in tracks. He gets to tell the Chicagoland Chamber that he passed their #1 bill. He gets to tell Stroger and Daley that he tried to send them hundreds of millions. He gets to claim credit for passing a plan to fund the CTA. And by the time you all realize what just happened, it’ll be mid-January, and he’ll be back to only needing a simple majority.

And as a bonus, he gets to shine the spotlight on Chris Kelly and Blagojevich and the need to reform gambling ethics.

Welcome to the Big Leagues, kids.

BTW, regarding all of these tears over minority investors, this piece written by former Chicago Bear Shaun Gayle is a must-read.

Gayle details how he, Walter Payton and Chaz Ebert were forced to front all of the money to cover politically-connected minority investors, so that they were essentially getting into the casino business with nothing to lose.

I’d sure love to see the list of the other minority and women investors. Rich, maybe you can contact Dorothy Brown’s office and have them fax the lawsuit the group filed against Emerald in January, 2006 so we can see who else is on the list?

P.S. Rickey, “minority” investor included Latino, FYI.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 1:08 pm
“House of Lords” Hendon is irrelevant, Jones lets him run off his mouth in this way so Emil can follow up sounding statesmanlike, moderate and conciliatory in comparison. Hendon has no shame, nor a real point to make. He’s just there to make a distracting noise, like the guy in the water dunk tank, trying to get your dander up.

Come January, it’s the big re-set. Republican’s votes won’t be needed. Madigan will be able to deliver enough votes for what he wants to do. Emil is the clog in the pipe. Madigan can keep passing bills and budgets and laying them at Emil’s door, and each time Emil refuses to pick one up, it only makes Emil look more like the governor’s tool, or a selfish obstructionist. At some point that will generate enough heat Jones’ members will begin to fall away.

Comment by Too much egg in my nogg Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 1:13 pm
BILL

It’s nice to see that “once in a while” you disagree with the Gov. I agree with you about the evils of gambling. However,the Gov. will not agree to a tax increase for the capital plan or bailing out the Rta, Cta, etc.. Therefore, there is little choice for what is needed in the state.

Comment by MOON Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 1:16 pm
Bill,

You have a point, however in some ways Keno is worse. Because it puts virtually instant gratification gaming all around you (bars, restaurants, gas stations) where a casino is something you explicitly go to.

Comment by OneManBlog Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 1:27 pm
Moon,
The legislature could pass a tax increase and override the gov’s veto. The won’t, especially in an election year. The Gov proposed a huge tax increase that was soundly defeated. OK, Ill accept that, but what is the House and Senate alternative? Income tax?, Sales tax?, Nooooooo! Just like the gamblers they are attempting to fleece, they want soemthing for nothing. They turn to casinos and racetracks as the big gain with no pain. There ain’t no such thing and I think the leaders and Gov all know this. Its just part of the continuing shell game.

Comment by Bill Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 1:52 pm
Come January when less votes are needed to pass bills; how many votes will be needed to override the Governor’s veto?

Comment by Oakparker Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 2:55 pm
So I am sitting here with a calculator. Casinos are supposed to be the new vein of wealth that will bring $1B+ to Illinois. Great. But where does the $1B actually come from? Profits after paying off the investors? That $50,000 per 3,500 slots is only $175M. Does that get levied every year? Taxes on straight revenue or net income? I don’t recall any specific tax rate but say it is 25%. That means the casinos need to pull in $4B from somewhere and still cover costs. This will come from 3 new casinos and slots at race tracks? What volume of the population who currently do not go to any casinos anywhere are now going to start going because they are exist in Illinois?

I did the Vegas trip. It was fun for 2 days, then boring, dropped $200, and then home. No desire to return. You only annualy need a minimm of 5,000,000 people like me to hit that $1B at $200 a shot. Throw some type of profit level in and these places are going to need 7,000-10,000 people a day at each casino to cover expenses and make those numbers. Maybe I simply do not understand the business or demand, but the numbers being tossed around seem unbelievably overblown.

Comment by zatoichi Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 3:12 pm
When you get out your calculator, make sure you are putting in the right number.

Illinois taxes casinos based on gross receipts.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 3:19 pm
Bill -

I think we both know that the House was prepared to pass education funding reforms somewhere along the lines of what A+ Illinois suggested. However, Madigan made it clear that the Governor’s veto threats stymied that effort.

And, for the record, Pres. Jones was a strong supporter of school funding reform too, until the gambling interests dangled all of that campaign cash in front of him.

Finally, Madigan made it clear that he was prepared to live by the austere budget passed last fall, and that he was prepared to pass a regional sales tax to rescue the CTA when the need arose. Again, stymied by the Governor and Emil.

Madigan has been pretty consistent for as long as I’ve followed his career in insisting that state government live within its means. Fiscal responsibility is what separates the new Democratic way of thinking from the old, Todd Stroger-Rod Blagojevich-Emil Jones way of doing things.

And you’re right, gambling (not gaming, Dungeons and Dragons is gaming) is a shell game. Lawmakers try to hide from their own conscience by calling it a voluntary tax, but Rich Miller said it best, its a tax on people who can’t do math. That’s extremely regressive in my book.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 3:49 pm
===That’s extremely regressive in my book===

Only if you have sympathy for people who can’t do math.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 3:51 pm
YDD,
Put aside your Speaker worship for a minute and ask yourself why, if the sentiment was there for school funding reform (and I think it was, at least among the general public according to numerous polls)the GA didn’t pass some form of it and then react to whatever action the governor took. You know as well as anyone that there is a game going on and that the citizens of Illinois,in the end, will be the real losers.A little courage on both sides of the aisle in both chambers, regardless of what the executive branch does, would go a long way toward setting in motion laws that would, in time, solve the structural deficit problem.
It won’t happen as long as the Speaker, Governor, and President continue this high staakes game of chicken.
It is embarrassing to be a Democrat these days.

Comment by Bill Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 4:23 pm
Oh my God!? A GRoss Receipts Tax on gaming!?

Call in the hounds!

Comment by JohnR Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 4:42 pm
Isn’t Indiana pretty dependent on gambling for government revenues.

Wonder what they’ll do when faced with expansion
of Illinois gambling of this magnitude. Build
even bigger gambling palaces on the border.

There has to be a limit to the amount of consumer money available to casinos, no matter how much misleading advertising they are allowed to do.

But by that time, I guess Illinois state government will be totally addicted. Blago, Mike and Emil will likely be gone though…although perhaps not the Mayor, who may be eternal. It’ll be somebody else’s problem.

Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 4:59 pm
===There has to be a limit to the amount of consumer money available to casinos===

People have been saying that for decades. I don’t think we’ve found the top yet. At least, not in the present economy.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 5:05 pm
The state should simply place a slot machine in every home in Illinois, require each home to play X number of dollars daily and rake in the profits. Heck we could probably eliminate the Property Tax and maybe even the Individual Income Tax! An added benefit is we could start citizens at the age of two or three supporting their government. WOW !!

Comment by A Citizen Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 5:19 pm
I have a challenge to the readers here read the 1996 National Gambling Impact Study Commission Final Report and tell us here that it is sane to expand gambling in Illinois.

As the red light cameras, the expansion of gambling it is a cold cynical play to get more money into the corrupt system we call the state of Illinois. What do we do when that revenue stream is exhausted? I can tell you. They will seek out the next least objectionable activity and tax the devil out of it.

Type in the name of the above study into a search engine and see what the experts have been saying since 1996.

Comment by plutocrat03 Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 6:00 pm
I think there is an upper limit we will soon reach for those who will go to a neighborhood riverboat casino.

But a flashy new casino in Chicago? That’s an attraction - an event.

Look at the recent hubbub and crowds pouring into that new casino in Michigan - it has 5-star restaurants, spas, etc.

That’s what we will see - a destination that rakes in the big bucks for you and me.

Comment by JohnR Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 6:00 pm
MJM’s gaming proposal is preferable to all the others. The lottery for $5000 shares is a good idea. Hendon, as usual, makes a complete idiot of himself with his race baiting. Ricky, the bill set asides 25% miniority ownership. It does not say that is the only miniority ownership there has to be. On top of that, it gives those with less wealth (i.e. the non insiders) a chance to own a piece of the action. If you are a minority, all you need is $5 G and you can enter the lottery to buy a share. My reading of the letter tells me no one else gets this chance. Ricky does not like the fact that someone that does not give him campaign contributions might actually get to invest.

Comment by some former legislative intern Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 7:00 pm
Hollywood Hendon’s commentary is racist. While there is no questions that wired insiders were granted the inside track when the casino licenses were first issued, 7 of the original 10 I believe have all been sold since (some several times)and at any time minorities or women (even wealthy one’s) could have stepped forward with the highest purchase price, but did not. Minorities and women are also not precluded form being the highest bidder from any of the proposed new licenses either. There is nothng racist about the past practice, or proposed statute, other than Hendon’s proposal which in and of itself is discriminatory and racist in nature.

One other thing that has been over looked in all of this is the fact that in addition to the proposed municipally owned Chicago casino license, and the additional 10th & 11th licenses to be competitively bid by the State, there is in effect another license which is slated to be sold in 2008 as well, although the state will not be the beneficiary of the proceeds.

As part of the Illinois Gaming Boards approval of Penn Natonal Gaming’s acquisition of Argosy Gaming, was conditioned upon PENN’s sale of the Empress Joliet Casino, due to their perceived undue economic concentration of ownership, by virtue of already owning the Hollywood Aurora Casino, thus giving them 2 of the Chicago area licenses.

The original agreement had an established deadline whch they Illinois Gaming Board has agreed to extend at least once, but the current deadline for that license to be sold I believe is July 1, 2008.

Given that municipal ownership is acceptable under the statute (as well as state ownership for that matter) perhaps PENN could sell that one to the Village of Rosemont, and they could hire an operator to run it in Joliet, and then they could own the profits rather than the local share of the tax revenues. This would likely net Rosemont far more in the long run, and since it would not be subject to the same proposed provisions as the 10th & 11th licenses, they would not be required to take in 25% minority and women partners.

Comment by SNAKE EYES Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 9:43 pm
Ergh. Off-topic, but if I knew you were going to close comments on the qotd, I would have commented remotely during the day — although it would have had less thought and less explanation. Fwiw, I vote for Molaro, especially over some of the other nominees who are always in the press. But the main reason he gets my vote is because of his expertise on pensions, which is the biggest fiscal challenge we face.

And I think it’s important to focus this award on the legislators who are NOT always in the mainstream press. It’s easy to get quoted if you’re willing to torque off half of your colleagues. It’s the ones who are quietly working behind the scenes who are most respected by their colleagues and thus incredibly effective. On the Senate side I’d say Schoenburg, who has more actual legislation (bills are introduced and voted on, legislation has become law) than his state rep mentioned so frequently on this board. Harmon is in that same class because he knows how to keep his head down, but he needs a few more years to get the seniority.

And if you’re including all of 2007, there’s no more effective mayor than Stephens in any size city. And no one that future mayoral awardees would rather follow.

As for the name, why not make it unique to Springfield’s culinary prowess and call it “The Golden Horseshoe.”

Comment by Prairie Sage Tuesday, Dec 11, 07 @ 10:46 pm