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Thursday, March 19, 2009
Plan calls for 14,000 slot machines at Ohio racetracks
The Ohio State Racing Commission on Thursday, March 19, endorsed a plan to put 14,000 slot machines at Ohio’s seven racetracks - including Lebanon Raceway in Warren County - to help save the horse racing industry and provide money for Ohio’s schools.
There would be an average of 2,000 machines at each track.
The commission sent the plan to the Ohio House Finance Committee which is considering Gov. Ted Strickland’s proposed two-year state budget.
Tom Zaino, former Ohio tax commissioner and a racing commission member, said the legislature can enact the proposal without a vote of the people.
The commission acted just a week after Penn National Gaming and Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, announced plans to gather signatures to put an issue on the Nov. 3 ballot to allow casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.
Here are key elements of the proposal:
*The five-member racing commission would be expanded to nine members to regulate the slots.
*Track operators would be the agents for the slots and would be required to invest at least $80 million in improvements at each site.
*Operators would pay a license fee of $50 million each.
*When the proposal was fully implemented in four years, 48 percent of gross revenue would go the the Gaming Profits Education Fund for primary, secondary, vocational and special education. The plan would provide $195 million for education in 2010 and $625 million by 2013.
The commission unveiled the plan with the owners of Thistledown Racetrack in North Randall near Cleveland in bankruptcy proceedings. On Thursday, the commission voted to suspend Thistledown’s racing schedule if the owners can’t post a new performance bond when the current one expires on March 28.
Zaino said four other tracks also are in danger of shutting down due to the decline in the industry.
Mel Hagemeyer, general manager of Lebanon Raceway, said the Warren County track is one of them.
“On the surface it looks very good,” Hagemeyer said of the slots’ proposal. “We’re very interested.”
The proposal doesn’t have a sponsor in the legislature yet and Gov. Ted Strickland already has expressed criticism of it, as well as of the four-casino plan.
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TweetThe Return of Marc Dann
Former attorney general Marc Dann returned to the media spotlight on Thursday, March 19, and could barely keep quiet.
He arrived early for a 10 a.m. Ohio Elections Commission hearing with his lawyer, Donald McTigue, and genially chatted up the reporters who covered him during his time as a state senator and attorney general.
During the lengthy hearing, Dann passed notes and whispered to McTigue so often that opposing counsel dryly said, “The secretary of state would be happy to have Mr. Dann sworn in if he’d like to testify.”
Thursday’s hearing marked perhaps the first public appearance by Dann in the state capital since his resignation May 14, 2008.
With a dozen reporters, four TV cameras and two news photographers paying close attention, McTigue defended decisions made by the Dann For Ohio campaign committee to spend $40,000 on an extensive home security system at Dann’s Liberty Twp. home.
The security system was seen as less costly than continuing to pay police officers to provide 24-hour executive protection.
The security measures started in July 2, 2007 after Dann’s then Deputy First Assistant Brian Laliberte received vague, threatening phone call at work on June 29, 2007.
Between July and November, state taxpayers paid more than $145,000 for police protection for Dann and his family. The Dann administration decided to install the home security system to replace the more costly police protection.
McTigue argued that it was an ordinary, verifiable campaign expense related to Dann’s duties as an office holder so it shouldn’t be considered a violation of campaign finance laws. The threats were related to Dann’s position, he said.
Assistant Attorney General Melinda Osgood, who represents Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, countered that a $40,000 security system is a permanent fixture that benefits the Dann family - something that goes way beyond an ordinary expense.
Marc Dann biography Personal: Age 47; married to journalist Alyssa Lenhoff. They have a son and two daughters. Political party: Democrat Public service: Local board of education member, Ohio Senate, Attorney General Jan. 2007 to May 2008 Legal experience: Entered private practice in Youngstown in 1991 and returned to private practice in Youngstown and Cleveland.
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