FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 19, 2009
Contact: Martin Cothran
(859) 329-1919
“We should be saddling horses, not taxpayers,” said Martin Cothran, spokesman for Say No To Casinos. Cothran charged that taxpayers were being saddled with over a billion in debt to bail out wealthy horse racing tracks.
“At a time when many Kentucky taxpayers are struggling to pay their mortgages, state lawmakers in the House just voted to saddle taxpayers with the biggest mortgage since 1990 to bail out wealthy horse tracks, some of which pay their top executives millions of dollars in wages and benefits. There is no guarantee that we can pay this back.”
“State lawmakers just foreclosed on common sense,” said Cothran. “Unless the Senate stops this, financial irresponsibility will be Kentucky’s signature industry.”
The comments came after the House approved slots legislation with just 1 vote over the needed 51 votes – 52 to 45.
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In today’s Glasgow Times:
Johnny Bell wants badly to help the Glasgow Independent School District replace its 44-year-old high school. So badly he was at least thinking about whether he could best serve his community by voting against expanded gambling or voting for a new Glasgow High School.
But then, he said, House Democratic leadership made it plain in a two-hour plus caucus meeting Tuesday – you either vote for slots at the tracks or you get nothing.
Bell has twice introduced bills to help districts like Glasgow raise more money for buildings – only to be told each time the state budget couldn’t handle it or now isn’t the right time.
“But I found out today we change the rules in midstream, and if a person is not able to vote for the gambling issue, then their school won’t be built,” said an obviously upset Bell after the caucus meeting.
Read more here.
For Immediate Release
June 9, 2009
Contact: Martin Cothran
Phone: 859-329-1919
Governor breaks two promises in one day, says anti-casino group
“We can just call this a political two-fer Tuesday,” said Martin Cothran, spokesman for Say No to Casinos. ”The governor has broken two promises in one day. The first is his campaign promise that he was going to make sure the voters would get to approve expanded gambling legislation, and the second is the original promise of the Lottery legislation: that in voting for the Lottery, voters were not approving other forms of gambling.”
“Kentuckians are undoubtedly getting tired of broken Lottery promises,” said Cothran, referring to the promise that Lottery money was going to go for education, which it didn’t do for ten years.
Say No to Casinos has argued ever since the legislative session earlier this year that the voters did not approve video slots when they approved the Lottery. “The only thing voters approved in 1988 was the Lottery. There was nothing about video lottery slots on the ballot.”
“We can’t make the Governor keep his campaign promises, but he’s got to abide by the Constitution.”
Cothran also pointed out that the Governor’s new bill is making more promises that it can’t possibly keep. “The Governor is claiming that in an economy in which people have less discretionary income to gamble that they are going to gamble four times as much. I’m no mathemetician, but I know that you can’t get more from less.”
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