Cincinnati News

From the Akron Beacon Journal:

A group that was pushing a plan to put slot machines around Ohio because a competitor's gambling campaign does not include Cincinnati has withdrawn its proposal.

Queen City Gaming Entertainment Inc. blamed the decision in part on its rival's hiring of the companies that could gather the 323,000 voter signatures needed by Aug. 9 to get the issue on the Nov. 7 ballot.

"It's become more and more clear that you need a professional firm to do this job, and it's not likely that there is one available at this point," Queen City spokesman Brendon Cull said Thursday.

The state attorney general's office had approved the proposal Monday, authorizing the group to begin circulating petitions.

The other group, Ohio Learn & Earn, has been gathering signatures since May 1 for its plan to put 24-hour slot operations at seven Ohio horse racing tracks and two downtown Cleveland locations.

The Queen City group's proposal included those venues and a Cincinnati location.

Leslie Ghiz, a Cincinnati councilwoman, said she would campaign against the Learn & Earn proposal, should it qualify for the ballot.

"I'll do everything I can to make it fail. They went out and literally hired every firm that collects signatures to conflict them out," she said.

Learn & Earn also had filed challenges to Queen City's petition circulators in several counties, alleging the group had not filed proper documentation that the circulators were Ohio residents.

"We did this because whether it's our (proposal) or theirs, it naturally has controversy attached to it," Learn & Earn spokesman David Hopcraft said. "We are making every effort to comply with the highest standards of state law."

I just have a few quick observations on this.

1. It is pretty sad that initiatives have to be outsourced to private companies in order to succeed. The purpose of this provision is for the community as a whole to propose legislation, not private special interest groups.

2. Learn and Earn is probably the most misleading name possible for an initiative that aims to implement gambling in Ohio. Sure, a small percentage of profits from the slot machines will go to educational grants, but not enough to warrant naming the program after that minor aspect of it.

Posted by JN on Sunday, June 18, 2006 at 4:37 PM | Permalink