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The New Hampshire House of Representatives is set to debate SB 489 "AN ACT relative to table gaming and video lottery at certain locations throughout the state and relative to the recovery of horse racing."
This comes amidst a severe budgetary crisis, brought to us by the Bush economic collapse of 2007. State services have been cut to the bone, and more cuts will be necessary. These will, as always, affect those least able to cope, the ill, disabled, young children and the elderly.
New sources of revenue are difficult to come by. Is expanding gambling the answer?
Not since the days when the Boston & Maine Railroad ruled New Hampshire from Boston's North Station have we been faced with the wholesale selling of our political souls. If we vote for "extended gaming," we will be inviting huge moneyed interests that will dictate the nature of state politics for years to come.
Just say no. Bar the door. Keep the wolf from entry.
Taking an idea from certain women Republican legislators who wear their fur coats whenever the legislator from Manchester offers up his anti-trapping bill on the floor, I propose we anti-gamers do something similar.
Wear a brown hat for this Wednesday's vote on slot machines.
The brown hat is derived from the metaphor offered from a gentleman from Nelson concerning hats(See story below.)
When we moved here in 1994 we were introduced to Mary Beth Walz as 'the Godmother of Bow Democrats'.
Well I'm happy to say she is looking out for her constituents. Rep. Walz, Chair of the Local and Regulated Revenue at NH House of Representatives overseeing this bill in the House, had the votes to recommend it Inexpedient to Legislate.
http://www.wmur.com/money/2316...
House Committee Recommends Killing Gambling Bill
Bill Would Allow Video Slots In 6 Locations
POSTED: 2:27 pm EDT April 15, 2010
CONCORD, N.H. -- A House committee is recommending that the full House kill a bill that would legalize video slots in New Hampshire.
The House Local and Regulated Revenues Committee voted 13-7 Thursday to recommend rejecting the bill that would allow slots at six locations. Gambling supporters in the House have proposed changes to the Senate bill, including reducing the number of locations to five and calling for more competitive bidding for the licenses.
Earlier Thursday, a group of Democratic senators urged the House to pass the bill because it would provide $50 million in funding for social service programs.
Where we go from here is anybody's bet, but an Income or Sales tax would have to be discussed because we can't cut to a balanced budget in this difficult environment. With the governor poised to run again on the Pledge, its going to get interesting. Chief Justice Brodercik has a lot to say on the matter, as the courts get close to cratering.
It appears the new talking point on gambling is: the budget numbers are so awful, we may not have a choice.
And so, once again, because both major parties in this state, tied to The Pledge, are unwilling to engage in a serious discussion about revenue fairness, we are on the path to fixing potholes with mud.
Really disappointing and sad: Senator D'Allessandro on the House prospects for his expanded gambling project:
"No question that the House has always been the sticking point," said D'Allesandro. "But, for the first time, we're seeing longtime opponents, some of them Republicans, coming over."
But, he said, "You also have a group in the House that says that we don't need it because (they) want a broad-based tax. But there is not any (widespread) sentiment for that."
This is Pledge Politics at its worst.
Translation: opponents of gambling aren't sincere. What they're really after is the tax that dare not speak its name.
Senate Finance Chair Lou D'Allesandro (D-Manchester) is unsure about his own party leader's approach toward controlling health care costs would actually work, but was certain that the Senate already had enough to do.
"[Hassan's proposal S.B. 505] is a huge undertaking," D'Allesandro said in an interview. "I am dealing with budget deficits, dealing with the LLC tax and gaming. My plate is full and her effort is Hurculean and doesn't have a lot of time for discussion."
Too busy with gaming to control health care costs.
If I wanted Senate leadership to pay more attention to my pet issue, I probably wouldn't try to negotiate horse trading via the "Senatoring is Hard" narrative. But that's just me.
(Stealth Candidate Blues: Reality-based analysis edition. Part put below the fold. - promoted by Dean Barker)
As Dean wrote earlier, Kelly Ayotte continues to take heat from key Republican activists for the positions she held while Attorney General. This time it's regarding her stance on the Second Amendment.
According to NHPoliticalReport.com, last Friday Ayotte was "told off in front of hundreds of influential primary voters" by a former state Representative who publicly railed against her record of suppressing the rights of gun owners.
Citing her opposition to the "Castle Doctrine", a law which justifies the use of deadly force against an intruder on one's own property, former state Representative Richard "Stretch" Kennedy said Ayotte was not "good on guns." Kennedy told NHPoliticalReport that he spoke with Ayotte after his remarks and that "she was upset, but didn't deny the facts." He went on to say, "she is a nice kid, but she has no legislative experience and it is clear she has a lot to learn."
NH gov takes gaming off table in budget debate (Norma Love, AP)
CONCORD, N.H.-Gov. John Lynch is taking video slots off the table in hopes of wooing support from New Hampshire lawmakers disappointed gaming wasn't in the budget package they will vote on Wednesday. Lynch told reporters Tuesday he will appoint a commission to study gaming, but he won't support expanding gambling in New Hampshire this year.
The vote tomorrow is expected to be very close. Everyone knows Governor Lynch has been doing the rain dance the last few days to get the needed votes to pass the bill. On the other side of the issue is the State Employees Association/SEIU Local 1984, which held a press conference today calling for the budget to be sent back to the conference of committee.
SEA President Gary Smith:
"We are gathered here today to ask our State Legislators to reconsider the proposed State Budget. This budget doesn't work. It doesn't solve the real problem of providing adequate funding for public services. It fails because it adds taxes and fees onto residents who can least afford them. It fails because it adds to the burden of property taxpayers by downloading state obligations. It fails because it hurts people who need help during this tough time."
Today's Sunday State House columns focused on the budget, which has to be passed by July 1st or the state must run on continuing resolutions, which would not be good for its fiscal health.
As expected, the Republicans are being told by their leaders to vote no. Why? Because. Have they proposed a viable alternative? No.
Tom Fahey (bold mine)
Even without the finished numbers, Republicans are being urged to vote against the plan as spending too much. Democrats are calling it a difficult compromise that spreads the pain fairly.
Just read this report by Tom Fahey at the UL. It seems the House side of the committee of conference voted down expanded gambling. The votes aren't there, for one thing, and Finance Committee Chair Marjorie Smith (D-Durham) does not believe it is a long term solution.
"I have no problems with gambling. What I do have a problem with is that I do not believe that gambling is a reliable funding source," Smith said, adding that her preference is an income tax.
Representative Dan Eaton (D-Stoddard) confirmed the votes in the House are not there.
I cannot count to 201," he said, praising D'Allesandro's dedication.
For their part, the Senate refused to allow the estate tax and the capital gains tax to move forward.
According to Fahey, the state will tap into the "Rainy Day Fund" and then still have to close a $30 million hole in the present budget.
Plans waiting in the wings when talks resume today would close a key business tax loophole, set a new tax on mortgage refinancing, boost the Rooms and Meals tax rate and possibly create a tax on entertainment.
If you feel strongly about the refinancing tax, call the Governor and your State Senator and Reps and register your opinion. Once it's put in, it will be very difficult to change down the road.
Read this article on all the Very Important Politicos and News Anchors who have their fingers in the pie of gambling. Try not to vomit.
And a fantasy bonus challenge: read it again, but this time, pretend that "racino," is just code for "universal health care." Try not to cry.
Adding: Because I was a bit oblique, my point is: if you want to find a way to turn a young person off to politics, there isn't a better article than this one.
When you see how much money is being pumped into this issue, and that money is used to buy advocacy from both sides of the political spectrum - and even prominent members of the news media - it's really disillusioning and depressing to the younger Hope and Change crowd that is just learning to sow their civic oats. It just makes you want to throw up your hands at the political process and walk away. It reaffirms the "they're all corrupt or in it for the money" meme that so many Americans have about politics and cause them to tune out.
The subject of the week is the state budget, which has to be approved by the end of the month. The House and Senate Conference Committee is set to meet this week to come up with a final plan. The shortfall is $150 million and there are a few ideas on the table to bridge that gap.
Republicans are yelling cut! cut! cut! To Lynch's credit, this quote from the article about the refinancing tax, shows his thinking on that:
Lynch said he does not support an across-the-board spending cut as a solution. He called that option "simplistic and poor financial management." He said he will consider specific cuts but said he and lawmakers have already made deep cuts, which will result in about 200 layoffs.
Reducing state services, particularly to the needy, would simply redirect them to communities and their welfare offices, Lynch said.
"At a time when we need some private capital to provide economic stimulation, this is the answer," the Manchester Democrat [D'Allesandro] told his colleagues just after midnight yesterday after they voted 4-3 to support his plan to permit as many as 13,000 slot machines at the state's three horse and dog tracks - in Salem, Seabrook and Belmont - and in two yet-to-be-determined North Country locations.
House:
"The House position has been, over many years, consistently in opposition to gambling," said Rep. Marjorie Smith, a Durham Democrat and House Finance Committee leader. She will chair the House-Senate conference committee charged with negotiating a final version of the budget later this month.
Moreover, Smith said, she sees specific problems with D'Allesandro's plan: "The figures are not realistic. The language which is in the bill provides no oversight."
Souter & Meldrim:
When Rudman resigned from office a few years later, New Hampshire's Governor Meldrin Thompson appointed Souter to the top job. As attorney general for New Hampshire, Souter fought a gambling legalization movement in the state as well as protests against a nuclear power plant.
and more Souter and Meldrim:
Notoriously conservative, Thomson's at-times flailing ideological aggressiveness serves as a narrative foil to Souter's measured thoughtfulness, and nicely foreshadows Souter's relationship with his Supreme Court colleague, Justice Antonin Scalia. From the outset, Thomson and Souter squared off on state gambling, which Thomson supported and Souter did not, and on how to approach the activation of the Seabrook power plant, for which Thomson pushed hard in the face of Souter's concern that the state lacked an adequate evacuation plan in case of a meltdown.
Remember Bog Clegg, who, had it not been for Concord-area spoiler Jim Steiner, would have been the GOP nominee for CD2?
Former Hudson Sen. Robert Clegg, now a casino resort lobbyist, said his years in the Legislature convinced him the only way to get expanded gaming legal would be to combine forces.
"We can all come together and have a chance to succeed or do what we've always done before, which is to go our own separate ways and lose year after year,'' said Clegg, who represents the owners of Green Meadow Golf Club, who have their own plan for a casino in Hudson.
Where would you rather live, Nevada or New Hampshire?
One of the comments to my last post on gambling was a question about what are the social costs of gambling. When I think gambling, I think Nevada!, so here is a side-by-side comparison of the two states on a wide range of social measures. All are on a per capita basis, first New Hampshire and then Nevada.
(In every case, a lower rank is "better", e.g. for suicides a ranking of 1st goes to the state with the fewest suicides.)
Criteria NH NV
Suicide rate 27 50
Divorce rate 22 51
Children w. health insurance 5 46
The track - which started a half-century ago with horse-racing then later shifted to greyhounds - filed for bankruptcy. Its 49 employees are out of work; this looks like Chapter 7, not a Chapter 11 reorganization.
I post the news here because it suggests that the push for expanded gambling in New Hampshire will fail.
Racetrack supporters will argue that its demise shows that they really needed the extra revenue from slot machines, etc. Gambling opponents will remind us that the plan wasn't to prop up ailing tracks but to bring in lots of state money - and the appetite for gambling seems to be dampened lately.
Combine this news with the declining revenues across the gaming industry - a decline that has led Deval Patrick to abandon his casino proposals - and expansion proponents will have a hard sell in front of them.
Best wishes to the track workers in dealing with the closure.
Although New Hampshire invented the state lottery in the early 1960s and has a couple of dog tracks we have not developed a significant gaming industry. (I'll use 'gaming' and 'gambling' interchangeably in this diary.)
This has been a simmering back-burner issue for decades, and it has not been a partisan issue. Strong proponents and strong opponents of expanded gaming - for example, video poker at the race tracks, or a casino up north - come from both parties. Democratic Senator Lou d'Allesandro has been a long-time proponent of expanded gaming. Governor Lynch has opposed expanded gambling in the past.
We may be heading into a perfect storm on the issue this biennium:
The state budget is already in deficit with the shortfall estimated in the hundreds of millions
The school funding plan will firm up and demand either a statewide property tax or some other funding source
Deval Patrick's earlier casino plan in Massachusetts seems to be going nowhere, leaving a larger market for a New Hampshire effort
The Governor has pledged to veto a states sales or income tax - but not a gambling bill.
There has been a bi-partisan coalition against expanded gambling in New Hampshire for generations. Is it about to lose?
