(614) 221-3650 or (800) 353-6442
| HOME | ABOUT US | NEWSROOM | RACETRACKS & FAIRS | OHIO PEOPLE & HORSES | LEGISLATIVE | ABOUT HARNESS RACING |
| HOME | ABOUT US | NEWSROOM | RACETRACKS & FAIRS | OHIO PEOPLE & HORSES | LEGISLATIVE | ABOUT HARNESS RACING |
|
||||||||||||
| March 17, 2010 Labor unions vowed yesterday to apply the same political muscle toward persuading Ohioans to approve relocating a planned Columbus casino that they used to convince voters to support casinos in November. Police and construction unions played crucial roles last year in getting 53 percent of Ohio voters to approve casinos in Columbus and three other cities. At a rally yesterday, union leaders said they're firing up their political machinery on behalf of a statewide ballot measure in May that would move the Columbus casino site from the Arena District to the West Side. Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugola said 80 percent of the union's members backed the four-casino issue last year. "It's our intention to do everything - focus every energy and resource - to ensure that they do the same thing this spring," Rugola told about 250 people at a rally at a West Side auto dealership yesterday evening. After the constitutional amendment for casinos passed in November, Columbus business and community leaders pushed to move the local site from the Arena District - which they said would be harmed by a 24-hour gambling house - to the economically struggling West Side. In interviews yesterday, union leaders expressed concern that gambling-weary voters could vote against the new ballot measure, Issue 2, out of reflexive opposition to casinos. Before last year, Ohioans had rejected four consecutive gambling measures since 1990. It's also likely that voters will decide the fate of slot machines at horse-racing tracks in November. "My concern is that a lot of people will vote no because they vote no to anything on gambling," said Mark Drum of the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, which backed the 2009 casino measure. Tom Smith of the Ohio Council of Churches, which opposed last year's ballot issue, expressed the same concern. "(People) might vote no because they've always voted no," Smith said. "The campaign that's trying to pass this needs to get their message out to people." State Rep. Ted Celeste, D-Grandview, and state Sen. Jim Hughes, R-Columbus, spoke yesterday, calling it a bipartisan effort that benefits everyone. The two lawmakers helped craft resolutions in the legislature to get the measure on the ballot. On the other side, one of the stalwart anti-gambling groups is urging a "no" vote on Issue 2. The Ohio Roundtable, which has opposed all gambling measures since 1990, sees the new measure as a special favor to Columbus business interests. "People have spoken on this issue," roundtable vice president Rob Walgate said. "Why should Columbus be given privileges over the other three cities?" Lobbyist Neil S. Clark, who headed the unsuccessful 2006 campaign for slot machines at racetracks, said he expects Issue 2 to pass without much controversy. There are two wild cards, however: the possibility that a rival gambling company could spend money to sabotage Issue 2, or that a strong turnout of anti-gambling conservative voters could defeat it. Clark said the latter scenario is unlikely because conservative counties were split on last year's gambling measure. The issue carried majorities in 30 of Ohio's 88 counties, including conservative-leaning areas such as Adams and Shelby counties. "In a primary, the bulk of the voters are going to be rural," Clark said. "Look at the votes that happened in the last election and you'll see a great preponderance of votes for Issue 3." Cleveland developer Jeffrey P. Jacobs, whose companies supplied the majority of the money against the 2009 casino issue, has said he'll sit out this year's campaign. |
|
|
|
| Copyright © 2008-2012 Ohio Harness Horsemen's Association ®. All rights reserved. OHHA, 800 Michigan Ave. Columbus, Ohio 43215-1166. 1-614-221-3650 OR 1-800-353-6442 |
