Governor Ignores Casino Amendment in State of The Commonwealth Address
What a difference a few days can make.
Just four days ago when asked how he will move forward with the plan for expanded casino gambling at racetracks, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear told reporters, "In the end, I'm going to make the decisions and fashion the legislation. It will be my bill."
Tonight he ignored it.
Despite it being a major issue for Kentucky's new governor during the campaign, despite lawmakers considering amending the Kentucky Constitution to allow it, and despite the fact that it could mean $500 million a year, Beshear didn't even mention or allude to the plan in tonight's State of the Commonwealth address.
Education issues? Check.
Need for more jobs? Check.
"Grim" budget shortfall? Check.
Need to compete better with other states? Check.
Casinos Gaming (which could help fix these issues)? Giant Red X.
In a speech that was light on specific promises, Governor Beshear missed a key chance to make a plea to voters and legislators for their support on expansion of gambling at race tracks.
Politicians offering campaign promises that will later be broken is nothing new, however, Beshear is clearly going to be working on this issue during the 60-day legislative session which began last week. This is why his choice to ignore the issue tonight was curious at best.
Does he have something up his sleeve? Perhaps a secret plan to
end the war get casinos approved by voters?
Beshear said that to fix the budget shortfall, his government will have two options: to raise taxes or cut spending, even though his campaign offered a third issue: approve casino gaming.
He opened the speech by saying that Kentucky was in "financially demanding times." He called the revenue outlook, "grim," and despite talk about "hope for the future" and his (general) plan to fix the budget shortfall, he ignored gaming, he didn't even mention it in passing.
The overarching theme of his speech was his concern about the budget and economy, so there is no reason why in the body of the speech he couldn't segue into a section on how his plan to expand casino gaming will help turn these shortfalls into surpluses.
Beshear quoted Shakespeare, I'll look to Doyle.
In the Sherlock Holmes short story, Silver Blaze -- a story that fittingly took place at a thoroughbred race track -- the Victorian-era detective solved the case not on evidence that he found, but on a lack of evidence due to a "curious incident" of a dog that did not bark in the night-time.
Here we have the curious incident of the new-Governor who ignored key issues that just a few months ago he said he believed will help solve some of the key problems of the Commonwealth.
Senate President David Williams said on KET that he thinks the lack of a mention of gaming means that the issue is dead -- I disagree, but I guess we'll have to wait to the January 29th budget address to see what he thinks... lets hope he brings it up.
****
Update: My thought on the speech at The Courier-Journal's Velocity Blog.
Just four days ago when asked how he will move forward with the plan for expanded casino gambling at racetracks, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear told reporters, "In the end, I'm going to make the decisions and fashion the legislation. It will be my bill."
Tonight he ignored it.
Despite it being a major issue for Kentucky's new governor during the campaign, despite lawmakers considering amending the Kentucky Constitution to allow it, and despite the fact that it could mean $500 million a year, Beshear didn't even mention or allude to the plan in tonight's State of the Commonwealth address.
Education issues? Check.
Need for more jobs? Check.
"Grim" budget shortfall? Check.
Need to compete better with other states? Check.
Casinos Gaming (which could help fix these issues)? Giant Red X.
In a speech that was light on specific promises, Governor Beshear missed a key chance to make a plea to voters and legislators for their support on expansion of gambling at race tracks.
Politicians offering campaign promises that will later be broken is nothing new, however, Beshear is clearly going to be working on this issue during the 60-day legislative session which began last week. This is why his choice to ignore the issue tonight was curious at best.
Does he have something up his sleeve? Perhaps a secret plan to
Beshear said that to fix the budget shortfall, his government will have two options: to raise taxes or cut spending, even though his campaign offered a third issue: approve casino gaming.
He opened the speech by saying that Kentucky was in "financially demanding times." He called the revenue outlook, "grim," and despite talk about "hope for the future" and his (general) plan to fix the budget shortfall, he ignored gaming, he didn't even mention it in passing.
The overarching theme of his speech was his concern about the budget and economy, so there is no reason why in the body of the speech he couldn't segue into a section on how his plan to expand casino gaming will help turn these shortfalls into surpluses.
Beshear quoted Shakespeare, I'll look to Doyle.
In the Sherlock Holmes short story, Silver Blaze -- a story that fittingly took place at a thoroughbred race track -- the Victorian-era detective solved the case not on evidence that he found, but on a lack of evidence due to a "curious incident" of a dog that did not bark in the night-time.
Here we have the curious incident of the new-Governor who ignored key issues that just a few months ago he said he believed will help solve some of the key problems of the Commonwealth.
Senate President David Williams said on KET that he thinks the lack of a mention of gaming means that the issue is dead -- I disagree, but I guess we'll have to wait to the January 29th budget address to see what he thinks... lets hope he brings it up.
****
Update: My thought on the speech at The Courier-Journal's Velocity Blog.