|
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Racino campaigns spent over $1 million
Copyright © 2004 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||
 |
Also on this page: In Depth: Gambling | |||||
Groups that fought in December over a proposed racino in Saco or Westbrook spent a combined $1.39 million to influence 11,481 voters in the two communities, campaign finance reports show. For the various campaign committees, the money paid for television and radio ads, consultants and polling. In the end, residents in both communities rejected proposals for a harness racing track with slot machines. Tuesday was the deadline for the campaign committees to file reports detailing expenditures and contributions connected to the Dec. 30 city referendums. The reports show that almost all of the spending was done by two anti-racino groups, Casinos No! and Maine Opportunities, and the racino's primary backer, Penn National Gaming. The anti-racino groups outspent Penn National, a Pennsylvania-based gaming company that is working to develop a southern Maine racino with Scarborough Downs. Estimates show that pro-racino campaigns spent about $137 per vote, and anti-racino campaigns about $111 per vote. "I have never seen outside money come in on a local referendum like this. It is unbelievable," said Dennis Bailey of Casinos No!. William Coogan, a political scientist at the University of Southern Maine, could not recall another local referendum that came close to drawing the amounts of money spent in Saco and Westbrook. He said the spending was more in line with a U.S. Senate campaign or a statewide ballot question. Scarborough Downs and Penn National requested local referendums after voters statewide last November approved slots at commercial racetracks, but Scarborough voters rejected them in their community. The new state law allowed the Downs to approach neighboring communities about hosting a racino as long as the communities voted by Dec. 31, setting off furious one-month campaigns in Saco and Westbrook. Campaign finance reports show Penn National spent $565,500 on the campaign, primarily on television and radio ads. Coogan said Penn National spent that much because huge amounts of money were at stake. The company estimated a racino would bring in $125 million a year in revenue. Casinos No!, a Maine-based committee opposed to gambling in the state, spent $280,000 on its campaign, raising money from a range of contributors inside and outside the state. They included Idexx Laboratories of Westbrook and Hussey Seating Co. of North Berwick. Both Casinos No! and Penn National were outdone by racino opponent Maine Opportunities. The organization spent $480,000, all of which came from Waterways Investments of North Reddington Beach, Fla. The treasurer for Maine Opportunities, Kathleen Newman, has said Las Vegas investor Shawn A. Scott's company, Capital Seven, financed the committee. Scott is the would-be operator of a racino at Bangor Raceway who agreed last month to sell his rights to the track and slots to Penn National. Critics have said Scott formed Maine Opportunities to try to create a racino monopoly in Bangor. Newman did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday. The Downs and Penn National did not expect to have to compete against the fund-raising success of Casinos No! or Scott's deep pockets. Scarborough Downs lawyer Edward MacColl said the partnership thought it would outspend the opposition. MacColl said the money spent by Maine Opportunities was the most damaging because its television and print ads attacked Penn National directly. One focused on a car accident that occurred after a woman got drunk at a racino that Penn National owns in West Virginia. "It created a very difficult environment to ask people to try something new," MacColl said. He and Bailey agreed that money played a role in the referendum's outcome, but said other factors also contributed to the racino's defeat. For instance, Bailey said, work done by grass-roots organizations helped defeat racinos. MacColl noted that Scott, by pushing for a racino in Bangor and opposing one in southern Maine, confused voters and smeared the racing industry as a whole. The issue of a southern Maine racino is now in the hands of the Legislature. Lawmakers are debating changes to the new law that would allow the Downs and Penn National to hold additional local referendums. In a related development Tuesday, the state ethics commission said it has requested further information on spending by Good Morals for Maine, another political action committee to which Scott is connected. In a letter to the committee's treasurer, David Allen Wilson, the commission requested an updated campaign finance report detailing expenditures on ads that the committee bought last November. It has reported no expenditures to date. Staff Writer Mark Peters can be contacted at 791-6325 or at: mpeters@pressherald.com
|
||||||