2.06.08
City's casino bid deserves a fair shot
Foes' motivation questionable
The quest for a Port Huron casino should never be viewed as the answer to the city's problems. A gambling facility alone won't solve unemployment or reverse the city's failing economic fortunes.
A Port Huron casino still could be a valuable asset. Its supporters insist it could create thousands of jobs and bring new visitors to Port Huron. Most important, the casino could compete against Canadian gambling facilities across the St. Clair River in Point Edward and Sarnia - two destinations for American gamblers.
Port Huron deserves its own casino. City residents said so in a 2001 advisory vote, but Port Huron's bid for a gambling facility remains an uphill struggle.
A variety of forces, gambling foes and those who represent communities that already have casinos and see more as unwanted competition, stand in the way of Port Huron. The Bay Mills Indian Community wants to establish a casino in the city. To do so, it must win congressional approval - something that promises to see the project's opponents in full play.
Today, the Natural Resources Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives begins hearings on legislation that proposes to give Port Huron its casino. U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, introduced H.R. 2176, a bill that would settle a land claim with Bay Mills by according it land in Port Huron for a casino. A bill introduced by Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, would settle a similar claim with the Sault Chippewa, who want to build a casino near Metro Airport in Romulus.
Detroit officials, including Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, are dead set against either casino. Kilpatrick and her son, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, among others, are scheduled to testify in opposition. Despite Detroit's three casinos, the prospect of competing facilities apparently poses too great a threat to the city's narrow self-interest.
Worse is the campaign of Gambling Watch, a new organization that opposes the two casinos. Created two weeks ago by Lansing public relations expert Lori Wortz, Gambling Watch is employing a direct-mail effort to block the casinos' approval through fliers to Michigan households. They urge recipients to defeat the casino proposals and urge them to contact five elected officials - Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit; Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing; Rep. Dingell; Rep. Stupak; and Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township.
Miller has consistently supported Port Huron's casino bid. Levin and Stabenow also favor the proposal.
Wortz has admitted working for MGM Mirage, which spent at least $160,000 in lobbying efforts against the Port Huron casino in the first half of 2007, according to federal disclosure forms. Although she insists Gambling Watch is her own initiative, her past practice and the campaign's timing are suspect.
Miller will testify in favor of the casino bills. We wish her well.
Port Huron has waited long enough. This ought to be the year the city finally gets its casino.
Foes' motivation questionable
The quest for a Port Huron casino should never be viewed as the answer to the city's problems. A gambling facility alone won't solve unemployment or reverse the city's failing economic fortunes.
A Port Huron casino still could be a valuable asset. Its supporters insist it could create thousands of jobs and bring new visitors to Port Huron. Most important, the casino could compete against Canadian gambling facilities across the St. Clair River in Point Edward and Sarnia - two destinations for American gamblers.
Port Huron deserves its own casino. City residents said so in a 2001 advisory vote, but Port Huron's bid for a gambling facility remains an uphill struggle.
A variety of forces, gambling foes and those who represent communities that already have casinos and see more as unwanted competition, stand in the way of Port Huron. The Bay Mills Indian Community wants to establish a casino in the city. To do so, it must win congressional approval - something that promises to see the project's opponents in full play.
Today, the Natural Resources Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives begins hearings on legislation that proposes to give Port Huron its casino. U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, introduced H.R. 2176, a bill that would settle a land claim with Bay Mills by according it land in Port Huron for a casino. A bill introduced by Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, would settle a similar claim with the Sault Chippewa, who want to build a casino near Metro Airport in Romulus.
Detroit officials, including Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, are dead set against either casino. Kilpatrick and her son, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, among others, are scheduled to testify in opposition. Despite Detroit's three casinos, the prospect of competing facilities apparently poses too great a threat to the city's narrow self-interest.
Worse is the campaign of Gambling Watch, a new organization that opposes the two casinos. Created two weeks ago by Lansing public relations expert Lori Wortz, Gambling Watch is employing a direct-mail effort to block the casinos' approval through fliers to Michigan households. They urge recipients to defeat the casino proposals and urge them to contact five elected officials - Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit; Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing; Rep. Dingell; Rep. Stupak; and Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township.
Miller has consistently supported Port Huron's casino bid. Levin and Stabenow also favor the proposal.
Wortz has admitted working for MGM Mirage, which spent at least $160,000 in lobbying efforts against the Port Huron casino in the first half of 2007, according to federal disclosure forms. Although she insists Gambling Watch is her own initiative, her past practice and the campaign's timing are suspect.
Miller will testify in favor of the casino bills. We wish her well.
Port Huron has waited long enough. This ought to be the year the city finally gets its casino.
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