2.06.08
Casino foes launch blitzes in Detroit, D.C.
By MIKE CONNELL
Times Herald
A media blitz aimed at rallying opposition to proposed casinos in Port Huron and Romulus is being orchestrated by a public-relations consultant who has worked for some of the biggest names in Democratic politics.
Peter Ragone III confirmed he is president of the newly created Americans for Gaming Reform Inc., which has launched a radio campaign in Detroit and bought a full-page ad Tuesday in Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill.
"I organized it in the past month or so," Ragone told the Times Herald in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon.
The media blitz appears timed to coincide with a congressional hearing today in Washington D.C. The 48-member House Natural Resources Committee is to hear testimony on a pair of bills that would open the door for two casinos, one near Metro Airport in Romulus and the other at either the Edison Inn or Desmond Landing in Port Huron.
The media blitz appears timed to coincide with a congressional hearing today in Washington D.C. The 48-member House Natural Resources Committee is to hear testimony on a pair of bills that would open the door for two casinos, one near Metro Airport in Romulus and the other at either the Edison Inn or Desmond Landing in Port Huron.
Ragone said he intends to work on behalf of "sensible gaming policies" in Michigan and across the country. He would not reveal how much is being spent on the media blitz or who is financing the effort.
"I believe I'll decline the gracious offer to disclose the donors," he said.
News of his campaign came a day after the Times Herald linked a similar
effort to a Lansing public-relations firm with ties to MGM Mirage, which owns a casino in Detroit and strongly opposes competition in Port Huron and Romulus.
Making headlines
Ragone is well-known in Democratic political circles. He has worked with such party stalwarts as former Vice President Al Gore, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo and former California Gov. Gray Davis.
"I believe I'll decline the gracious offer to disclose the donors," he said.
News of his campaign came a day after the Times Herald linked a similar
effort to a Lansing public-relations firm with ties to MGM Mirage, which owns a casino in Detroit and strongly opposes competition in Port Huron and Romulus.
Making headlines
Ragone is well-known in Democratic political circles. He has worked with such party stalwarts as former Vice President Al Gore, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo and former California Gov. Gray Davis.
A year ago, when Ragone was working as press secretary to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, both men made headlines.
Newsom, who was in the process of getting a divorce from Fox News anchor Kimberly Guilfoyle, publicly apologized for having a sexual affair with his campaign manager's wife. On the same day the mayor's scandal broke, Ragone admitted using fake names to post comments on Internet blogs. He initially denied doing so, which raised questions about his credibility with the local press corps.
Ragone said he left Newsom's staff last March and now works as an independent public-relations consultant.
Warning to Detroit
In Detroit, radio spots are warning of lost jobs and tax revenues if the two casinos are not stopped.
Newsom, who was in the process of getting a divorce from Fox News anchor Kimberly Guilfoyle, publicly apologized for having a sexual affair with his campaign manager's wife. On the same day the mayor's scandal broke, Ragone admitted using fake names to post comments on Internet blogs. He initially denied doing so, which raised questions about his credibility with the local press corps.
Ragone said he left Newsom's staff last March and now works as an independent public-relations consultant.
Warning to Detroit
In Detroit, radio spots are warning of lost jobs and tax revenues if the two casinos are not stopped.
"If this legislation passes," one ad said, "there's no telling how many workers and families would be hurt."
The commercials urge Detroiters to share their concerns with Michigan's senators - Democrats Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. The targets suggest a strategy of fighting the legislation in the Senate if it moves through the House.
Stabenow has supported the Port Huron casino from the beginning. Five years ago, she introduced a bill that ultimately was blocked single-handedly by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., now Senate majority leader.
Levin, who has served in the Senate for 29 years - longer than anyone in Michigan history - is the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He began his political career in Detroit, where he sat on the city council from 1969 to 1977. He was neutral on the Port Huron casino until last summer, when he announced his support after appeals from several prominent residents.
One of Detroit's best-known radio personalities, Frank Beckmann of WJR-760, plans to address the issue this morning. His guests for a segment planned at 10:20 a.m. include Cliff Schrader, a former Port Huron councilman and a charter member of the Thomas Edison Casino Advisory Committee.
Targeting Congress
A full-page, four-color advertisement in Roll Call typically costs $12,470.
The commercials urge Detroiters to share their concerns with Michigan's senators - Democrats Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. The targets suggest a strategy of fighting the legislation in the Senate if it moves through the House.
Stabenow has supported the Port Huron casino from the beginning. Five years ago, she introduced a bill that ultimately was blocked single-handedly by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., now Senate majority leader.
Levin, who has served in the Senate for 29 years - longer than anyone in Michigan history - is the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He began his political career in Detroit, where he sat on the city council from 1969 to 1977. He was neutral on the Port Huron casino until last summer, when he announced his support after appeals from several prominent residents.
One of Detroit's best-known radio personalities, Frank Beckmann of WJR-760, plans to address the issue this morning. His guests for a segment planned at 10:20 a.m. include Cliff Schrader, a former Port Huron councilman and a charter member of the Thomas Edison Casino Advisory Committee.
Targeting Congress
A full-page, four-color advertisement in Roll Call typically costs $12,470.
Tuesday's Roll Call ad, unlike the Detroit radio spots, made no mention of any individual member of Congress. It described the bills as "unprecedented" because they would allow two Chippewa tribes, Bay Mills and Sault, to develop casinos far from their reservations in the eastern Upper Peninsula.
"There's a reason why tribes all across the country oppose this legislation," the ad said. "It's been called 'an end run around the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act' and a violation of a longstanding compact that bans off-reservation casinos unless all of Michigan's tribes agree."
Those comments echo the criticisms voiced by representatives of the Saginaw Chippewa, which owns Michigan's largest and most profitable casino in Mount Pleasant. The Saginaw tribe considers Port Huron and Romulus as parts of its ancestral lands and fiercely opposes the proposed casinos.
Ragone said he was unfamiliar with the Saginaw Chippewa and declined to answer when asked if he had business ties to the tribe's main lobbying firm.
Similar campaigns
The campaign by Ragone's Americans for Gaming Reform is not unlike one launched by Gambling Watch, a corporation created in mid-January by another public-relations consultant, Lori Wortz of Sterling Corp. of Lansing.
"There's a reason why tribes all across the country oppose this legislation," the ad said. "It's been called 'an end run around the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act' and a violation of a longstanding compact that bans off-reservation casinos unless all of Michigan's tribes agree."
Those comments echo the criticisms voiced by representatives of the Saginaw Chippewa, which owns Michigan's largest and most profitable casino in Mount Pleasant. The Saginaw tribe considers Port Huron and Romulus as parts of its ancestral lands and fiercely opposes the proposed casinos.
Ragone said he was unfamiliar with the Saginaw Chippewa and declined to answer when asked if he had business ties to the tribe's main lobbying firm.
Similar campaigns
The campaign by Ragone's Americans for Gaming Reform is not unlike one launched by Gambling Watch, a corporation created in mid-January by another public-relations consultant, Lori Wortz of Sterling Corp. of Lansing.
Wortz, a well-known figure in Republican political circles and a key supporter of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign in Michigan, created a direct-mail campaign aimed at stopping the Port Huron and Romulus casinos. Her mailings carry a large headline - "Michigan Family Alert" - followed by the message: "Washington Poised to Force Two New Casinos on Michigan Families. Only You Can Stop the Special Interests."
Sterling Corp.'s clients include MGM Mirage, a giant in the casino industry and developer of an $800 million casino-hotel in Detroit.
In 2004, MGM Mirage, the Saginaw Chippewa and Sterling Corp. were key players in passage of Proposal 1, which blocked an effort to add slot machines at seven horse tracks in southern Michigan. It did so by amending the state constitution to require voter approval of new gaming facilities.
Campaign-finance statements show the Saginaw Chippewa contributed $9.45 million and MGM anted up $8.35 million to help win passage of Proposal 1. Combined, the two allies kicked in most of the $19 million spent on the effort.
Records show Sterling Corp. was paid about $2.9 million for its services in supporting Proposal 1, which passed easily.
Missing the point
Richard Cummings, president of the Michigan Machinists and an architect of the effort to bring a casino to Port Huron, noted the proposal has won the support of Port Huron voters as well as every political leader - local, state, national, Republican, Democratic, independent - who represents the city.
Sterling Corp.'s clients include MGM Mirage, a giant in the casino industry and developer of an $800 million casino-hotel in Detroit.
In 2004, MGM Mirage, the Saginaw Chippewa and Sterling Corp. were key players in passage of Proposal 1, which blocked an effort to add slot machines at seven horse tracks in southern Michigan. It did so by amending the state constitution to require voter approval of new gaming facilities.
Campaign-finance statements show the Saginaw Chippewa contributed $9.45 million and MGM anted up $8.35 million to help win passage of Proposal 1. Combined, the two allies kicked in most of the $19 million spent on the effort.
Records show Sterling Corp. was paid about $2.9 million for its services in supporting Proposal 1, which passed easily.
Missing the point
Richard Cummings, president of the Michigan Machinists and an architect of the effort to bring a casino to Port Huron, noted the proposal has won the support of Port Huron voters as well as every political leader - local, state, national, Republican, Democratic, independent - who represents the city.
"It's time that people started listening to the folks who are directly involved and not the rest of the country," he said.
Two gaming facilities - the Point Edward Charity Casino, located directly across the river from the Edison Inn, and Hiawatha Slots at a harness track in Sarnia - already exist in the larger community. The majority of visitors to those casinos are Michigan residents.
"One point that everyone misses is that we're not competing with Detroit or anywhere else for this market," Cummings said. "The market is right across the river where Americans go every day. They already have the opportunity to go to Mount Pleasant or Detroit. They can already go there today, but they're not. They're going to Canada. Port Huron is the only border crossing in Michigan without a casino on our side of the river."
Mike Connell can be reached at (810) 989-6259 or mconnell@gannett.com.
Two gaming facilities - the Point Edward Charity Casino, located directly across the river from the Edison Inn, and Hiawatha Slots at a harness track in Sarnia - already exist in the larger community. The majority of visitors to those casinos are Michigan residents.
"One point that everyone misses is that we're not competing with Detroit or anywhere else for this market," Cummings said. "The market is right across the river where Americans go every day. They already have the opportunity to go to Mount Pleasant or Detroit. They can already go there today, but they're not. They're going to Canada. Port Huron is the only border crossing in Michigan without a casino on our side of the river."
Mike Connell can be reached at (810) 989-6259 or mconnell@gannett.com.
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