Here They Go Again: Hawaii Anticipates Detroiters Will Again Wage Battle for Gambling on Waikiki Beach

'Gambling in Hawaii' poised for replay at the Legislature
11.04.2011

By Richard Borreca

The projectors are warming up, the reels are threaded on the sprockets and we are almost ready to start screening our once-a-decade home movie: "Gambling in Hawaii."

There was a sneak peek last year when two state senators attempted to push through a last-minute bill without a public hearing that would have allowed one stand-alone casino in Waikiki.

But legislative leaders turned the lights on and the movie was pau.

The full version is expected to play to packed matinee crowds when the Legislature reopens in January.
Cast as the leading advocate is John Radcliffe, a local lobbyist of some repute.

"In my view it will be a significant issue before the 2012 Legislature. There will be significant citizen input on the issue," says Radcliffe, who represents Marketing Resources Group of Michigan, connected to groups representing several mainland casinos.

Returning in his role as foremost gambling opponent is Hawaii's senior U.S. senator, Daniel K. Inouye.

In an interview last week, I asked Inouye, in light of the state's serious need for new sources of income and jobs, why not a casino.

"Contrary to what they say, it is not an easy source of money," Inouye warned, reprising his 2002 statements.
Back then, Inouye said relying on gambling to fund state duties such as education would be "sinful."

"To say that gaming will be part of our economic development and alleviate our problems is a cop-out," Inouye said to the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii almost a decade ago.

Last week, Inouye agreed "the state may pick up money," but he warned the state will have to come up with more money toward increased welfare, crime and other social ills associated with gambling.

Radcliffe counters that "casinos or other forms of gaming entertainment are enjoyed by 100 percent of the American population outside of Hawaii and Utah," so why should there be discrimination in Hawaii?

"Prohibition of liquor didn't work for the U.S. from 1920 to 1933, and prohibition of gaming is not working for Hawaii. It needs to be regulated and controlled," Radcliffe said.

Whenever we run this movie, we are deep into the Al Capone metaphors before the second reel.

Radcliffe is invoking prohibition, but Inouye tops him by hinting darkly that you just don't want these gamblers around.

"By the very nature of that enterprise, gaming and gambling, you are going to include people who are not the kind you take home for dinner," Inouye said last week.

In 2002, Inouye envisioned a Waikiki not filled with joyful honeymooners smooching on the lanai but instead, "The people who come to this hotel will be a different type of people."

I asked Inouye how he can be against gambling for Hawaii, but has been a champion of allowing Native Americans to permit casinos on their reservations.

"It is their sovereign right. ... I have told the Indians, I support your right to have gambling, but I always tell them to get other sources of income," he answered.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.

Here's just one of the comments that appeared:

KeithHaugen wrote:

It's the same story every year -- the gamblilng industry, the syndicate and others try again, and again, to introduce legalized gambling in Hawai`i, with total disregard for the increases in crime and other social ills that always accompany such a move. Then sometime during the legislative session, the elected officials find out that the vast majority of Hawai`i residents are smarter than they think and they realize they would be ousted in the next election,and the gambling bills fail, to the rejoicing of the community. Each year, the gambling companies that make millions or billions off those willing to give up their money, try to make us think that gambling is harmless "gaming" and their is not risk to the community, only to those who lose their money. That doesn't work either. We're smarter than they are, or at least smarter than they think we are.

Ilitch Partner Spends Millions buying his way into Exclusive Club: Mays Craft Boat Owners

DBusiness | Beauty on the Water

By R. J. King

...In recent years, Larry Mayea, his brother, Don Mayea, 52, and their father have built or refurbished mahogany touring and speedboats for Detroit developer and entrepreneur Mike Malik, Jim Walgreen (from the Walgreens drugstore chain), Dean Griffith of Griffith Laboratories, and many others. The company has more than 300 clients, many of whom are return customers. “We customize a lot of fiberglass boats because the owners want something different from everyone else,” Larry says.

Malik has proved to be a loyal customer. The casino investor commissioned the Lil’ Rascal, a 25-foot mahogany speedboat powered by a 377-horsepower MerCruiser engine, the 25-foot Obsession, and the 47-foot Temptation. The latter craft — believed to be the longest mahogany boat powered by diesel engines — is outfitted with numerous custom features, including ostrich and mustard leather seats, granite countertops, a hand-pounded sunken brass sink, mahogany liquor cabinets, and Burma teak flooring inlaid with black walnut. There’s also a power hatch that folds out into a table, mahogany drawers that can chill wine and food, a nuclear submarine-like shifter, and a stainless-steel figurine of a prone lady that pops up into a cleat (the ultimate front deck ornament).

“Mayea has always been considered one of the premier boat builders in the world, and it’s tough to get a boat from them because so much of their work is tied to restorations,” says Malik says. “The other nice thing is that the Mayea boats appreciate in value, and only a very exclusive club of people own one.” He recently commissioned a 37-foot mahogany craft and has plans to order a 60-foot boat in the future. He also owns the Sea Stag, a 38-foot mahogany craft whose previous owners included actors Fess Parker and James Dean... Read Complete Story

Mayea Boats | Multi-Media Gallery:  Videos & Photos

See also:

• Tribe's former chairman now skippers casino syndicator's luxury fishing boat
• The "Gabby:" a Malik family Sea Ray built sport yacht?
• EDITORIAL: The first of Mike Malik's failed attempts to develop a Marina on Harsens Island
• Former casino partners formed Renegade Charters LLC
• Ilitch Casino Partner's $3 Million Temptation
• Casino Syndicator Mike Malik owns boat slips adjacent to Detroit's Bayview Yacht Club
• Despite Financial Woes, Ilitch Partner Obsessed with Buying Million Dollar Luxury Watercraft

Hey Mike Malik, what goes around ... comes around

Detroit casino syndicator Michael J. Malik, Sr. is himself a student of Jack Abaramoff's having employed Abramoff-like tactics in an attempt to build his own Indian casinos in California, Michigan and New York.

During the first six months of 2008, MGM Mirage was locked in a bitter dispute with parties hoping to open two off-reservation Indian casinos in the greater-Detroit area.

Among other things, MGM Mirage financed a so-called "grassroots" letter writing campaign mounted by a group called "Gambling Watch." The group was created in mid-January by public-relations consultant, Lori Wortz of Lansing-based Sterling Corp.

There was no real attempt by MGM Mirage to hide their support for Gambling Watch. In a BusinessWeek article, Alan Feldman, senior vice presdident for public affairs at MGM Mirage said, "We've made no secret of where we are on this."

Detroit-based casino syndicator Michael Malik and his partners -- the people behind a plan to put a Bay Mills Indian Community casino in Port Huron -- belied MGM Mirage and the Gambling Watch effort as deceptive and low. They likened Gambling Watch's tactics to those employed by the jailed former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Isn't that ironic?

Despite crying foul and evoking Abramoff's name, Malik and his army of PR/political flacks and attorneys have used the same tactics in other states.
In 2001, they formed and financed Holomua Hawai'i, in an effort to legalize gambling in the Hawaiian islands. In 2002, The Honolulu Advertiser reported:

Holomua Hawai'i, named after the Hawaiian word for progress, is packaged as a grassroots effort, but it is in fact the creation of a Michigan public relations and political consulting firm hired by [Marian] Illitch and [Mike] Malik to promote the casino plan. The firm, Marketing Resource Group [owned by PR Flack Tom Shields], spent nearly $11,000 lobbying lawmakers between January and April last year, records show.

In 2006, Malik & Ilitch formed Barstow Citizens for Real Economic Development so that they could impact local elections in the remote Mojave Desert town. They spent $200,000 running their "grassroots" effort.

Sworn court depositions indicate that they recruited a leader of the Los Coyotes Band of Indians out of San Diego and a local Barstow businessman to serve as figure-heads of their so-alled "grassroots" organization. Campaign reports indicate they paid members of the tribe to come to Barstow as "grassroots volunteers." They also hired the local businessman's family members to work on their behalf.

Barstow campaign disclosures indicate Mike Malik and Marian Ilitch each contributed $25,000 to the campaign which was managed by their PR/political consultant Tom Shields. And Shield's firm, Lansing-based Marketing Resource Group has carried the "grassroots" committee's $150,000 campaign debt for more than two years.

The Malik/Ilitch team used their "grassroots" group trying to interfere and block the local election with a frivilous lawsuit and so a judge ordered them to pay the $110,000 legal bill incurred by another committee that had to defend against the Michigan casino syndicators.

"Gambling Watch" launches campaign against off-reservation casinos in Michigan

2.05.08

Casino foe mailings scrutinized
Miller calls foul over highly organized opposition campaign

By MIKE CONNELL
Times Herald

Directing its appeal to "Michigan families," a newly incorporated organization has launched a direct-mail campaign aimed at blocking proposed casinos in Port Huron and Romulus.

There is a twist, however.

The organization - Gambling Watch - isn't a grassroots anti-gambling group opposed to casinos on moral or ethical grounds. In fact, it's a corporation created just two weeks ago by a Lansing public-relations specialist whose clients include MGM Mirage, a giant in the gambling industry and a fierce opponent of the two casinos.

"This was put together by a very well known, highly paid political consultant who has worked for other casino interests, other gaming projects in Michigan," said Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, whose district encompasses Port Huron. "Spare me the righteous indignation."

Gambling Watch was incorporated on Jan. 18, according to the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth. The legal paperwork was handled by a lawyer with Dickinson Wright, a Lansing law firm that counts MGM Mirage among its clients.

Gambling Watch's resident agent is Lori Wortz, the chief operating officer of Sterling Corp., a Lansing public-relations firm that specializes in ballot proposals and public-policy issues.

Conservative activist
Wortz is well-known in conservative political circles. She oversaw Pat Robertson's 1988 presidential campaign in Michigan and later worked for the Republican National Committee. Last month, she helped guide Mitt Romney's campaign to a primary victory in his native state.

In a telephone interview, Wortz acknowledged her work with MGM Mirage but said Gambling Watch was strictly her initiative.

"They're supportive of it," she said of MGM, "but there are other people who support it, too."

MGM Mirage, based in Las Vegas, has annual revenues in excess of $7 billion. Its majority owner is Kirk Kerkorian, 90, whose personal fortune was estimated at more than $9 billion last year by Forbes magazine. According to federal disclosure forms, MGM spent at least $160,000 in the first half of 2007 to lobby against a Port Huron casino.

The people spoke
Wortz recalled campaigning for a 2004 ballot initiative that amended the state constitution to require voter approval of any expansion of gambling in Michigan. The measure was aimed at so-called "racinos," or the legalization of slot machines at seven horse tracks in southern Michigan.

MGM Mirage, which has invested more than $800 million in a casino-hotel in Detroit, and the Saginaw Chippewa, which runs the state's largest casino in Mount Pleasant, did not want competition from race tracks. They poured money into the campaign for the 2004 proposal, which passed easily.

Wortz said the voters spoke clearly, which is why she believes it would be wrong to allow casinos in Port Huron and Romulus without a statewide referendum.

"What I feel and many others feel is that it's important for voters to be aware that this is about expansion of gambling," she said. "Any expansion in the state should go to the voters."

Families on alert
Gambling Watch has shared that message in fliers mailed to households across the state. The flier carries a large headline: "Michigan Family Alert." A smaller headline adds: "Washington Poised to Force Two New Casinos on Michigan Families. Only You Can Stop the Special Interests."

The flier mentions Wednesday's congressional hearing and calls on people to contact five politicians - Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit; Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing; Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn; Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee; and Miller.

It says the five "can put a stop to this special interest attempt to add two more casinos to the 22 Michigan already has."

Dingell and Stupak introduced the two bills that will be debated at Wednesday's hearing. Levin and Stabenow have expressed support for a Port Huron casino.

Fair play, free trade
For the five years she has been in office, Miller has been steadfast in her support of a Port Huron casino, describing it as a matter of fair play and free trade.

She noted Port Huron is the only American border community that has not been allowed to compete for the jobs and tax revenues generated by casinos on the Canadian side.

She expressed frustration with Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his refusal to reach out to Port Huron.

"I remember when he was saying we had to support casinos in Detroit so his city could compete for all the American dollars going to the casino in Windsor," she said. "And he was right, just as it's only right to let Port Huron compete for all of the American dollars going to Point Edward and Sarnia."

Miller also observed that Port Huron's entire political delegation - local, state and national - supports the casino.

She said her office has received "upwards of 500 phone calls in the last week" from people responding to Gambling Watch's mailer. Little if any of that opposition was coming from St. Clair County, she added, "and we're certainly not getting any from Port Huron."

Nick Choate, an aide to Stupak, said his office also has been getting calls. "I don't have an exact number. We are getting a few," he said. "I wouldn't say the phones are ringing off the hook."

Choate said he was unaware of Gambling Watch's origins.

Deceptive tactics
For her part, Miller clearly wasn't amused to learn of the ties to a public-relations agency and a law firm that represent MGM Mirage.

"When my staff first told me about these fliers, I said 'I can tell you right now who's behind this,'" she recalled. "Who would pay for a mailing like this? It had to be other casino interests. This thing is about money."

She said people who oppose gambling for reasons of conscious were being manipulated by special interests with hidden motives.

"Have you heard of Jack Abramoff?" Miller asked, naming the corrupt lobbyist who is serving a federal prison sentence for fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion. "These people who put this flier out have taken a page right out of the Abramoff playbook. These are exactly the kind of tactics he would do for his clients. It's a very deceptive thing."

Miller is scheduled to testify at Wednesday's hearing, which focuses on bills introduced by Stupak and Dingell. She also said the 48-member committee is not expected to vote on the measures until later this month.

If the committee approves the bills, they would go to the full House for its consideration. Companion legislation has not yet been introduced in the Senate.