CASINOSNO! RESPONDS TO THE ARRIVAL OF LAS VEGAS

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SOUTH PARIS – The former mayor of Ledyard, Connecticut, home to the Foxwoods casino, today told the Oxford County commissioners to be prepared for higher costs and more crime if voters approve a gambling casino for Oxford.

Susan Mendenhall, who served eight years on the Ledyard Town Council and just completed a four-year term as mayor, told the commissioners that the casino has placed numerous costly burdens on the town without little economic development spinoffs.

“The biggest impact that we faced was on our emergency services people,” she said. “Prior to 1996, responses averaged 500 a year. Now, responses are almost double, and remember, the town population has remained relatively flat. Our town dispatch center had three full time dispatchers. Now we have six full timers and 10 part timers. Call volume has risen from 3,000 calls a year to over 50,000 last year for routine and emergency calls.

“Another issue that has put additional burden on our police department is the rather unpleasant reality that crime follows the money. Although some of these crimes are a sign of the times, we have had a rise in gun and drug related issues, and assorted issues that track the money.”

Mendenhall also dispelled the myth that towns surrounding a casino will see new businesses or economic growth. She said Ledyard has seen little change in the 15 years of hosting a casino.

“Will you see economic development spin-off – we have seen little,” she said. “The reality is that the casino resort becomes a destination – incorporating all that patrons need – hotels, bars, restaurants, gaming and entertainment.”

Mendenhall appeared as a volunteer without payment to warn the Oxford County Commissioners that they should look very carefully at the costs connected to a casino, costs that ultimately end up being paid by the taxpayers.

“Over the years, our local towns have absorbed into our yearly budgets the…associated costs [from the casino],” she said. “However it has been painful on the local taxpayer. Don’t let that happen here.”

Mendenhall appeared at the meeting with Dennis Bailey, executive director of CasinosNO! who gave the commissioners a 20-page report detailing the experiences of other communities in the US who are hosts to gambling casinos.

“Voters shouldn’t listen to me or the proponents of this casino,” Bailey said. “All they need to do is examine the communities that have casinos and find out what their experience has been. At best it’s mixed. At worst, casinos are a disaster providing no economic benefit to area communities and costing taxpayers money.”

Contact: Dennis Bailey, 207-749-4963

Oct. 25, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PORTLAND – Editorials in all of the major Maine newspapers and several weekly newspapers have urged a NO vote on the Oxford casino, referendum Question 2 on the Nov. 4 ballot.

So far, ten newspapers in Maine have urged readers to vote no on Question 2 while there have been no endorsements of the casino proposal by any Maine newspaper. Newspapers urging a no vote include the Lewiston Sun Journal, whose circulation covers Oxford County, and the Bangor Daily News, which is home to the state’s only other casino, Hollywood Slots.

In an editorial Thursday, the Bangor newspaper declared, “A casino is not economic development,” and said the money the casino is promising to state government pales in comparison to the amount of money that would be leaving Maine for Las Vegas, home of the owner of the proposed Oxford casino.

The Bar Harbor Times called Question 2 “one of the most deeply flawed pieces of legislation in Maine history.” The Brunswick Times Record called Question 2 “a fiasco” and criticized casino proponent Pat LaMarche for suggesting that the Legislature will fix the problems with the bill after it passes. “In other words,” the editorial said, “she wants voters to trust legislators who have yet to be elected to rewrite a law that doesn't work as written. Isn't that akin to betting the mortgage that a fifth ace will show up in your poker hand?”

Newspapers editorializing against Question 2 include:

Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram
Kennebec Journal
Morning Sentinel
Lewiston Sun Journal
Bangor Daily News
Brunswick Times Record
Bar Harbor Times
Ellsworth American
Belfast Republican Journal

“If this proposal was really about jobs and economic development, like the proponents claim, don’t you think at least one Maine newspaper would be supporting it,” asked Dennis Bailey, executive director of CasinosNO! “Fortunately, they’ve all seen through the deception, sleaze and scare tactics of the casino promoters and urged their readers to do the same.”

CONTACT: Dennis Bailey, 207-749-4963

Oct. 24, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PORTLAND – Two university professors who analyzed a pro-casino television ad for Maine Public Broadcasting concluded that the Yes on 2 ad employs “classic…negative advertising” and is “a genuine attempt to frighten voters.”

Ironically, the pro-casino ad attempts to accuse CasinosNO! of these same tactics by purporting to show a transcript of a tape recording, secretly made by disgraced Rumford attorney Seth Carey. The audio recording is from a two-minute snippet of a one-hour seminar two years ago led by Dennis Bailey, executive director of CasinosNO!

MPB says on its website (www.yourvote.me/AdWatch_question2yes.html) that it is impossible to determine the accuracy of the transcript because Yes on 2 refused to provide a copy of the actual recording. Gregg Lagerquist, a news reporter at WGME, however, has heard the actual recording and reported that the transcript provided by Yes on 2 does not match what is said on the audio recording by Bailey.

“This is a new low by the promoters of the Oxford casino,” Bailey said. “Recording me without my permission or knowledge, then twisting my words out of context and inventing things I didn’t even say. This is real sleaze, brought and paid for by Las Vegas.”

The two university professors, Amy Fried and Ron Schmidt, associate professors of political science at the University of Maine and the University of Southern Maine, respectively, called the ad “unusual” and questioned its effectiveness.

“If this had been an ad for a campaign involving candidates, it would be characterized as personal, negative, and focused on character,” said Fried. “The ad doesn’t play the recording of the statements made and so it is hard to determine if they have been taken out of context and thus have been misinterpreted.”

Schmidt agreed: “It is…an attempt to deploy the strategy the [pro-casino] group is ostensibly opposing. Shaky, vague images, mapped onto the questioning of one’s opponent’s real intentions, are classic strategies in negative advertising. [The ad] is both about the attempt to frighten voters and a genuine attempt to frighten voters.”

Bailey said if the ad wasn't so sleazy, it would be comical. "The real irony is that the only TV ad that mentions crime and prostitution at casinos is the from the side that wants a casino," Bailey said.

The ad was produced by CDM Communications in Portland.

Contact: Dennis Bailey, 207-749-4963

NOV. 3, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PORTLAND – Olympia Gaming of Las Vegas has spent close to $2 million in just over six weeks – or more than $40,000 a day – since taking over the campaign for Question 2, the Oxford casino.
The latest campaign finance reports at the state Ethics Commission show that Olympia Gaming, the owner of the proposed Oxford casino, is the sole contributor to the casino campaign, spending $1.94 million in less than two months.

In contrast, the major opposition group CasinosNO! has spent just under $550,000 on campaigns to defeat the Oxford casino and a proposal for slot machines at Scarborough Downs. Its contributions come from a variety of Maine businesses and individuals.

“Spending $2 million in less than two months should give voters an idea of the kind of return this Las Vegas company expects to make if it is successful in bringing big-time gambling to Maine,” said Dennis Bailey, executive director of CasinosNO! “And its profits will come almost entirely from hard-pressed Maine people, not high-rollers from out of state. Olympia Gaming is not here to help Maine people, they are here to help themselves to our wallets.”

CONTACT: Dennis Bailey, 207-749-4963

I love how Dennis complains about the casino group using negative advertising - like he's done anything else since he started. And money? If the casino group spent less than CasinosNO! he'd say they weren't committed and didn't believe in their project. And oh my gosh, a company from outside of Maine wants to do business here. What, are we supposed to limit enterprises to only Maine companys? There goes the mill, and about 200 other businesses that are here but their offices are elsewhere.

Don't listen to all the negative rhetoric. Vote your conscience.

Mark Henry