Saturday, September 06, 2008

Why Kentucky casinos will never pass

According the Lexington Herald Leader, Gov. Steve Beshear and former Gov. Brereton Jones have decided to gird up their loins and try again to bring casinos to Kentucky.
"“Gov. Beshear and Gov. Jones have been friends for a long time. And they have always shared a commitment to working together in the best interests of Kentucky and, particularly, the state’s signature industry – the equine industry,” Jay Blanton, Beshear’s communications director, said in a statement."

It will never work, other than for raising campaign contributions from the horse industry, left-wing groups and New Jersey mobsters.

At issue in Kentucky is a never-ending struggle between those who think they can use casino money to save the horse industry and those who think that bringing in casinos will allow us to continue to overspend without consequences.

I'm glad to see that Steve and Brereton have gotten over their little spat from earlier in the year, but let's not pretend that this is anything more than party-building rhetoric.