For the first time since NA Confidential's inception, I admit to being utterly flabbergasted.
To again reiterate what the Louisville Courier-Journal, NA Confidential and Volunteer Hoosier have been saying for several weeks, Indiana's Republican legislators are gaining momentum in their efforts to do to Harrison County (and other riverboat casino host counties) what the New York City police did to Abner Louima, by unceremoniously relieving the these counties of the majority of the casino tax revenue promised to them in 1993.
Not only that, but this act of fiscal rape is being perpetrated in broad daylight, sans rhetorical lubricants or the slightest sense of shame on the part of the G.O.P., with that party's pious posturings of "fairness" being completely contradicted by arrogance like that of Rep. Troy Woodruff (R-Vincennes), who has stated publicly that he's not interested in a casino, just the money from Evansville's casino.
Just for the fun of it, and understanding that my chances of getting a response are nil, my comments yesterday have been forwarded to the Governor, selected state representatives, the Floyd County Republican party, and Chris Morris, editor of the Tribune, who today surveyed the world around him and coughed up a hairball disguised as an editorial about the NCAA Final Four.
But to my surprise, these same comments generated all of two responses from NA Confidential readers, one of which did not address the budget issue. By contrast, there have been 29 comments on the two-week-old topic of the Cottom Street used house lot, with the most recent coming in today.
I'm forced to conclude that there's more than a little cognitive dissonance among those of you who proudly voted Republican last fall, and now are looking the other way while the Indiana G.O.P. falls over itself like the Keystone Kops, hurrying to violate the principles that it claims to hold dear, by plunging its grubby hands into the pockets of Indiana counties with no more coherent rationale than simple envy, so as to redistribute the ill-gotten booty in a manner that would make most socialists blush with embarrassment.
Perhaps we can petition the European Union for foreign aid to make up for the loss of revenue.
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10 comments:
Gambling boats are a short term fix to money problems for communities where there are placed. Greed finally wins out.
Remember what nickname W gave Mitch Daniels, "The Blade".
Here is my idea for a new bumper sticker or t-shirt;
Republicans=the fish=$$$$$
Not sure how long your post has been up, publican, but maybe the lure of a cool million to each county is a salve to the conscience. Would that I had elected to use your terminology - it is a rape - to describe what the looters are up to.
The dearth of commments on this topic could just be a sign that it's "not my fight" and the collateral effect of the $1 million bribe are, indeed, silencing the citizenry.
Oh, by the way. If this goes through, Floyd County is, at least, protected from loss (I believe the payoff would be an improvement to the revenue stream).
But New Albany is screwed. $1 million ain't chewing gum money, and that's what our city stands to lose when Harrison County stands battered and naked at the end. Kind of hard to put the arm on a victimized neighbor, so NA will have to go begging and just hope FC gives them a split of the tainted proceeds from this raid on the little guys.
This is not necessarily the issue I want to talk about, but I find it just a little tough to ignore the brazenness of this one.
What is there to say? The political "calculus" involved is more like elementary math: You have money. We need money. Taxes are evil. We have more votes than you. We take money. Oh, and you are represented by Democrats? Too bad. You should have voted the other way.
This is a shameful act, since Harrison county and the others have projected their budgets in reliance of the casino money while other counties refused to allow casino gaming.
As it relates to New Albany, I'm with Ed on this one. We should not plan our budgets in reliance on casino money. If we can win a few grants here and there for special projects, great, but we should not use them as a financial crutch in place of sound fiscal policy and creative options.
Let's see, 20,000 cars passing through New Albany on the way to Caesars each day ... couple bucks a carload to pass ... minimal expenses up front.
Utilizing my plan to build a George W. Bush Memorial Toll Booth on the highway leading to the casino, we'll generate ample money to offset the losses incurred by the state G.O.P.
I'm not joking ...
It's classic: take money from Harrison County and give it to the poor, struggling citizens of Carmel and Noblesville in Hamilton County. And it's not just happening in the N.A. metroplex, the Pubs will take money from Switzerland County, one of the poorest counties in the state, and ship it to Johnson County, one of the wealthiest. New Albany isn't the only casino-tax-sharing municipality or county to lose: Crawford County, and towns in Washington, Ohio, Ripley and Dearborn County will get screwed too.
I guess it's better to screw southern Indiana than do the stated alternative: a 1% income tax increase on people making more than $100,000 a year. Of course, it is a Republican tax plan, so I guess it was easier (or at least ideologically consistent) to tax low income entities. It helps to empower them, you see.
It's outrageous. However, do we expect anything different from them? No. That's why there's no outrage. Hopefully all of those counties (all of which voted for Daniels last time) will remember. Hopefully.
Nor should you be joking. Toll roads are the natural consequence of the Republican "I got mine, screw you" regime...everything paid for by user fees and if you can't pay the toll, up yours.
I'm not at all happy falling on the side of casino gambling, but I'm not demanding my share of the loot, either.
For a party that screams about creationism and "what would Jesus do," they certainly offer a Darwinian solution to everything.
The only social compact the GOP offers in its current incarnation is a binding contract with corporations like Halliburton to ensure that they NEVER have to run any risk. At the same time, of course, they sing hosannas to the "free" market. For individuals, the elephant rule is to let 'em fall. But for their corporate sugar daddies, it's a no-bid, cost-plus contracts with sweeteners, tax exemptions, no-prosecution, anything-you-want environment. God forbid that any stock company lose money.
You're right, publican. Play by their rules. Want your streets paved? Pony up. Enough of these money-grabs and that party will be exposed for what it is.
Once again, the GOP message is "Screw You, Southern Indiana!"
since we are being serious...I will be too:
A significant portion of the profits from the Caesar's operation in Harrison Co. should go toward the building and maintenance of gamblers recovery centers. At a minimum three such in the west end of Louisville; probably another for the rest of Lou.; one in Floyd Co. maybe, one or two in Clark.
I doubt that Harrison Co. itself would need one, since I think the locals are too smart to be sucked into base and crass lunacy that passes for entertainment at "the boat."
Three lads at my work and their wives are maximus addicted. Good thought Joe.
O.K. Time to take the gloves off......If the republicans want to take the money, then they should have to give something in return to the great taxpayers of Indiana. For instance. More time in office to run the great state of Indiana. Since everything is geared towards seperation of church and state. Then state offices should be open good friday and Christmas when Christmas falls during the week.....These politicions seem to forget that they are voted in there to serve the people. Not take-take-take..... On the other hand. The democratic party should have made sure that when the Casino boats were put into place, decrees should have been put in place so future greedy G.O.P.'s could'nt mess with the plans that were put in place many years ago. And i agree with everyone that The City Of New Albany will suffer bad. With the city being in very Bad debt. The extra money that will be removed from the general fund will be huge..Oh my and the 20 million promised for Scribner Place by the Overton administration. Where will that money come from.....Gee . Sounds like a bad deal all the way around...And when the crap hit's the fan i bet you'll not find anyone in New Albany that voted for M.D. Oh and on the issue of a tool booth. Sounds good except for the people who live down 111.. They should be exempt for any toll. Those people lived down that road long before the boat docked
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