Broke at the crossroads and no one can agree on a direction

Okay, now Beshear is talking about increasing cigarette taxes, since the casino proposal appears to be a bust. He wants to use it as leverage to borrow money.

The House Democrats have turned him down, calling the idea of borrowing money 'irresponsible'. I would have added 'Republican'.

The KY General Assembly doesn't want to use casinos, increased taxes, or borrowed money to get the state out of the hole it's in. They don't want to downsize employees except by attrition (shrinking and delaying services), and they certainly don't want to cut out any pork!

Below is a proposed income stream they haven't thought of yet. It's certainly as likely to get through the Assembly as anything else.

Disclosure

Before my wife and I get into any further discussion of Kentucky politics, I wish to make a disclosure.

We gamble. Not only do we visit the riverboats in Indiana, we have visited casinos in Canada and Florida. We also own a small amount of stock (less than $300) in Dover Downs, a casino/race track combo in Delaware.

We do not belong to KEEP, and we made no donations to Beshear with gambling in mind. My wife and I volunteered for Beshear because we thought he would make a better governor than Ernie Fletcher.

We also believe that gambling will not solve all of Kentucky’s problems. However, we would be as happy losing our money at Kentucky slots as we are losing it in Indiana ones. It would also help make up some of the deficit in the state budget. Raising taxes on tobacco would help, too, but that’s a sacred cow in this state.

I am making this disclosure for two reasons:

1) Expanded gambling is probably going to come up in future political discussions, and anti-gambling folks should not waste their time in trying to recruit us; and

2) We do not want to be accused of having a secret bias. Up front: we like gambling. It’s fun, and the ratio of lost money/time playing is certainly no worse than trying to buy tickets to a movie and the equivalent amount of soda (our favorite casinos offer free soft drinks) in the theater. Then again, we play penny slots.

Just an FYI,

Sarah G