BY DAVE PARRO
It looks like we're about to find out through the Kentucky governor's extensive research just how devastating Hollywood Casino has been for our community.
Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who is running for re-election on an anti-gaming platform, started airing TV ads in his home state this week to launch his "No Casinos Tour" campaign. His kickoff stop: Aurora.
In the first of a series of ads, Aurora's riverboat is prominently featured. While he doesn't name the city, Fletcher promises that in the coming weeks he will "show Kentuckians first-hand what harmful effects casinos would have." His conclusion: "How bad could it really be? I visited some cities and towns to find out. ... It's a story without a happy ending."
It'll be interesting to get insight into the problems in Aurora from a one-term governor who has at times had some of the lowest approval ratings in the commonwealth's history. Oh, and he was also indicted last year for conspiracy, official misconduct and political discrimination.
Fletcher met with Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner for only a few minutes during his visit to town and exchanged pleasantries without revealing the true reason for his trip. But that was apparently enough to come to this conclusion in a press release announcing his new TV spots:
“Recently, I visited some communities that have casino gambling to see what impact they have. What I saw was not very pretty. I learned a great deal about the financial and social costs of casinos ... Over the next several weeks I will take folks with me on a 'No Casino Tour' to see how casinos not only fail to live up to the promises of politicians, but how destructive they are to our way of life.”
Let's hope Fletcher doesn't start blaming all of Aurora's woes on the casino, as if we never had gangs or other social problems before 1993. If anything, the casino has made downtown less dangerous, even if it hasn't lived up to the promises of revitalizing the surrounding area. And it generates about $15 million a year for the city that goes toward community grants, neighborhood projects and infrastructure improvements.
It's a safe bet that Fletcher is just exploiting towns like Aurora for his own political purposes and the commercials won't really reflect what's going on here or in any of the other casino towns he visited. But that's politics: If you can focus on other people's problems, maybe voters won't notice what a terrible job you've been doing at home.
UPDATE: The Kentucky papers have also picked up on the story.
Dave Parro, get over yourself. Talking about the KY Governor exploiting Aurora is absurd. He didn't mention Aurora. And Flether probably took a look around Aurora and saw a terrible downtown. Yet, you are launching cheap shot personal attacks at the Governor??? The Beacon is exploiting the abortion issue every day so does that put you guys above or below Fletcher?
And why is the Beacon copying OpenlineBlog.com by putting up a YouTube video? Did the Beacon get permission to use that video or do you just take whatever you want? OpenlineBlog is operated under Google. So, is YouTube. This "wanna be like OpenlineBlog.com" has no such affilation with Google.
Dave, a nice post.
If this incident gets the area talking about the issue of gambling, even better.
I hope poster Ed realizes that Fletcher posted that video on YouTube for everyone to see. That includes Beacon Blog readers too.
RESPONSE FROM DAVE PARRO:
Ed,
I didn't realize Openline had invented embedded video on blogs. Maybe Al Gore runs the site?
Also, you might want to do your homework before making hypocritical accusations about copyright infringement. From the YouTube terms of use:
4. General Use of the Website
E. Prohibited commercial uses do not include: ... using the Embeddable Player to show YouTube videos on an ad-enabled blog or website, provided the primary purpose of using the Embeddable Player is not to gain advertising revenue or compete with YouTube ...
And the FAQ:
What kinds of commercial uses of the YouTube website are prohibited, and which aren't?
We've recently updated our Terms of Use to clarify what kinds of uses of the website and the YouTube Embeddable Player are permitted. We don't want to discourage you from putting the occasional YouTube video in your blog to comment on it or show your readers a video you like, even if you have general purpose ads somewhere on your blog. We will, however, enforce our Terms of Use against, say, a website that does nothing more than aggregate a bunch of embedded YouTube videos and intentionally tries to generate ad revenue from them.
Maybe you should take a look at the Digital Millenium Copyright Act to see if your beloved blog has ever committed copyright infringement. But they would never illegally steal anything from, say, the local newspaper, right?
I am a complete laymen on this topic but what I read and saw OUTRAGED me! True, the Gov. never mentions Aurora by name. Fine but as a citizen who has grown up in Aurora (25+ yrs) and continues to live here, seeing my city spotlighted in a negative way is very upsetting. I remember before the casino was in town, the downtown area was a war-zone and I wouldn't be caught dead walking around during the night or day! Since the inception of the casino there have been many strides made to make the downtown area livable (and even beautiful!) for all of us. At least I no longer am afraid to walk around downtown! Again, I am a laymen on this subject and all I know is what I have seen and personally experienced. Since the casino money has been infused into our local economy, the city has made a fantastic turnaround and the KY govenor s/b taken to task. Other places who've had casino gambling come to their towns may not have had the same good experience but my question to them is, is it the casino that is the problem or is it the people who are in charge of the money associated with casino that are the problem? I am not a gambler and don't go to the casino but I'm more than happy to reap the benefits of it's splendor on our city.
I too am a resident of the city, and though I haven't lived here long, I've heard the stories about how much worse the downtown area was before the casino. Granted, the casino hasn't solved all of the problems of any community, but no one ever promised that it would. However it is a steady source of revenue to a city that needs it.
As for Ernie Fletcher, my parents live in Kentucky and have said on numerous occasions that he's the most crooked politician they've seen. It wasn't that long ago that there was talk about removing him from office. To go to another town (named or not) to spotlight their problems in an effort to make himself look better is ridiculous.
I remember when the casino was first built here...the general attitude at the time/it was presented as the savior of our town...the spearhead of redevelopment. More aptly said in the movie Field of Dreams, "Build it and they will come." It was built, and in my view, the redevelopment hasn't happen. Is that the fault of the casino?
Do I like the Governer's campaign ad? No. Politics is not pretty...but I do believe he got it wrong. What have we done to capitalize on the casino? We built mega parking lots and enclosed walkways so that casino attendees spend as little time as possible within the downtown proper.
Ernie, I suggest that you stay in Kentucky and work on convincing the fine people down there why they should re-elect you. As a governor who was indicted, I don't think you have much moral ground to stand on.
Very inappropriate for the Beacon to bash and personally attack the Governor for his opinion. Anyone who looks at downtown Aurora can tell its in terrible shape.
I wanted to read this blog so I could see what residents had to say about their town and its connection with the casino. I wouldn't trust anything "Fletch" says even as a last resort in a terrible situation. The problem is that the other guy running against Fletch isn't much better. We have to pick between the lesser of two evils.
I have to agree with the person who wrote that you can't blame the casino if the tax revenue they pay is not spent where and how it should be spent.
Fletcher is running ads in Ky saying, "Casino gambling, not on my watch" which makes me laugh because gambling is gambling and Mr. Fletcher always uses his reserved seats at Churchill Downs. We have Bingo halls on every corner and the Ky lottery is alive and well, not to mention all the company/corporation approved parties and gambling on the Louisville/Kentucky ballgames.
I apologize if our Govenor has insinuated anything about your hometown and the condition of your downtown area. He need only look in his own backyard to realize that the casino issue for Ky is just a drop in the bucket of worries for him come election time.
There is no meaning in getting the issues of other territories into the election campaign's propaganda. I guess the governor is doing what other ethically challenged politicians do, distract the electorate from his own problems.
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Vanessa
Kentucky Treatment Centers