March 7, 2005
Know when to hold 'em | More than a year after a big victory, Casinos No! says it still has work to do
By Taylor Smith
In November 2003, Maine voters overwhelmingly defeated a ballot initiative that would have paved the way for a large-scale, Las Vegas-backed casino development in York County. But even though that initiative failed, organized gambling is still a hot topic in many parts of Maine. During that same election cycle, voters in Bangor approved a local racino initiative allowing slot machines at Bangor Historic Raceway. And despite the failure in recent years of similar initiatives in towns like Scarborough and Kittery, southern Maine remains on the radar screen of casino development companies, according to Dennis Bailey, the spokesman and organizer for Casinos No!, the group largely credited with the defeat of the 2003 casino initiative.
Bailey, a former spokesman for Gov. Angus King and founder of Portland public relations firm Savvy Inc., has worked to keep Casinos No! in the public eye since then. As part of that effort, Casinos No! last month announced a reorganization in which it will split into two separate divisions, one that will focus on education and fundraising, and an advocacy arm to combat the spread of casinos and racinos in Maine. "If people think casinos are the answer to economic problems, they're sorely mistaken," says Bailey. "When suicide and bankruptcy happen, it's not economic development, I can guarantee."
Robert Tardy, a Newport-based lobbyist for Scarborough Downs Harness Racetrack, sees it differently. Tardy believes that bringing gambling into the state will contribute to economic development ˆ at least by keeping Maine's struggling harness racing industry alive. He complains that attendance at tracks like Scarborough Downs and Bangor Raceway has fallen off so much that the industry needs new revenue in order to survive. Racetracks in Delaware, he says, are offering purses of $5,000 or more to racers, compared with just $1,200 for Maine tracks. The reason? Slot machines, which he says are bringing new revenue into the tracks. "I've been to several different racinos and most of the people I saw played the [slot] machines as a recreation," he says. "To me, it's just another form of entertainment."
To combat that opinion, Casinos No! recently applied for nonprofit 501c3 status, which would allow donations to the group to be tax-deductible. But that status includes strict regulations against using that money for advocacy efforts like campaigning against a pro-casino politician or airing television ads opposing racino development in southern Maine. As a result, Casinos No!'s nonprofit arm will be a foundation that Bailey says will sponsor speakers and studies that address gambling-related issues.
Meanwhile, the group's advocacy arm will be strengthened with the addition of Mike Saxl, the former speaker of the House and an attorney at Verrill Dana in Augusta, as the group's lobbyist. "Mike can be there on a daily basis and pay attention to all the ins and outs," says Bailey. "There will be a lot of little things going in and out that we need to keep track of, and he'll be able to do that."
A southern Maine strategy?
One of the items Casinos No! is tracking is a bill moving through the Legislature that would allow companies like Penn National Gaming, the Wyomissing, Pa.-based firm that is finalizing plans for the $75 million racino development at the Bangor Raceway, to keep hidden from the public some company-specific details during the permitting process. (A spokesperson from Penn National Gaming did not respond to repeated calls for this story.
Meanwhile, the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee unanimously approved the measure in mid-February, and the bill was passed along to the Legislature's Judiciary Committee.)
But that kind of vigilance won't come cheap: Bailey estimates the organization's operating budget at $150,000 per year, with the bulk of that money earmarked for lobbyists, lawyers and public relations work through Bailey's company, Savvy Inc., which is on a $3,000 a month retainer. (Meanwhile, Savvy continues to work for other clients, such as Tulsa, Okla.-based Quoddy Bay LLC, which has proposed development of a liquefied natural gas facility in Pleasant Point, and Stamford, Conn.-based Purdue Pharma.) Bailey expects roughly $100,000 of that annual budget to come from corporate donations. The rest, says Bailey, will come from individual donations.
In just a few days' worth of mail after the most recent Casinos No! fundraising initiative, Bailey says the group has raised more than $12,000 from individual donors. The outpouring of financial support is less surprising these days than it was in 2003, when Bailey figured the group's $1 million goal was out of reach. "Even though I told the press that we wanted to raise $1 million, I didn't think we could," he says. "We ended up raising $3 million."
Much of that money came from corporate donations from local firms like Westbrook-based Idexx Laboratories and out-of-state companies with Maine ties such as Durham, N.C.-based Burt's Bees and Wilmington, Del.-based MBNA. Bailey says the group received strong support from L.L. Bean CEO Leon Gorman and his wife, Lisa; their involvement with Casinos No!, Bailey says, helped lend the organization an air of legitimacy.
As Casinos No! continued to organize, more business owners offered their support. Peter Geiger, executive vice president of Lewiston-based Geiger Bros. and editor of the Farmer's Almanac, became engaged in the effort on the grounds that busloads of tourists coming up to drop money into slot machines and onto poker tables wouldn't necessarily result in economic development. "There was no guarantee that people would traipse up here to go to the casino, and it wasn't the kind of jobs that I wanted to see," he says. "It's not the way I wanted to build the economy."
The group dates back to 2002, when Jim Bartlett, a former York selectman and long-time attorney, and then-state Rep. Mary Black Andrews (R-York) headed a small group opposed to the casino project. As the scope of the proposed casino widened, though, Bailey says Bartlett asked him to take over. "As [the issue] grew and became a referendum, it had overtaken Jim's law practice," says Bailey. "He asked me to take it off his hands, so I started spending a lot of time and not getting paid." (Bailey says Savvy Inc., which he co-founded in 2000 with business partner Mark Robinson, piled up nearly $30,000 in losses from the Casinos No! campaign.)
The pace has let up considerably since then, but Bailey says he still found himself getting out of bed at 3:00 a.m. on a recent February morning to pen an op-ed piece, which he fired off to the Portland Press Herald, against the proposal to put ATMs at the Bangor racino. In conversation, Bailey calls casinos "bad news," but says he's sure that firms like Penn National and Marnell Carrao want to spread casinos and racinos across Maine. The next battleground, says Bailey, appears to be southern Maine.
Tardy, however, says that it likely will be years until voters are again faced with any casino or racino development initiatives. "We already took our beating at the polls at Scarborough and Westbrook and Saco" in 2003, he says. "We'll see how Bangor does first."
Nonetheless, Bailey is working to keep Casinos No! organized and ready for its next challenge. "I would love to not have to worry about casinos in Maine," says Bailey. "But the money's too good for those guys. It's a license to print money, and they won't go away. As long as they're going to be here, we'll be here."
Bailey, a former spokesman for Gov. Angus King and founder of Portland public relations firm Savvy Inc., has worked to keep Casinos No! in the public eye since then. As part of that effort, Casinos No! last month announced a reorganization in which it will split into two separate divisions, one that will focus on education and fundraising, and an advocacy arm to combat the spread of casinos and racinos in Maine. "If people think casinos are the answer to economic problems, they're sorely mistaken," says Bailey. "When suicide and bankruptcy happen, it's not economic development, I can guarantee."
Robert Tardy, a Newport-based lobbyist for Scarborough Downs Harness Racetrack, sees it differently. Tardy believes that bringing gambling into the state will contribute to economic development ˆ at least by keeping Maine's struggling harness racing industry alive. He complains that attendance at tracks like Scarborough Downs and Bangor Raceway has fallen off so much that the industry needs new revenue in order to survive. Racetracks in Delaware, he says, are offering purses of $5,000 or more to racers, compared with just $1,200 for Maine tracks. The reason? Slot machines, which he says are bringing new revenue into the tracks. "I've been to several different racinos and most of the people I saw played the [slot] machines as a recreation," he says. "To me, it's just another form of entertainment."
To combat that opinion, Casinos No! recently applied for nonprofit 501c3 status, which would allow donations to the group to be tax-deductible. But that status includes strict regulations against using that money for advocacy efforts like campaigning against a pro-casino politician or airing television ads opposing racino development in southern Maine. As a result, Casinos No!'s nonprofit arm will be a foundation that Bailey says will sponsor speakers and studies that address gambling-related issues.
Meanwhile, the group's advocacy arm will be strengthened with the addition of Mike Saxl, the former speaker of the House and an attorney at Verrill Dana in Augusta, as the group's lobbyist. "Mike can be there on a daily basis and pay attention to all the ins and outs," says Bailey. "There will be a lot of little things going in and out that we need to keep track of, and he'll be able to do that."
A southern Maine strategy?
One of the items Casinos No! is tracking is a bill moving through the Legislature that would allow companies like Penn National Gaming, the Wyomissing, Pa.-based firm that is finalizing plans for the $75 million racino development at the Bangor Raceway, to keep hidden from the public some company-specific details during the permitting process. (A spokesperson from Penn National Gaming did not respond to repeated calls for this story.
Meanwhile, the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee unanimously approved the measure in mid-February, and the bill was passed along to the Legislature's Judiciary Committee.)
But that kind of vigilance won't come cheap: Bailey estimates the organization's operating budget at $150,000 per year, with the bulk of that money earmarked for lobbyists, lawyers and public relations work through Bailey's company, Savvy Inc., which is on a $3,000 a month retainer. (Meanwhile, Savvy continues to work for other clients, such as Tulsa, Okla.-based Quoddy Bay LLC, which has proposed development of a liquefied natural gas facility in Pleasant Point, and Stamford, Conn.-based Purdue Pharma.) Bailey expects roughly $100,000 of that annual budget to come from corporate donations. The rest, says Bailey, will come from individual donations.
In just a few days' worth of mail after the most recent Casinos No! fundraising initiative, Bailey says the group has raised more than $12,000 from individual donors. The outpouring of financial support is less surprising these days than it was in 2003, when Bailey figured the group's $1 million goal was out of reach. "Even though I told the press that we wanted to raise $1 million, I didn't think we could," he says. "We ended up raising $3 million."
Much of that money came from corporate donations from local firms like Westbrook-based Idexx Laboratories and out-of-state companies with Maine ties such as Durham, N.C.-based Burt's Bees and Wilmington, Del.-based MBNA. Bailey says the group received strong support from L.L. Bean CEO Leon Gorman and his wife, Lisa; their involvement with Casinos No!, Bailey says, helped lend the organization an air of legitimacy.
As Casinos No! continued to organize, more business owners offered their support. Peter Geiger, executive vice president of Lewiston-based Geiger Bros. and editor of the Farmer's Almanac, became engaged in the effort on the grounds that busloads of tourists coming up to drop money into slot machines and onto poker tables wouldn't necessarily result in economic development. "There was no guarantee that people would traipse up here to go to the casino, and it wasn't the kind of jobs that I wanted to see," he says. "It's not the way I wanted to build the economy."
The group dates back to 2002, when Jim Bartlett, a former York selectman and long-time attorney, and then-state Rep. Mary Black Andrews (R-York) headed a small group opposed to the casino project. As the scope of the proposed casino widened, though, Bailey says Bartlett asked him to take over. "As [the issue] grew and became a referendum, it had overtaken Jim's law practice," says Bailey. "He asked me to take it off his hands, so I started spending a lot of time and not getting paid." (Bailey says Savvy Inc., which he co-founded in 2000 with business partner Mark Robinson, piled up nearly $30,000 in losses from the Casinos No! campaign.)
The pace has let up considerably since then, but Bailey says he still found himself getting out of bed at 3:00 a.m. on a recent February morning to pen an op-ed piece, which he fired off to the Portland Press Herald, against the proposal to put ATMs at the Bangor racino. In conversation, Bailey calls casinos "bad news," but says he's sure that firms like Penn National and Marnell Carrao want to spread casinos and racinos across Maine. The next battleground, says Bailey, appears to be southern Maine.
Tardy, however, says that it likely will be years until voters are again faced with any casino or racino development initiatives. "We already took our beating at the polls at Scarborough and Westbrook and Saco" in 2003, he says. "We'll see how Bangor does first."
Nonetheless, Bailey is working to keep Casinos No! organized and ready for its next challenge. "I would love to not have to worry about casinos in Maine," says Bailey. "But the money's too good for those guys. It's a license to print money, and they won't go away. As long as they're going to be here, we'll be here."
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments