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July 11, 2006
Long odds | Seth Carey wants to bring a casino to western Maine, but critics say it's the wrong approach to economic development
By Whit Richardson
Some in Rumford believe Seth Carey is crazy. The young, newly licensed lawyer admits he's had some over-the-top business ideas in the past, but that such proposals are what it takes to solve one of his hometown's most stubborn challenges: creating jobs and diversifying an economy clinging to its blue-collar roots.
With that goal in mind, Carey has spent years brainstorming entrepreneurial endeavors that range from opening a restaurant to marketing an organic bug spray ˆ none of which has materialized. But he's betting that his most recent effort ˆ to open a resort casino in the woods of western Maine ˆ is the one that will beat the house. "All my ideas are crazy," Carey, 31, says on a recent sunny morning, sitting behind his desk at his father's law firm in Rumford. "But it just takes one that is feasible."
In May, Carey unveiled his plan to bring a casino to western Maine on the website of Evergreen Mountain Enterprises LLC, the company Carey founded to be the face of the proposal. He envisions a rustic, log cabin-style resort along one of the heavily traveled routes in the area, which in turn would spark development of restaurants, retail and outlet stores, and maybe even a winery. He calls a casino "clean, nonpolluting tourism" and believes a casino would create job opportunities, pump much-needed cash into the local economy and put Rumford ˆ or whichever town in western Maine wants the casino ˆ back on the map. "Rumford was, so I've heard, one of the most up-and-coming, swinging towns in Maine," Carey says. "It was a stop on the tourism route in western Maine, but that has sort of dried up."
Carey is launching a citizens' initiative for the proposed casino, and plans to collect 40,000 to 50,000 signatures by Jan. 25, 2007, in order to get the question on the November 2007 ballot. But plenty of people in Rumford and around the state say that, in this instance, he's far missed the mark in his own quest to find that one crazy, but feasible, idea.
For starters, Carey's casino proposal faces the same legal hurdles that similar, but better financed, casino proposals have faced in Maine. Then there are critics ˆ local and statewide ˆ ready to oppose his efforts to change Maine's gambling laws. The anti-gambling group CasinosNo! is keeping Carey's nascent proposal on its radar, but says it isn't taking it very seriously. Dennis Bailey of CasinosNo! points out that if casino proposals backed by the deep pockets of Las Vegas failed, such as the one defeated in Sanford in 2003, how does Carey think his grassroots effort can succeed? "None of these people I've seen have any experience or background in the business," Bailey says.
"They're just throwing the idea out there, and I don't think it will fly."
But opponents of the proposal have hurled almost as much criticism at Carey as they have at his proposal. The Lewiston Sun Journal ran an editorial in early May calling Carey "a hothead" and blasting his proposal: "Even if it were a good idea, Seth Carey is not the guy to pull this off," the editorial reads.
John Madigan Jr., the town manager of neighboring Mexico, also doesn't hold Carey in high esteem. "This is one lone wolf trying to stir up the pot," he says.
Carey says the personal attacks don't faze him, but he does believe the criticism of his proposal is premature. He points out that he has only launched a citizens' initiative to bring a casino to western Maine, and that opponents haven't waited to see the details of the plan.
Because the proposal still lacks many of those crucial details, however, many economic development organizations, such as the Rumford-based River Valley Growth Council and Western Maine Alliance in Farmington, would not comment on it. But Tanya Swain, executive director of the Western Maine Alliance, says she's not surprised that even the suggestion for a casino is stirring such visceral reaction. "Any significant change from what is traditional here instantly creates a lot of controversy," she says. "Probably because we don't know what it might mean for the future."
Bringing vitality, or killing off the town?
For Carey ˆ who left Maine after high school to attend Clemson University in South Carolina, but returned in 2002 to become the regional campaign director for Oxford and Androscoggin counties for then-candidate-for-Governor John Baldacci ˆ the most alarming trend in Maine is the exodus of its young people. Since the 1960s, according to U.S. Census data, Rumford has seen its population decrease from a peak of about 10,000 during the middle of the century to a current population of 6,472.
Carey attributes the decline to increased automation at the local paper mill and to a lack of good-paying jobs for youth in the area. "More can be done to reverse the brain drain," Carey says. "Right now, when you weigh your options, you really need to love Maine and put your friends and family ahead of making money."
Brainstorming ways to create economic growth eventually led to his current proposal. "I knew that to keep the town that I once knew we needed to create more job opportunities," he says. "I've had that as a template in my mind, but it never occurred to me how to do it, until now."
The initial seed was planted a few years ago, Carey says, when he envisioned opening an off-track betting facility in Rumford. He says he almost bid on an old wood mill to house the project, but thought better of the idea after researching the state laws restricting gambling. However, Carey says the process planted a seed for the potential of a gambling-related project in the area.
Last year, he began researching citizens' initiatives and petitions while working with Concerned Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, a local Rumford watchdog group Carey co-founded, and it got him thinking about reviving his idea. Once he determined that anyone in Maine can petition to change the laws restricting gambling, he launched in May the Evergreen Mountain website, announcing his citizens' initiative and soliciting likeminded individuals to help collect the signatures necessary to get the question on the ballot.
Although the proposal is still in its infancy, supporters have surfaced. James Rinaldo, 61, a Rumford native who is chair of its board of selectmen and works at the paper mill, says Rumford ˆ or whichever western Maine town agrees to host a casino ˆ would benefit from the jobs and tax stream that a casino could offer. "I was living in Rumford as a kid, when Rumford was a booming town, when it was the place to go in this area; when there were movie theaters, music stores and restaurants and so forth up and down the street," he says. "Today, you go down Congress Street and it's not even a shadow of what it used to be."
Carey has packaged the proposal as environmentally friendly and socially responsible. His website lays out a plan under which 39% of the casino's revenues would be allocated to a host of organizations, some of which don't yet exist. For example, the largest recipient would be a proposed student loan repayment program for Maine college students. Other beneficiaries would be a fund to develop an east-west highway in Maine ˆ which Carey says is another necessity to revitalize the western portion of the state ˆ and the University of Maine for biofuel research.
Of course, 39% is only a portion of the revenue, and the website fails to address the whereabouts of the other 61% ˆ something critics have seized upon. "So where's the rest of the money? It's in his pocket, that's where it is," Bailey of CasinosNo! says. "This is just his quick little scheme to make money for himself and he's trying to sell it as some benevolent offer to the citizens of Maine. It's just another charade, which is what casinos are."
Because the proposal is still in its infancy, Carey admits he's not sure where the rest of the money would go. He says any money coming to him or Evergreen Mountain Enterprises would be reinvested into the facility, and he estimates another 25% would go to a management company running the operation. How to finance the project is another detail Carey has yet to work out. He's considered offering bonds or stock to Maine residents, and he says representatives from the Maine Small Business Development Centers have told him he would have no problem getting a loan for a project such as this. But that's a claim Bailey doubts: "No bank is going to give this guy money to build a casino if he's got nobody on his staff that has experience doing it," he says.
But even if they doubt Carey's ability to pull off a casino project, critics aren't backing off from a debate over the central premise of his plan ˆ that a casino could revive the western Maine economy. "A casino is not economic development," Bailey says. "It's economic cannibalism, they just take from the economy and give nothing back."
Mexico Town Manager Madigan agrees. "This is the last thing this area needs," he says. "Why would you want that to come in to your town and ruin it like Reno or Atlantic City? It might be great money-wise, but as far as quality-of-life-wise, it's not."
Carey is undaunted in the face of the criticism. He says the Secretary of State has approved the wording of his referendum and he expects to begin collecting signatures by the end of June. He says he has about 50 people throughout Oxford County ready to help.
Once that process begins, Carey expects his plan ˆ and himself ˆ to fall under increased scrutiny. But he maintains that it would be presumptuous of him to have lined up financing and worked out a complete revenue allocation plan before the larger task of collecting 40,000 signatures is even underway.
At some point, he says, once the petitions are in and the question is sure to make it on the ballot, he'll be ready to discuss the details with supporters and critics alike. "I've thought this out very carefully," Carey says. "I know this in my heart of hearts is beneficial for Maine's future."
With that goal in mind, Carey has spent years brainstorming entrepreneurial endeavors that range from opening a restaurant to marketing an organic bug spray ˆ none of which has materialized. But he's betting that his most recent effort ˆ to open a resort casino in the woods of western Maine ˆ is the one that will beat the house. "All my ideas are crazy," Carey, 31, says on a recent sunny morning, sitting behind his desk at his father's law firm in Rumford. "But it just takes one that is feasible."
In May, Carey unveiled his plan to bring a casino to western Maine on the website of Evergreen Mountain Enterprises LLC, the company Carey founded to be the face of the proposal. He envisions a rustic, log cabin-style resort along one of the heavily traveled routes in the area, which in turn would spark development of restaurants, retail and outlet stores, and maybe even a winery. He calls a casino "clean, nonpolluting tourism" and believes a casino would create job opportunities, pump much-needed cash into the local economy and put Rumford ˆ or whichever town in western Maine wants the casino ˆ back on the map. "Rumford was, so I've heard, one of the most up-and-coming, swinging towns in Maine," Carey says. "It was a stop on the tourism route in western Maine, but that has sort of dried up."
Carey is launching a citizens' initiative for the proposed casino, and plans to collect 40,000 to 50,000 signatures by Jan. 25, 2007, in order to get the question on the November 2007 ballot. But plenty of people in Rumford and around the state say that, in this instance, he's far missed the mark in his own quest to find that one crazy, but feasible, idea.
For starters, Carey's casino proposal faces the same legal hurdles that similar, but better financed, casino proposals have faced in Maine. Then there are critics ˆ local and statewide ˆ ready to oppose his efforts to change Maine's gambling laws. The anti-gambling group CasinosNo! is keeping Carey's nascent proposal on its radar, but says it isn't taking it very seriously. Dennis Bailey of CasinosNo! points out that if casino proposals backed by the deep pockets of Las Vegas failed, such as the one defeated in Sanford in 2003, how does Carey think his grassroots effort can succeed? "None of these people I've seen have any experience or background in the business," Bailey says.
"They're just throwing the idea out there, and I don't think it will fly."
But opponents of the proposal have hurled almost as much criticism at Carey as they have at his proposal. The Lewiston Sun Journal ran an editorial in early May calling Carey "a hothead" and blasting his proposal: "Even if it were a good idea, Seth Carey is not the guy to pull this off," the editorial reads.
John Madigan Jr., the town manager of neighboring Mexico, also doesn't hold Carey in high esteem. "This is one lone wolf trying to stir up the pot," he says.
Carey says the personal attacks don't faze him, but he does believe the criticism of his proposal is premature. He points out that he has only launched a citizens' initiative to bring a casino to western Maine, and that opponents haven't waited to see the details of the plan.
Because the proposal still lacks many of those crucial details, however, many economic development organizations, such as the Rumford-based River Valley Growth Council and Western Maine Alliance in Farmington, would not comment on it. But Tanya Swain, executive director of the Western Maine Alliance, says she's not surprised that even the suggestion for a casino is stirring such visceral reaction. "Any significant change from what is traditional here instantly creates a lot of controversy," she says. "Probably because we don't know what it might mean for the future."
Bringing vitality, or killing off the town?
For Carey ˆ who left Maine after high school to attend Clemson University in South Carolina, but returned in 2002 to become the regional campaign director for Oxford and Androscoggin counties for then-candidate-for-Governor John Baldacci ˆ the most alarming trend in Maine is the exodus of its young people. Since the 1960s, according to U.S. Census data, Rumford has seen its population decrease from a peak of about 10,000 during the middle of the century to a current population of 6,472.
Carey attributes the decline to increased automation at the local paper mill and to a lack of good-paying jobs for youth in the area. "More can be done to reverse the brain drain," Carey says. "Right now, when you weigh your options, you really need to love Maine and put your friends and family ahead of making money."
Brainstorming ways to create economic growth eventually led to his current proposal. "I knew that to keep the town that I once knew we needed to create more job opportunities," he says. "I've had that as a template in my mind, but it never occurred to me how to do it, until now."
The initial seed was planted a few years ago, Carey says, when he envisioned opening an off-track betting facility in Rumford. He says he almost bid on an old wood mill to house the project, but thought better of the idea after researching the state laws restricting gambling. However, Carey says the process planted a seed for the potential of a gambling-related project in the area.
Last year, he began researching citizens' initiatives and petitions while working with Concerned Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, a local Rumford watchdog group Carey co-founded, and it got him thinking about reviving his idea. Once he determined that anyone in Maine can petition to change the laws restricting gambling, he launched in May the Evergreen Mountain website, announcing his citizens' initiative and soliciting likeminded individuals to help collect the signatures necessary to get the question on the ballot.
Although the proposal is still in its infancy, supporters have surfaced. James Rinaldo, 61, a Rumford native who is chair of its board of selectmen and works at the paper mill, says Rumford ˆ or whichever western Maine town agrees to host a casino ˆ would benefit from the jobs and tax stream that a casino could offer. "I was living in Rumford as a kid, when Rumford was a booming town, when it was the place to go in this area; when there were movie theaters, music stores and restaurants and so forth up and down the street," he says. "Today, you go down Congress Street and it's not even a shadow of what it used to be."
Carey has packaged the proposal as environmentally friendly and socially responsible. His website lays out a plan under which 39% of the casino's revenues would be allocated to a host of organizations, some of which don't yet exist. For example, the largest recipient would be a proposed student loan repayment program for Maine college students. Other beneficiaries would be a fund to develop an east-west highway in Maine ˆ which Carey says is another necessity to revitalize the western portion of the state ˆ and the University of Maine for biofuel research.
Of course, 39% is only a portion of the revenue, and the website fails to address the whereabouts of the other 61% ˆ something critics have seized upon. "So where's the rest of the money? It's in his pocket, that's where it is," Bailey of CasinosNo! says. "This is just his quick little scheme to make money for himself and he's trying to sell it as some benevolent offer to the citizens of Maine. It's just another charade, which is what casinos are."
Because the proposal is still in its infancy, Carey admits he's not sure where the rest of the money would go. He says any money coming to him or Evergreen Mountain Enterprises would be reinvested into the facility, and he estimates another 25% would go to a management company running the operation. How to finance the project is another detail Carey has yet to work out. He's considered offering bonds or stock to Maine residents, and he says representatives from the Maine Small Business Development Centers have told him he would have no problem getting a loan for a project such as this. But that's a claim Bailey doubts: "No bank is going to give this guy money to build a casino if he's got nobody on his staff that has experience doing it," he says.
But even if they doubt Carey's ability to pull off a casino project, critics aren't backing off from a debate over the central premise of his plan ˆ that a casino could revive the western Maine economy. "A casino is not economic development," Bailey says. "It's economic cannibalism, they just take from the economy and give nothing back."
Mexico Town Manager Madigan agrees. "This is the last thing this area needs," he says. "Why would you want that to come in to your town and ruin it like Reno or Atlantic City? It might be great money-wise, but as far as quality-of-life-wise, it's not."
Carey is undaunted in the face of the criticism. He says the Secretary of State has approved the wording of his referendum and he expects to begin collecting signatures by the end of June. He says he has about 50 people throughout Oxford County ready to help.
Once that process begins, Carey expects his plan ˆ and himself ˆ to fall under increased scrutiny. But he maintains that it would be presumptuous of him to have lined up financing and worked out a complete revenue allocation plan before the larger task of collecting 40,000 signatures is even underway.
At some point, he says, once the petitions are in and the question is sure to make it on the ballot, he'll be ready to discuss the details with supporters and critics alike. "I've thought this out very carefully," Carey says. "I know this in my heart of hearts is beneficial for Maine's future."
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