|
May 15, 2007 10:01 pm
Editorial: Are you kidding?
Pardon the pun, but we’d be willing to bet you that MTR Gaming chief executive Ted Arneault is probably looking for some different lawyers today after it was revealed Tuesday that officials in both Hancock and Kanawha counties failed to meet a deadline for legally advertising a June 9 special election on table games.
CNHI News Service
— Editorial: Are you kidding?
After all of the table game hoopla, legal blunder may delay Kanawha, Hancock votes
Opinion: The Register-Herald, Beckley, W.Va.
Pardon the pun, but we’d be willing to bet you that MTR Gaming chief executive Ted Arneault is probably looking for some different lawyers today after it was revealed Tuesday that officials in both Hancock and Kanawha counties failed to meet a deadline for legally advertising a June 9 special election on table games.
Are you kidding? After all this time, a little technicality may end up delaying the vote for Racinos.
How about that fly on the wall in Mr. Arneault’s office? It got an earful Tuesday.
Ben Beakes, spokesman for Secretary of State Betty Ireland, said “It’s very clear that the table games bill mandates the county commission (in the four racetrack counties) publish a legal notice and the last notice has to be published 30 days preceding the election.”
Apparently, the ball got dropped in both Charleston and New Cumberland. We’re sure the fingerpointing has already started, the phone lines are being lit up for both the supporters and opponents.
You, along with Mr. Arneault and other racing industry officials, might like to how this could happen. Well, somebody in those two jurisdictions apparently didn’t read the law or just failed to follow up. Ted’s blood pressure has got to be way up.
Delegate Kelli Sobonya, R-Cabell, made sure the clause mandating that public announcements be published in the newspapers serving the areas where the special elections were to take place was included in the legislation which West Virginia’s lawmakers passed earlier this year.
A staunch opponent to the table games effort, we’d also bet Sobonya was giggling behind the scenes on Tuesday. On the record, she used the snafu to rip into the pro-table games movement.
“You’ve got entities salivating over gambling revenue and basically not even looking at what the law has to say,” Sobonya remarked.
Given what has taken place, well, that remark has to cut like a knife.
Attorneys were racking up the billable hours Tuesday, and it’s going to continue for the next few days to see where this all leads. At least they are making some coin even if a group of them failed miserably in this botched scenario.
There will be a table games vote in Hancock and Kanawha counties, but don’t wager on it happening June 9.
|
