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Wednesday, 01 July 2009 |
By MIKE BURKHOLDER
Managing Editor
ST. MARYS — As state lawmakers continue to work to hammer out an agreement on a biennial budget, one area legislator says Gov. Ted Strickland’s proposal to expand gaming is flawed.
“It comes down to who is going to be tagged to gambling,” State Rep. John Adams, R-Sidney, said. “It’s the governor’s plan but he wants the legislature to pass it.”
On Tuesday, House legislators passed an interim budget that would continue to fund the state for seven days. The measure gives legislators more time to iron out details regarding the $54 billion biennial budget proposed by the governor — who proposed expanding gaming at seven Ohio horse tracks to include video slot machines.
“It’s the governor’s plan and he needs to take responsibility for it the same way he did with keno,” Adams said. “He bypassed the legislature with an executive order to have keno go through the lottery commission.”
Adams, who serves as minority whip in the House, said House Republicans are opposed to the expansion of gaming to fix a $933 million hole in the budget. Much of the wrangling about the budget centers on Strickland’s estimate about how much the slots would bring in.
“It’s phantom budgeting,” Adams said. “It’s not going to happen based on those numbers. They can pass this budget and pass gambling, but the bottom line is it won’t bring in that amount.”
Dozens of groups that rely on state funding have railed against Strickland for proposed cuts, including reductions to libraries and social services. Adams said given the state of the economy, cuts are necessary but possibly not to the extent of Strickland’s proposal.
“I think everyone will take a cut but it depends on what the cut is,” Adams said. “There are 500 items they are still negotiating on and the budget is over 4,000 pages. Gambling is the big-ticket item.”
Cliff Hite, the 76th House District representative, said the impasse on gaming expansion could result in the passage of another seven-day interim budget. The Republican said he believes gambling should not be included in the budget.
“I think the people should have a right to decide,” Hite said. “I’d like to see it on the ballot so they could give us a message if this is one way they want to avoid taxes.”
Hite said many legislators are left in the dark during the conference committee’s negotiations on the budget. However the Findlay resident said the mood in Columbus is “very eerie.”
“We are kind of in a wait-and-see position and that is not comfortable to most people,” Hite said. “We like to know what’s going on and where we are heading so we know if we like it or not.”
Hite said the possibility of a second interim budget would give legislators more time to come to an agreement on a spending bill.
“I doubt if we get it done this week,” Hite said. “We are on-call to be here through July 15 and we may not be done by then. People will probably have to put some egos aside before we finish.” |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 July 2009 )
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