Slots pass KY House; Williams making Senate vote dubious

[Riot]

A&R Committee - According to Paulick, the final vote count:

Charlie Borders - R, Chairman - NO
Robert (Bob) Leeper - I, Vice Chairman - NO
David Boswell - D - YES
Tom Buford - R - YES
Denise Harper Angel - D - YES (Churchill District, father retired trainer)
Ernie Harris - R - NO
Dan Kelly - R - NO
Alice Forgy Kerr - R - NO (Lexington)
Vernie McGaha - R - NO
RJ Palmer - D - Abstain
Joey Pendleton - D - YES
Tim Shaughnessy - D - YES
Brandon Smith - R - NO
Robert Stivers - R - NO
Gary Tapp - R - NO
Elizabeth Tori - R - NO
Jack Westwood - R (Westwood is traveling out of the country and will not be present to vote) - Absent

[PSH]

Originally Posted by Coach Pants

If all the democrats vote yes then they need 1 more republican...

Edit: Two more republican votes needed if the Independent and all dems vote yes.

I have been biting my tongue on this one.
Republicans and religious right, lots of luck.
Makes me glad to be a Democrat....
I will take the nuts from the far left any day over the religious right.

Sorry to offend but this is typical religious right ****

So they need 9 votes? S.hit.

It's done.

[Riot]

Unbelievable

7:15 p.m. … Let’s cut right to it. After a computer failure, I can report that the measure failed to get the committee support and will not be sent to the full Senate. Voting no were Sens. Harris, McGaha, Smith, Stivers, Tapp, Tori, Westwood. Voting yes were Boswell, Buford, Angel, Pendleton and Shaughnessy.

The room cleared quickly, many of the people from the horse industry leaving with long, sad faces. One horse owner, Jack Smith, shouted in the direction of Republican Sen. Damon Thayer, "You will never get another penny of support from me," Smith told Thayer, who is a consultant to the horse industry and a former Breeders’ Cup and Turfway Park executive. Thayer called the remark inappropriate and said he was not a member of the committee that rejected the slots bill. Thayer never came out in support of the bill, either. And for a senator who claims to be the Thoroughbred industry’s point man on Kentucky legislation, that speaks volumes.

It's going to get real ugly now.

[otisotisotis]

Too bad...I guess that will effectively end TP and Ellis in the near future.

[philcski]

sickening but no shocker... I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad that the pandering politicians in this state can make life decisions for me. What a joke.

[philcski]

Here's the P.O.S. that killed Kentucky racing.

Originally Posted by philcski

Here's the P.O.S. that killed Kentucky racing.

Caligula?

[GBBob]

Thnx for the play by play Coach and others...sickening

[Swale84]

Originally Posted by PSH

I have been biting my tongue on this one.
Republicans and religious right, lots of luck.
Makes me glad to be a Democrat....
I will take the nuts from the far left any day over the religious right.

Sorry to offend but this is typical religious right ****

I think this is more typical of self serving politicians who care nothing of what is best for their state. New York, Kentucky they are everywhere

[philcski]

Originally Posted by Coach Pants

Caligula?

Yeah, I think he's a giver.

[Riot]

On the comments section of the Paulick blog, John G. Sikura has an interesting paragraph post-vote.

http://www.paulickreport.com/blog/li...slots-hearing/

[Scav]

Originally Posted by Riot

On the comments section of the Paulick blog, John G. Sikura has an interesting paragraph post-vote.

http://www.paulickreport.com/blog/li...slots-hearing/

Yep, I agree with him, if these states don't want to listen, close the place down.

Mr. D did that very thing, I forgot why he did it, but racing is more alive then ever around here now....

Can anyone explain to me why Thayer didn't get to vote? I met him and have talked with him on a couple occasions about some other stuff, and he is about as pro horse racing person as I have ever met

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by Scav

Can anyone explain to me why Thayer didn't get to vote? I met him and have talked with him on a couple occasions about some other stuff, and he is about as pro horse racing person as I have ever met

Because he wasn't on the Senate Appropriations Committee that was voting to send the bill to the full senate.

He's a fraud. A lackey that thinks he's the annointed successor in the KY G.O.P. Accurately described to me earlier today as a 'pissant' by a leading political figure in Kentucky.

He may not think so or realize it, but his political future in KY, as well as his racing-related public relations business, are through as of tonight.

Hopefully one fine day when the religious zealots in this state get everything their way it will eventually backfire because their sheeple won't have the means to tithe.

F.uck religion.

[joeydb]

This vote really pisses me off, and I'm neither a Democrat nor a resident of Kentucky. It's just so damned petty and stupid that the representatives of a state would hurt it's premier industry.

We all love the horses and the people who make them run. What sort of people, especially if self-proclaimed religious, would want to hurt them?

But, anything to prevent others from having the choice to gamble or not, right?

[Suffolk Shippers]

Typical politicos, unable to see the six inches in front of their face, judgment clouded by their own ambitions and agenda, and in no way representing the folks who put them in office.

This whole situation in Kentucky parallels closely to someone in Massachusetts, former Speaker of the House, Sal DiMasi. For years, the state senate has passed various versions of slot legislation to add slots at Suffolk Downs, Plainville Racecourse and the two dog tracks. Consistently, for years, Mr. DiMasi refused to hold committee hearings on the legislation, never mind send it to the floor for a vote. At the beginning of the year, DiMasi resigned, and he's now under federal indictment on various counts (unrelated to racing or slots). Hopefully the karma train finds Mr. Williams one of these days as well.

These people unfortunately, make decisions like this every single day. It's not exclusive to republicans or democrats. Laws are passed in the interests of the special interests, those with money and influence. Or they are passed to sensationalize, that appease a small vocal crowd, but are later seen to be unnecessary or restrictive. This is in no way how it's supposed to be.