Dear Editor,
To borrow words used by the Dispatch and State Budget Director Tim Keen, I am not sure if “inexplicable” or “inexcusable” is the best way to describe the failure to provide start-up funding for the Ohio Casino Control Commission.
Despite a Dispatch editorial’s assertion to the contrary, someone in the General Assembly did consider the necessity of paying for the commission’s start-up costs. Legislation passed last May by the Democratic controlled Ohio House of Representatives provided $7.6 million in operating funds. However, the Republican controlled Senate stripped the funding from the bill.
Furthermore, the work of the Casino Control Commission has been needlessly delayed by partisan politics. The commission started meeting in October to establish guidelines for opening and operating Ohio’s casinos. However, the commission’s work ground to a halt when Governor Kasich insisted on removing the board’s original members to stack the commission with his own appointees.
We should not allow partisan politics to delay economic development in our cities. Unfortunately, that is a consequence of the political games that are being played with the Casino Control Commission.
Respectfully yours,
State Senator Michael J. Skindell
(D) Lakewood