For Immediate Release Contact: Martin Cothran
February 26, 2008 Phone: 859-329-1919
Casinos lose in committee
"How can we say, "let the people decide" on casino gambling when our state's elected leaders can't even make up their own minds?" asked a spokesman for The Family Foundation of Kentucky today after the proposed constitutional amendment that would allow casino gambling failed in a State House Committee. "We're now going to start our own campaign, called "Let the people gloat," said Cothran, "to point out that what a lot of us have been saying all along is now coming to pass: That casinos breed bad politics."
"Greed is not a basis for good public policy--or, apparently, good legislative strategy."
"What we saw today in the committee was mass confusion, said Martin Cothran, senior policy analyst with The Family Foundation of Kentucky. "This can't be heartening for Kentuckians who are now being told that they should press their representatives to vote to change the Constitution. You can't, in good conscience, change a document that has stood for over a hundred years if the people who know the most about the issue can't even decide amongst themselves."
The House Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee voted 5-3, with 3 members passing, against the proposed amendment.
"This may not be dead yet," said Cothran, "but it's clearly on artificial life support."
