Saturday, November 18, 2006

If this past election was a referendum on congressional budget earmarking
and good, old-fashioned pork-barreling, West Virginians did their part in
endorsing those practices when they re-elected certain congressional
incumbents. Now that Democrats have regained control of both houses of
Congress, you can bet West Virginia is about to see the federal dollars flow
once again. Remember the dire predictions of a funding crunch limiting the
Department of Transportation with its highway projects? Maybe some of those
much-needed road projects will become reality much sooner than we expected.
The people have spoken. They know what they like. Let the earmarking begin.
Ohio voters gave West Virginia racetrack and casino operators something of a
reprieve on Election Day. Buckeye voters turned down State Issue 3, an
amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would have permitted up to 31,500
slot machines at seven horse racing tracks and at two Cleveland non-track
sites and allow expanded gambling in the four Cuyahoga County locations if
that county's voters agreed. The proposal would have channeled 30 percent of
the revenue to the state's Board of Regents for college scholarships and
grants to eligible students and the administration of the program. Of the
3.7 million ballots cast, about 57 percent of Ohio voters -- and 82 of 88
counties -- rejected the initiative. That means Ohio's decision eliminated
the arrival of additional competition for West Virginia's racetracks at
least for the time being. Interestingly, voters in some of Ohio's largest
counties favored State Issue 3. Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), Hamilton County
(Cincinnati) and Trumbull County (Warren) favored it, while the issue went
down by two-to-one margins in many small, rural counties. But Ohio's
decision is hardly the end of the story. Pennsylvania has kicked off its
gambling enterprises, and those new slot operations are sure to compete with
West Virginia's Northern Panhandle tracks in particular. West Virginia
racetracks have tried for years to usher table games legislation through the
West Virginia Legislature. Lawmakers have run in fear in the past, wary of a
voter backlash if they expand gambling in the state. But time is running
out, and more and more legislators are aware the state has an interest in
protecting its gambling revenues.

Ohio may be off the table for now, but Pennsylvania will squeeze the
Northern Panhandle tracks and their revenues. Track managers support local
option voting on whether to permit table games at the Mountaineer and
Wheeling Island complexes. Track operators argue that table games, such as
blackjack and craps, will allow them to attract new customers, maintain and
even expand employment and preserve the amount of money they generate for
the state.

Moralists in the Legislature have argued they oppose gambling. That's a
hollow argument. West Virginia is up to its eyeballs in gambling, and the
Legislature is faced with an obvious choice: Act now to legalize table games
at the tracks and preserve state revenues or prepare to raise taxes or
reduce government services. That's a fairly simple equation.

And while they're at it, maybe they could find a way to get rid of the 8,500
or so limited video lottery slot machines that operate in gambling parlors
on street corners from Newell to Bluefield. The racetracks generally are
isolated destinations that appeal to many out-of-state patrons. Video slot
parlors, on the other hand, are lined up next to the local barber shop,
drugstore and dry cleaners. For my money, they have been a pox on the fabric
of West Virginia neighborhoods.

Speaking of Ohio, voters also approved by a 58 percent to 42 percent margin
State Issue 5, which drastically restricts smoking in public places. Unlike
West Virginia, whose anti-smoking forces have waged their war one county at
a time, Ohio's anti-smoking army won with a statewide vote.

The Toledo Blade on Nov. 12 quoted Patrick Reynolds as predicting that
America one day will be smoke-free. The grandson of the founder of R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco Co., a former smoker and now an anti-smoking activist said
passage of smoking bans in Ohio, Arizona and Nevada on Nov. 7 was the
"tipping point" in the movement.

"Ohio is very important," the Blade quoted Reynolds as saying. "It's
heartland. As Ohio goes, so goes the nation, according to popular lore. It's
a bellwether state. If you can convince Ohioans, then it's an idea whose
time has probably come."

The new law is scheduled to go into effect Dec. 7 and will prohibit smoking
in restaurants, bars, workplaces and all other indoor public places with
some exceptions, such as private clubs that don't serve or employ nonmembers
and wholly family-owned and family-operated businesses.