Slots and the State of the World

Maryland finds itself on the potential brink of a new predatory gambling era, bringing back a policy that failed miserably and was abolished forty years ago. We spend our days arguing the few merits and myriad costs of a policy that we instinctively know to be bad. But we don’t ask ourselves the basic and most important question: How did we get here?

Americans, since the days of Benjamin Franklin, have benefited from our fundamental tendencies towards hard work and thrift. But over the last quarter century, we have forsaken these virtues and now worship at the altar of consumption. This has come at a cost—a cost that we have been all too willing to put off through the modern miracle of virtually limitless credit.

We consumers, however, are hardly alone in our desire to have it all, and to have it right now. Our federal government has been on what can only be described as a binge. Our national debt, an inconceivably massive $3 trillion in 1990 now towers at nearly $11 trillion. At the same time, voters have bought into insane promises of lower and lower taxes. The results have been predictable and devastating.

Part of this federal fiasco has been a shifting of financial responsibility to the states. Mandates grow and funding withers. Governor Martin O’Malley brilliantly called it "trickle-down fiscal irresponsibility.” Federal elected officials lack the will to square taxation and spending. They borrow what they can, and then pass their problems on to the governors. The governors then attempt to financially engineer their way out. They securitize tobacco settlements for quick cash. Some have even attempted to sell their roads to European financiers. No measure is too desperate.

So now what? How can we continue to have an ever expanding set of federal and state programs when taxpayers refuse to pay for them? What we need is a new sucker or “revenue source” as they like to say in Annapolis. Say hello to slots—the perfect solution for governments desperate enough to prey on their own citizens and willing to try anything. Finally, money that can keep those budgetary plates spinning on the sticks for a few more years.

It’s an elected officials dream, allowing the bloating of government to continue unfettered. Corporate interests and their lobbyists can get behind it. It not only keeps them clear of their responsibility to fund government, but creates a new class of corporate entity all too willing to pay taxes—the casino operator. Voters, who generally know that predatory gambling is, well, predatory, see it as a voluntary tax that they don’t really intend to pay.

This tax will be paid by the most perfect entity ever identified in the history of taxation: Somebody Else. Gamblers tend to be poorer and less educated than the rest of us. Lower-income gamblers are often willing gamble far more of their incomes. Some tend toward addiction and fewer than five percent of gamblers will provide over a third of casino revenues. But rarely will an addicted gambler complain.

The sad stories of gambling addiction accumulate in a brutally ceaseless way. Kids are left to literally cook to death in sun-baked parking lots while addicted parents lose the grocery money. Marriages are destroyed. Homes are lost to foreclosure. Retirement dreams simply melt away over a few months of eighteen-hour stints in front of a single “lucky” slot machine.

This, amazingly, is lauded as the ultimate answer to our national spending problem. Governments shift the burden down to gamblers. And gamblers shift the burden to those they love the most. The spouse who had no idea that the 401(k) was lost at the slots and had been replaced with $130,000 in credit card debt. The children who are left to entertain themselves in the casino parking lot for hours a day, year after year. The adult children who are startled to learn that an elderly parent has lost everything and has been contemplating suicide.

We can pretend that we can have every program, every road, and every school. We can demand that our taxes be lower and lower still. We can even talk ourselves into believing that gambling is a harmless way to dodge the bullet one more time. But we can’t do this forever. We are going to have to get back to the basic idea of living within our means. Victimizing our own people solves nothing and only serves to keep those plates spinning for a short time. No number of slot machines is going to solve our problems.

Vote no on Question Two, and demand that Annapolis—and Washington—get serious about our future.

Rare Foray into National Politics

Here is what I want to see tomorrow night:

"I knew Dan Quayle.

Dan Quayle was a friend of mine.

Governor, you're no Dan Quayle."

Slots Ballot Language Ruled "Misleading"

I was in court this morning over the language of the ballot question that will appear before voters on November 4th as Question 2. We have stated that the question is a sugar coated gift to the casino lobby. Our concerns were validated this evening when a three-judge panel from the Anne Arundel Circuit Court agreed. They said that the language "is misleading and does violate the standards set forth in the Election Law Article and applicable case law."

I was reminded recently that it is illegal to do any "electioneering" within 50 feet of the door to a polling place. The misleading nature of this question effectively allows the slots proponents to electioneer right on the voting touch screen. It's outrageous, and I am pleased to see the courts start to action.

Mt. Washington for Obama

There has been a lot of buzz in the neighborhood lately about getting involved in the Obama campaign. I'm glad to see that people are getting charged up about the election. The day-in-day-out grind of national political news is enough to turn a caring American suicidal. A glancing pass at the newspaper has turned us into a nation eager to see the end of this nightmare.

Mt. Washington is going to go for Obama. By 80%+. Without lifting a finger. Baltimore and Maryland are also going for Obama. You can eat all the bagels you like, but unless you plan on getting on the bus and going to exurban Richmond or Cleveland, these efforts don't really change much.

There is a way, though, that you can strike the first blow for Obama's principles right here in Maryland: working to defeat the slots question on November 4.

To me, the Obama message is about the idea that we as a nation cannot continue to allow lobbyists to drive policy. We can't continue to make decisions that enrich the few at the expense of the many. That we need to put our society and our future above the game of politics. In short, a vote for Obama cannot accompany a vote for slots. The two are entirely incompatible. In fact, Barack Obama himself voted against gambling expansion as an Illinois State Senator. He said that the "moral and social costs of gambling, particularly in low income communities could be devastating."

So I encourage people to get together to support Senator Obama. But at the same time, those meetings should have a strong secondary agenda--the defeat of Question 2.

I am going to be writing more on why Mt. Washington and Baltimore are particularly vulnerable to the social and economic impact of slots. For now, however, I would like to ask you to re-visit the issue and consider where you will get the greatest impact. Is your time best spent seeing that Maryland goes for Obama by 66.3% instead of 66.1%, or by stopping a policy that will turn Maryland into a predator state?

Learn more at StopSlotsMaryland or Marylanders United to Stop Slots.

The MWIA Elections, or How I Got Involved

I moved into the neighborhood in 1996 and frankly took most of the work of the MWIA for granted. When it became increasingly likely that Pimlico could become one of the largest casino sites in the eastern United States, I began to wonder why the MWIA hadn't taken a stronger position on the matter.

So I attended an open board meeting and voiced my concerns. The board took the issue seriously, and I was invited to work with the MWIA's Pimlico Committee. What I very quickly discovered was the enormous range of issues involved in the day-to-day of the Association.
I was then nominated to serve as Area 2 Captain and elected at the June 2003 annual meeting. Since then I have been involved in countless meeting, stream clean-ups, picnics, parades, City Hall meetings, you name it. Over the years I was asked to serve as Area Director, and am currently vice president. It's been an amazing experience, but I think it shows that it really isn't very difficult to become deeply involved in the MWIA. Show up, work hard, and play well with others.

The MWIA has put together a slate for 2008 that includes some new faces and some experienced hands. I am excited about working with each of them, and am really pleased with the quality and experience of each one. These are not one-issue activists, but people who have a deep commitment to our neighborhood, our schools, our parks, our public safety, and our relationships with our neighboring communities.

The next few years are going to be filled with challenges and great opportunities for the neighborhood. We are really fortunate in that we have a truly outstanding slate of nominated candidates. I would urge you to meet them and to support them at the Annual Meeting on June 17.

They are:
Jason Loviglio
Lynn Strott
Guy D'Andrea
Sally Saaugaitis
Clark Semmes
David Nemerson
Eliza Smith Steinmeier
Ira Kolman
Liz Hopkins
Curt McKnight
Laira Barrientos
Jennifer Mange
and Stephanie Regenold

Thanks.

A letter from the Pimlico Infield

Marty Kwedar writes to the Maryland Jockey Club about his Preakness Day:

The Preakness Stakes according to your own official program offers "Marylanders and visitors alike an unrivaled experience." As a person born and raised in Maryland, and currently living in Northern Virginia, I attended the Preakness Stakes this past Saturday as both a Marylander and a visitor. To my extreme and utter dismay, the experience at the Preakness could only have been rivaled by a prison riot at Jessup. As an attendee of multiple Preakness Saturdays, I understand that the infield at Pimlico is no place for haughty gentlemen or dainty ladies. The complete and total anarchy and felonious violence I witnessed on Saturday, however, went beyond the pale. The most disgusting things that happened on Saturday were not the actions of the denizens of the infield, rather it was the inaction, indifference, and willful negligence
displayed by your staff. It is your legal and moral duty to safeguard your patrons, but through your carelessness or willfulness you allowed numerous people to be injured. Indeed, I was told by your own security supervisor in so many words that posse justice was in effect for the day in the infield.

I arrived at 9:00 a.m., the crowd was boisterous as expected and everyone was enjoying themselves. Along with my friends, I set up camp in between emergency exits 6 and 7. As could easily be predicted, around noontime the crowd (largely made up of what appeared to be intoxicated minors) began to feel their oats. Their idea of a good time was to throw beer cans, often full, into the huddled masses on your infield. The initial bursts ended relatively quickly, but another onslaught was clearly imminent. At this point, your security personnel made a series of unforgivable mistakes that, only by the grace of God, resulted in countless serious, but non-fatal injuries.

Had your staff acted quickly and made their presence known in the areas where the unmitigated hurling of dangerous missiles was occurring, perhaps the activity would have died down. Instead, your security staff did nothing. At any one time dozens of dangerous projectiles were flying through the air. Some cans contained little alcohol, others were unopened and full. Even a partially opened can could cause serious injury, a full beer can thrown with great force, however, is unquestionably a deadly weapon. As I stood in the infield in shock at the overwhelming deficiency of a security presence, I saw several of my own friends hit by these cans. The blunt force resulted in serious bruises, cuts, and other trauma.

At this point, at roughly 12:15, with the onset of unchecked deadly assault and battery in public, I felt that it was my duty as a citizen and an officer of the Maryland State Bar to try to stop the throwing because it was obvious that your personnel had no intentions of curtailing the potentially deadly acts passing before their eyes. To this end, my friends and I tried to tell the people around us to stop throwing cans because someone was going to get seriously injured. Our neighbors took our pleas for peace as some sort of battle cry and were intent on using force to silence our pleas for calm. After a half an hour of apparently hopeless negotiation with our fellow patrons, one of our neighbors charged at my party. Another neighboring group attempted to break up the physical fight that had begun. With no security to be seen, there was an open window for these animals next to us to maim anyone who got in their way.

As could be expected, within seconds of the start of the fight there was a serious injury. A man was knocked out cold with a metal crutch. After witnessing this umpteenth act of assault with a deadly weapon that day, I ran to find security personnel. I spoke with a young African American male roughly 5'8" tall with two gold capped teeth and a baseball cap (I identify him as such because I did not have the opportunity to get his name) working on your security staff. He was polite, but did not appreciate the urgency of the situation. I went back to the scene of the fight and saw that there was still violent unrest. I then ran back to the area where security personnel were located. I informed the security worker referenced above along with another security worker that someone had been seriously injured, and that there were individuals continuing violent acts. It was an extremely dangerous situation. I asked to speak to someone who could help us.

A supervisor was called over. His yellow staff shirt said "supervisor" on it. He was a large African American male, about 6'5" with a shaved head and a goatee. I told him that someone was knocked unconscious and that there was an imminently dangerous situation between emergency gates 6 and 7. The supervisor responded by telling me that the problem of the beer can throwing was my own fault because, he said 'You all are throwing these cans.' I explained that I was trying to stop people from throwing cans by trying to verbally reason with them. (Of course I was forced to do so because there was no security presence whatsoever). I further explained that we needed help or multiple people would be seriously injured.
The supervisor's response completely floored me. He told me that my friends and I should "knock out" the troublemakers, and only then security would come and take away the unconscious men, but would not arrest us. He said that he was not there to "baby sit us."

Fortunately, when I returned some of my friends had managed to quell the threat from our violent neighbors. Beer cans, however, continued to be thrown. I was hit twice, once in the right knee with a full beer can, aggravating a previous injury. It has left me limping around to this minute, and the full effects of the assault have not yet entirely been manifested. With no end in site, my friends and I tried to gather our things and leave before one of us was seriously harmed. As we were leaving, the can throwing began to die down. Only then did security personnel arrive at our area. It was too little too late. I had witnessed a score of people injured by the cans. Undoubtedly, hundreds more were injured. The overwhelming majority of these injuries could have been prevented if your security personnel made any attempt to stop the violence.

Saturday was truly a sad day for all of Maryland. It would be wise for your organization to address my concerns. I noticed that your dangerous failures were not reported in the media, and I feel it is important that local and national media outlets hear my story of your intolerable disregard for your own customers' safety and well-being.

How Slots Revenue Estimates are Created

Slots proponents seem to have an unending list of things that slots money will do for Maryland. Schools, teachers, health care, bay clean-up, roads, urban renewal, higher education, and land preservation to name a few. But they will never show a single footnote, study, or mathematical underpinning for how this is supposed to work. And if you want an accounting of the costs (lost revenues, failed businesses, homelessness, domestic violence, etc.) you can forget it. They refuse to acknowledge any of it.

Meanwhile, the experts (like Moody's Investor Services and others) call these propaganda-like revenue numbers "overly optimistic" and worse.

I have often wondeded about how the pro side comes up with their ever-growing figures, but now I know. Sometimes you need Dilbert to provide enlightenment:

Virgin Festival 2-for-1 Returns

As many of you know, the MWIA does a lot of critically important work on behalf of Mt. Washington residents. Much of it is behind the scenes--important, but boring. Some of it, though, has pretty clear benefit--like getting you a deal on Virgin Festival tickets.

The MWIA has arranged for folks who live in the neighborhood to get 2-for-1 tickets to the Virgin Festival at Pimlico. We would first like to thank promoters I.M.P. for this very generous deal for the second year in a row.

The best way to get your voucher (details below) is to attend the Spirit of Mount Washington Fourth of July Parade on the Fourth at 10 am. More info in the calendar section of MWIA.org.

For more information, please contact Peter Clough at CPeterC (at) Comcast (dot) net.

The promoters, who were generous enough to create this deal for us, have asked that we institute a process so that only people in the neighborhood get the ticket deal, and that the tickets are NOT re-sold. To that end, we have come up with the following:

1) Dues paying members of the MWIA are eligible to receive a voucher to purchase up to four tickets at the 2-for-1 price. Dues are $40 and cover the 18-months from July 1, 2008 through December 31, 2009. You can send your dues to the MWIA at PO Box 10404, Baltimore MD 21209. You will be given a ticket purchase voucher at that time.

Your name and address will be recorded on our V-Fest Master List. You can also pay your dues and get a voucher at the annual picnic to be held in Luckman Park on June 22 at 4 PM.

2) On the day of the concert, you will need to show up at Pimlico's Will Call window with a local ID that matches the name and address on the master list. You can then buy up to four tickets at the 2-for-1 price. You will have your choice of 1-day tickets, 2-day tickets, or 1- or 2-day VIP tickets. All of the details on ticket levels are available at www.VirginMobileFestival.com.

3) YOU CANNOT RE-SELL THESE TICKETS. We want to respect the generosity of this offer by observing the one rule that I.M.P. insisted on.

And now, your Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: What if my son or daughter wants to buy tickets?

A: As long as your household has a paid membership, that is fine with us. Please have the person who will pick up and pay for the tickets have their name on our master list. If you show up with a voucher and your name is not on the list, you have a problem.


Q: What if the Festival sells out?

A: This deal is good regardless of a sell out. I.M.P. has assured us that they will have tickets at Will Call for us regardless. Remember, this is not a seated event. A few extra tickets are not that big a problem.


Q: What if there is a problem with the process the day of the concert?

A: My cell number will be on the front page of the master list. If there is a problem, you can call me at that time. I have the cell info for the principals at I.M.P. and will do everything I can to help solve your problem. PLEASE AVOID PROBLEMS BY FOLLOWING THE ABOVE INSTRUCTIONS CORRECTLY. Have local ID and be sure that YOUR name is on the master list.


Q: What exactly IS a local ID?

A: A local ID is a driver's license of Maryland State Identity Card that shows your picture and an address within the MWIA boundaries. These boundaries can be seen in the MWIA by-laws (article III) at http://www.mwia.org/mwia/Association_By_Laws.pdf


Q: Can I invite a guest from outside of the neighborhood?

A: Yes, so long as the person who is listed on the Master List picks up all of the tickets for your party, your guests can live outside of Mt. Washington. And we feel bad for them. If your guests live in Baltimore County, you are required to make fun of them.


Q: I cannot make the picnic or the Annual Meeting. How can I get a voucher?

A: Are you kidding? It's the MWIA Annual Meeting! The special guest will be Baltimore City Planning Director Doug McCoach. You want to know what is being planned for our city, right? If, however, you are in a coma or are called to Stockholm to receive a Nobel Prize, you can contact me off-list at Aaron@21209.org and I will upbraid you personally and then provide you with a voucher and add your name to the Master List.

My Speech on the State Constitution

Here is my speech from last week on the issue of gambling and the state constitution.

First Maryland Anti-Slots Commercial

Marylanders United to Stop Slots launched today at a press conference in Annapolis. Here is the first commercial produced for the referendum.

Kurt Schmoke on the War on Drugs

Kurt Schmoke makes a modest proposal about the first step in reversing the amazing damage we are inflicting on ourselves through our current drug policy. I hate modest first steps, but this is worth a read.

Great Anti-Slots Press

The NY Times Magazine has a must read piece on gambling expansion.

Also, the Annapolis Capital ran THIS wonderful editorial today. It pretty much nails the issue.

Yes, 2-for-1 V-fest Tix are Back

The Mt. Washington Improvement Association has once again negotiated a ticket deal for members. Many thanks to promotor IMP!

Details to follow.

StopSlotsMaryland at the Polls

StopSlotsMaryland will be running polling place operations all over the state during Tuesday's primary. Please drop by and sign up as a supporter.

We will be at the Elderslie St. Andrew's Church at 5601 Pimlico Road in the morning, as well as a number of other Baltimore locations.

O'Malley Discusses Brokered Convention

I am really fearful that we are headed toward a Democratic Convention where the will of the people is ignored and the insiders make the call. We were disgusted when George H.W. Bush's Supreme Court handed the White House to his son in 2000. It looks like we may see the same kind of crazy outcome in the 2008 Primary.

So here is O'Malley on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" talking about his loyalty to Hillary Clinton and how he thinks things should play out. I voted for O'Malley, and I wish him every success, but this is scary as hell. Video HERE. Hold onto your hat.

Time to Move Beyond Steiner

I have doing quite a bit of headshaking and eye-rolling over the recent outcry over the sacking of WYPR icon Marc Steiner.

I understand that people had a strong attachment to him. It’s understandable. The guy has been with us for years, sharing our lunchtime errands, or hanging out with us for a couple of mid-day hours at the home office. We listen to talk radio when we are alone, and as a result we find a way to bond with our radio companions that kind of defies normal. Think about it. Do you really know Marc Steiner, the person? Is this someone that you should defend to the point of signing petitions or protesting on the sidewalk?

There are plenty of sordid office tales of Mr. Steiner that I am not going to go into. But I think we can all guess that his personality, while potentially great for the airwaves, was probably less charming in the office setting. It takes a certain ego to host a show, and that ego was certainly boosted by years of canonization as Saint Marc, the savior of Baltimore. While I am not going to defend the way in which he was removed, I can imagine that there were more than a few happy WYPR staffers that next morning.

Don’t get me wrong. Baltimore—or any city—needs a Steiner. But it’s not that they need Steiner specifically. What is needed is something that has been lost in the idiocy of newspaper profit-hunting: Public Accountability. While I will maintain my Sun subscription to the bitter end (mine or theirs), the paper is nothing like it was even five years ago. The Post isn’t that much better, really, especially on state issues. It is critical to subscribe and support the paper because the real news media (and I specifically exclude anything that claims to be either Live, Local, Late-Breaking, or all three) because good reporting is a critical check on the activity of government.

Without good reporting, City Hall, Annapolis, and Washington can do anything they damn well please. The New York Times basically took the President at his word over claims of Iraqi WMD’s. How did that one turn out? On my favorite state politics issue (gambling, in case you missed it), the papers have pretty much completely neglected the reality that the entire slots debate is special-interest driven and without million after million in lobbying and campaign money, this issue would have been dead years ago.

But back to Steiner. I was a guest on the show more than once. I thought he did a passable job. But the most important thing he did was offer a forum where boring yet important issues could be explored in a modestly detailed kind of way. But at least it was something in a world where real consideration of complex issues is non-existent. And while I think most people don’t quantify it that way, that is what we are outraged about. The loss of one of the last bastions of real analysis and dialogue is a serious blow in a world of talking points and sound bites.

What we need, what we must demand, is not the return of Steiner, but the preservation of the forum. WYPR needs to absolutely guarantee that the opportunity for dialogue and real discussion of complex and important local issues is preserved.

I would ask the hordes of angry Steiner-istas is this: would Saint Marc himself lead a grassroots uprising to save a talk radio host from temporary unemployment? Let’s face it—Baltimore has problems. Lots of problems. You could pick one out of a hat and make a real difference with an effort of one hour a week. Seriously. If you decided that Baltimore’s school buildings were a crumbling mess, you could organize a group of thousands of BCPS parents to lobby Annapolis for a real solution. I could list ten examples of critical issues and get you started in any number of directions. And you could be a major force for real change.

Saving Marc Steiner is not in my list of top ten causes, or my top fifty. Should it be in yours?