Ohio Casino Bill Opposed for Too Few Casinos
Leaders of the Democratic Party in Mahoning County, Ohio, filed a restraining order to stop petitions for a bill supporting legalized casino gambling. The reason given for the legal filing is that petition proponents are providing false information, but other political motives seem likely.
The chairman of the party in Mahoning, David Betras, has sworn to resist the casino bill, not because he's anti gambling, but because it doesn't provide for a casino in his area. The current bill would license only four casinos, in Cleveland, Cloumbus, Cincinnati, and Toledo.
Video was provided to the court of two petition circulators giving incorrect answers to questions about the gambling proposal. Among the mistakes made were responses that a casino might be placed in Youngstown, that the new law wouldn't affect the state constitution, and that new factory and industrial jobs would be a fringe benefit from the bill.
It is a felony in Ohio to purposely misrepresent a ballot proposal in order to obtain signatures.
A spokesman for Ohio Jobs and Growth, the organization behind the petition and the casino push, said the two representatives would have been reprimanded and replaced, if anyone had notified the committee.
Judge James Evans of the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court is expected to render a decision quickly, perhaps as soon as today.
Betras says the people in the Youngstown area are being deceived into thinking they will receive a casino if they support the proposition.
