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Kan. lawmakers' debate on gambling becomes tangled

335 days ago

By JOHN HANNA
AP Political Writer

(AP:TOPEKA, Kan.) A southeast Kansas legislator's push to lure a state-owned casino to his area became tangled up Thursday with other lawmakers' attempts to intervene in a casino project south of Wichita.

Rep. Bob Grant, a Cherokee Democrat, has asked the House to pull a bill he's sponsoring with Rep. Doug Gatewood, a Columbus Democrat, out of its Federal and State Affairs Committee, where it hasn't had a hearing. They want to decrease the legally required minimum investment for a state-owned casino in southeast Kansas to encourage a developer to step forward.

The House expects to vote on Grant's request Monday, but leaders of the GOP majority oppose his attempt. Instead, some Republicans back a resolution directing Attorney General Derek Schmidt to file a lawsuit challenging state approval of a contract with the developer of a casino in Mulvane, south of Wichita.

The two issues are tied together because Federal and State Affairs Committee Chairman Steve Brunk, a Bel Aire Republican, said he doesn't want to consider any changes to the 2007 law allowing state-owned casinos until questions surrounding the Mulvane project are resolved. The House expects to have a debate Tuesday on the resolution dealing with the Wichita-area casino.

"Nobody's trying to stop gambling, but we do want to make sure that if we own and operate this thing, we do it with utmost integrity," Brunk said.

The resolution challenges the state Racing and Gaming Commission's decision in January to allow the Wichita-area project to go forward. It suggests local zoning issues weren't properly settled and noting that a misdemeanor campaign finance case against the developer and two top officers is pending in Iowa.

The developer, local officials and backers of the project say neither is a big enough concern to stop the project.

Grant expressed frustration that the two issues are tied together, saying he and Gatewood are trying to create jobs in their area, where residents endorsed having a casino in a public vote.

"We've got the right to do it, but to get it done here, we've got to make some adjustments," Grant said. "Now, we're sitting here fighting and scrambling to get what our people down here voted for."

The 2007 law allows one casino each in the Dodge City area, south of Wichita, the state's southeast corner, and the state's portion of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The Kansas Lottery owns the rights to the new gambling and the gambling equipment but contracts with developers to build and operate the casinos. The Racing and Gaming Commission regulates them.

A casino opened in Dodge City in December 2009, and one is under construction at Kansas Speedway, the NASCAR track in Kansas City. Peninsula Gaming, based in Dubuque, Iowa, has started work on the Mulvane casino, estimating it already has invested $55 million.

But the lottery doesn't have any pending proposals for a casino in southeast Kansas, and Grant and other legislators believe the $225 million minimum investment required is scaring off potential developers. Grant's and Gatewood's bill would drop the required investment to $100 million.

Republicans who opposed the 2007 law aren't sympathetic. They noted the casino law was enacted as supporters wrote it, after those backers insisted on no amendments during legislative debates.

Meanwhile, Brunk and other GOP House members are pushing their resolution on the Wichita-area casino under a state law that allows one legislative chamber to direct the attorney general to file a legal challenge.

Brunk said the resolution is directed at the racing commission and not Peninsula, which the resolution doesn't name. But he and other Republicans have said they're troubled by the criminal case in Iowa.

Peninsula and its two executives are charged with participating in an illegal, $25,000 contribution to Democratic Gov. Chet Culver, who lost his bid for re-election last year. A trial is set for June, but Peninsula officials have said repeatedly that they expect the case to be resolved in their favor.

Local critics of the project also have questioned whether zoning issues were resolved before the racing commission's decision, and Mulvane faced two lawsuits last year, both now dismissed. City Administrator Kent Hixson said while local officials continued to review zoning issues into this month, those issues actually were settled well before the racing commission acted.

And in a recent statement, Scott Cooper, the new casino's manager, attributed the questions about the project to opposition to gambling.

"If Peninsula were an aircraft parts manufacturer, a health care provider or technology company preparing to invest $300 million in Kansas, creating thousands of jobs, we would not be facing this latest attempt to use political pressures to overrule legally binding agreements for development," Cooper said.

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The proposal aimed at luring a casino to southeast Kansas is HB 2002. The resolution on the Wichita-area casino is HR 6015.

Online:

Kansas Legislature: http://www.kslegislature.org/ Peninsula Gaming: http://www.peninsulagaming.com/

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