Gov. John Baldacci said Monday he still hasn’t made up his mind whether he’s going to veto a bill that would put a proposal for a Washington County racino on a statewide ballot this November – causing gambling opponents to worry he’s changing his stand.
“I’m taking my own counsel over the next few days,” to decide whether the Senate’s 21-11 vote in favor of the racino last week passes his self-imposed test for overwhelming support in the Legislature. The House passed the bill with a clear two-thirds of those present.
Sen. Kevin Raye, R-Washington, in fact, thinks he has the governor’s backing for the racino.
“I’m confident he’s going to sign it,” he said Monday, citing “positive indicators” from the governor’s office.
The bill would ask voters statewide to decide if they want to allow the Passamaquoddy Indian Tribe, in cooperation with the state’s other tribes, to build a racetrack and racino, with 1,500 slot machines, in Calais. Tribal leaders say if the governor vetoes the latest bill, they’ll launch a petition drive to put the racino on the 2006 ballot.
One of the state’s tribes, the Aroostook Band of Micmacs, is not on board with the plan, according to Chief Bill Phillips, even though the Passamaquoddy tribal representative said they were.
That could give gambling opponents, like Casinos No! of Southern Maine, heartburn because of the fear that if a racino is approved for one tribe, it will have to be approved for another. Passamaquoddy Tribal Rep. Fred Moore has said from the start that one racino would suffice for all four of the state’s Indian tribes.
“We have nothing to do with it,” Phillips said. “The last thing we would do is go to the state for anything” and give up sovereignty and a huge chunk of profits. “We’re the only true sovereign tribe,” he said, and “we’re not talking about gaming.”
“We’re looking at a 300-seat bingo hall, tax-free cigarettes,” Phillips said. “Later on if we want to go that route,” he said, the gaming would be controlled by the tribe. “Right now the only gaming is bingo. It’s pretty tame.”
The Passamaquoddy Tribe has successfully pushed the notion in the Legislature that a racino in Calais would benefit all tribes and bring badly needed tourist dollars into Washington County.
A bill that would have allowed for the racino without a referendum passed the House with the needed two-thirds vote to override Baldacci’s veto, but fell short in the Senate.
The second bill – with the referendum requirement tacked on – again passed the House last week with a super-majority of those present, but passed the Senate with a 21-11 vote – a fraction of a body shy of an absolute two-thirds.
Locally, Senators Dennis Damon, D-Hancock, Richard Rosen, R-Hancock, Christine Savage, R-Knox, Carol Weston, R-Waldo, Art Mayo, D-Sagadahoc, and Karl Turner, R-Cumberland, have been in favor of the racino. Sen. Dana Dow, R-Lincoln, and Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Cumberland, changed their vote when the referendum requirement was added.
Cumberland County Democratic senators Michael Brennan, Lynn Bromley, William Diamond, Phil Bartlett and Ethan Strimling have remained strongly opposed, as has Sen. Richard Nass, R-York.
The governor said at the time he vetoed the first bill, he would let a referendum go through if it had two-thirds support. There is no legal requirement for anything but a simple majority.
The governor’s chief spokesperson, Lee Umphrey, said last week the 21-11 vote passed the test based on precedent in the Senate. He said the governor likely would sign the bill.
“Signing it at this point represents a change in position,” said Valerie Landry, a spokesperson for Casinos No! “He didn’t say ‘almost two-thirds or somewhere close to two-thirds. He said two-thirds.”
Landry agreed the governor’s staff is sending mixed messages, saying she assumed Umphrey was “speaking for the governor” when he said the vote passed muster.
Casinos No! successfully beat a proposal for a full blown, Indian-run casino in Southern Maine several years ago, but failed to see the potential in a racino referendum that passed at the ballot box. It allowed for the state’s first racino to be built at a racetrack in Bangor – a proposal that is still coming to fruition.
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