ATLANTIC CITY: Shutdown threat has casinos ready to fight

[clevfan]

Shutdown threat has casinos ready to fight

PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY
By PETE McALEER Statehouse Bureau,
and Donald Wittkowski

June 30

TRENTON - New Jersey's casino industry may seek a court order today to keep its doors open during a potential government shutdown.

If no progress is made on budget talks, Gov. Jon S. Corzine is expected to sign an executive order sometime after midnight that would begin what one Cabinet member called "an orderly shutdown of government." All state services deemed nonessential would close either immediately or over a period of three to four days.

State gaming inspectors - required to be on casino premises at all times - would be among the nonessential employees. A Corzine administration official said the governor had been advised that the casino inspectors did not meet the definition for an essential service, which involves protecting the "health, safety and welfare" of New Jersey residents.

The casino industry went to court three years ago to seek the right to stay open amid the threat of a government shutdown. At that time, a tax increase on casino revenue was the most contentious proposal in the budget. Casinos argued that gaming inspectors and state regulators should continue to work through a shutdown because the industry pays for their salaries.

A Superior Court judge ruled casinos could stay open, but an appeals court later overturned the decision. The state Supreme Court never heard the case because the state adopted a budget within hours of the deadline.

The casino industry could start the court process all over again today.

"It's an option to us this time as well, but we have not yet decided what we're going to do," said New Jersey Casino Association President Joseph A. Corbo Jr.

Corbo acknowledged the state faces difficult budget issues, but he argued it would be counterproductive to close businesses that generate millions of dollars of state tax revenues.

"We are obviously concerned about being caught in the middle of this process and we would hope no action would be taken to close our casinos," Corbo said. "To do so would obviously be extremely harmful to our businesses and would also significantly impact the thousands of our best customers planning to visit this weekend as well as our 50,000 employees, who would temporarily lose their incomes as a result of a closure."

Corbo estimated the state would lose about $7.3 million in gross gaming revenue tax over the five-day holiday weekend. Beyond that, the daily loss would be about $1.3 million.

The New Jersey Casino Control Commission, which regulates the state's gaming industry, called a special meeting for 5 p.m. today to consider the temporary suspension of the operating certificates for the state's 12 casinos.

"It's only a contingency in case the governor declares a state of emergency if a budget is not passed," Casino Control Commission spokesman Daniel Heneghan said. "If there is a budget agreement from now until 5 p.m. (today), it would obviate the need for the meeting."

http://www.pressofatlanticcity...6484097p-6336064c.html

[The Actuary]

Raised 7 taxes, invented 2 more and now is threatening the single largest portion of income the state recieves-this in what brief period of time?



love the John Corzine's of the world, has more money than god and will never let you forget you don't.


Really needed to declare the ENTIRE state in a state of emergency from the flooding? It is preposterous. Is the state so feeble that it cannot operate with a little water in Trenton? It is the expected response fr the tax and spend folks.

[nfleqbc]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: The Actuary

Really needed to declare the ENTIRE state in a state of emergency from the flooding? It is preposterous. Is the state so feeble that it cannot operate with a little water in Trenton? It is the expected response fr the tax and spend folks.</end quote></div>

RTFA, TA.

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>If no progress is made on budget talks, Gov. Jon S. Corzine is expected to sign an executive order sometime after midnight that would begin what one Cabinet member called "an orderly shutdown of government." All state services deemed nonessential would close either immediately or over a period of three to four days.</end quote></div>

Sounds to me like the legislature is standing up to Corzine's tax and spend ways, and he's going to use the casinos as pawns in a game of chicken with the legislature.

[Superfly]

I worked directly with Jon in 1990 and 1991. Can't stand him personally, and abhor his politics, but there's no one better at playing chicken.

I remember one day Goldman, as a primary dealer of US Treasury bonds, did not meet the Fed's minimum bid on a whole shitload of ten years. It was a critical auction, and as always, Goldman was the biggest piece. But they didn't meet the bid, and threatened the whole auction. The Fed threw everything at him, including a review of his status as a primary dealer. Jon wouldn't back down. He felt his bid was fair and anything else was unfair to his clients. He could have played nice, and the Firm would have gone along. As a matter of fact, in that situation, he was expected to play along rather than risk any heat on the firm. He refused, and the effing Fed had to accept his bid. He stared down the whole US gov't and they blinked first.

[Total Square]

biggest week/weekend of the year for the casinos