VA Update

I have not had one person offer to help me acquire items, such as razors, for veterans who are hospitalized in the VA hospital.

Not one. Not even chewing gum.

So tomorrow when you shave – with your own hand in your own bathroom – think about how lucky you are. Many of them in there have nothing. Many have mental illness. They all served our country. We’re free because of them.   

Our veterans deserve better. We should be ashamed.

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Delaware Rolls the Dice

Michael Fleming

July 27, 2009

So our state’s aggressive push to expand gambling has now led to a very public legal feud with the NFL, NCAA, etc.  The fight has dominated local headlines and garnered national attention.

I’ve got no particular moral or ethical truck with gambling.  Many things that aren’t necessarily good for us are still legal – and vice versa.  With obvious exceptions, people should be free to spend their money as they see fit.  I certainly don’t aspire for my children to become regulars at the blackjack table but it’s a free country, and if my neighbor chooses to pump the slots, then so be it.

But the zeal to extend the state’s gambling franchise beyond the three racinos is perplexing, smacking of desperation – a Hail Mary pass if you pardon the metaphor.  Indeed, other than the budget itself, no issue has so dominated the political agenda this year.

Facing a historic financial shortfall, this past spring the Governor pushed to extend the state’s gambling franchise beyond the current three “racinos.”

Like so many other “revenue raising” schemes designed to band-aid more serious, systemic problems in our state government, this rush to the casinos seemed short-sighted at the time. Not that we should have much sympathy for the racinos’ story that their state-sponsored monopoly would be threatened.

Rather, the question we should be asking is if an expansion of state-sanctioned gambling – and in this case, a deepening, vested financial interest for Delaware – is actually good public policy.  Will, on balance, more gambling be a long term plus for the state?

There are several important considerations to address as the state places its proverbial chips on this bet.

First, the societal and personal financial toll of ready access to gambling.  Most people don’t want a casino in their backyard anymore than they want a saloon.  Why?  Because gin joints and gambling parlors don’t evoke the most family-friendly environs nor are they typically seen as hothouses for personal growth and intellectual development.

Criminal justice expert and local radio personality Gerry Fulcher knows gambling’s downside up close.  As a New York City police officer, a gambling addiction left his life in ruins.  Today, he crosses the country testifying to the crime, bankruptcies and social destruction he says gambling leaves in its wake.  He cites extensive research concluding that gambling is a net financial negative for local communities and municipalities.

With an implicit financial stake in getting more people to gamble, the state will be compelled to promote itself as a gambling mecca – in other words, growing the market and encouraging more people to do something that many experts feel is ultimately unhealthy.  Is this really a proper role for our government?  The state taxes smoking and drinking but it certainly doesn’t promote them.

Another consideration is the historic connection between state-sanctioned gambling and government corruption.  Beyond Las Vegas  and Atlantic City, public corruption has followed gambling wherever it has gone be it Native American Tribal casinos in Connecticut or riverboats on the Mississippi.  When a state has such deep financial interest as well as oversight over any private enterprise, the potential for conflicts of interest abound.  Only recently many of us learned that several legislators serve on the board of the organization that governs the Harrington Raceway, receiving some kind of compensation for that service.

Lastly, we should carefully consider the potential damage to the Delaware brand.  We are a small state upon which lasting stereotypes can easily rest.  Do we really want to be known as the First State for Gamblers?  Has anyone conducted research to assess what an increased profile on this issue (ie, the fight with the NFL) will mean for the state’s reputation?  Couldn’t we be putting more resources into enhancing the state’s tourism industry and helping to elevate the visibility of cultural treasures like Winterthur, Nemours and Delaware’s beautiful coast and dynamic beach scene?

Just because something may be good for the state budget, that doesn’t mean it is good for the state.

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