On the M 75 Wood Village Casino: Who will carry The Monkey?

By Sean Cruz

Portland, Oregon--

Who will carry The Monkey?

Beyond the Good For Oregon rhetoric, the budget numbers claimed, the short-sighted appeal for construction jobs, the multiple constitutional law and legislative issues, the anti-Indian sentiments, the Tea Party fundamentalism, beyond the Disneyland-of-the-North picture that the Wood Village casino promoters are attempting to draw, is the question of who will carry The Monkey….

Who will carry The Monkey?

The project is being designed to function as a gigantic cradle-to-grave honey trap, where every activity on the premises is “fun”, and stepping into the Wood Village Casino becomes a rite of passage for every child upon reaching legal age, the last stop in the Rossman-Studer Continuum of Fun, where every child will someday meet The Monkey….

The business case that Matthew Rossman and Bruce Studer are promoting on behalf of their foreign investors is based on their assertions that the Wood Village Casino complex will increase local spending on gambling.

The complex is in fact expressly designed to encourage that behavior over the next several generations, hence the Tot’s Pool, the Children’s Wave Pool, and the Kids’ Fountain Pool, built close by where The Monkey lives….

They see a lot of future Casino customers swooshing down those water slides, enjoying all of that "fun family entertainment" throughout their childhood and adolescent years, so the pro forma proclaims, a Place Where One Step Leads to Another….

These two shiny-suited part-lawyers/part-carnival barkers imagine a bright future for Oregon.

They want to create an environment where casino gambling is as familiar, as close-at-hand to Oregon children, as is any other form of public entertainment.

The Rossman-Studer plan under Measure 75 amounts to an exclusive 30-year run at every family in the Portland Metro Area.

The 2010 Oregon General Election Voters Pamphlet is out now, signaling that the ballots will soon be in the mail.

Among the several Arguments in Favor published in the pamphlet, eight are signed by Rossman and Studer alone. They are hoping to pick up votes from some who might not notice the overselling.

To their everlasting shame, a couple of trade unions have submitted statements in favor of passage, but their interest does not extend beyond jobs for their own membership, even though some percentage of those union families too will become Monkey-bearers.

The Canadian firm bankrolling the Wood Village Casino is putting $ 250 million into the deal, and they are planning to get that back and more by stimulating “increased spending on local gambling.”

Long term, they've got their eyes on your children and on your child’s children, and it is them who will one day carry The Monkey, The Monkey on their backs that will make two Lake Oswego lawyers and their foreign investors rich beyond rich.

Vote NO on Measure 75.

M 75 and the Oregon Constitution: Why voters cannot approve the Wood Village casino

by Sean Cruz

Portland, Oregon--

The Oregonian published Greg Chaimov’s guest opinion titled “M 75 and the Constitution: Why voters can approve a casino”, where Mr. Chaimov posited a convoluted legal argument to support his employers’ investment in their campaign to create for themselves an exclusive right to build a non-tribal casino in Oregon.

Mr. Chaimov’s legal opinion, however, fails to address the most significant constitutional problems that M 75 would face if passed by the voters, the equivalent of putting only some of the cards on the table, just the ones that the dealer likes.

Passage of M75 cannot possibly lead to an operating casino at the Wood Village property, but what it will certainly do is create a bonanza for the lawyers who will litigate the issue over the next decade or so.

A better ballot title for M 75 would be "The Rossman-Studer Full Employment Act" as it will keep a whole bunch of lawyers employed for a good long time, and at public expense.

The first constitutional issue lies in this line: "The Legislative Assembly has no power to authorize, and shall prohibit, casinos from operation in the State of Oregon."

The Constitution clearly requires the Legislative Assembly to take action to prohibit the proposed casino from operation.

Should M75 pass, the legislature "shall prohibit" its operation, and there are an infinite number of ways for it to do so. The passage of M75 would give Mr. Chaimov's legal team grounds to challenge every legislative action in court, and that is the real goal of the Good for Oregon group's campaign.

They are counting on the voters to put them to work as lawyers, not as as creators of anything that is intrinsically "good for Oregon."

The second constitutional issue lies in Article I, Section 20, which states: "No law shall be passed granting to any citizen or class of citizens privileges, or immunities, which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens."

M75 stomps all over this section of the Constitution, and it is a mark of the core dishonesty that lies behind the Wood Village Casino--Good for Oregon facade that Mr. Chaimov makes no mention of Section 20 in his editorial.

Under M 75, the only permissible casino location in the state would be at the former Multnomah County Kennel Club, specifically, at 944 NE 223rd Avenue, Wood Village, which just happens to be under the control of Matthew Rossman and Bruce Studer, for their exclusive benefit, a clear violation of the Oregon Constitution.

M 75 defines “gaming operator” as “The owner of the property identified in Section 14 of this 2010 Act”. It's a very exclusive club.

In addition, Section 17, Paragraph (5) of M 75 amends ORS 320.011, creating a special immunity from taxation for the Wood Village casino operators; specifically, from the $125 per-device excise tax.

If those aren’t flaws enough, M 75 would grant these exclusive privileges and immunities to Rossman and Studer for 15 years, renewable for another 15 exclusive years.

In order to pass Constitutional scrutiny under Section 20, M 75 would have had to been written to open casino operations to any Oregon citizen, anywhere in the state, with the same tax immunities. But Rossman and Studer drafted the measure to create special privileges and immunities for themselves alone.

Should M75 pass, both the coming court battles and the actions of the legislature are going to cost a great deal of public money, a completely open-ended budget item, and we can thank Rossman and Studer for sticking us with the bill.

Would you entrust an exclusive gambling license to an operator who only puts some of the cards on the table, just the ones he likes?

The Oregonian posted this as a guest editorial here:

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/09/measure_75_and_the_constitutio_1.html

Sean Cruz is not a lawyer, and is receiving no funds from any person or group associated with Measure 75, either for or against, not that he wouldn't appreciate it. His opinions are entirely his own. He gained his familiarity with the Oregon Constitution during his six years of service as chief of staff for the famously non-partisan legislator Avel Gordly in the Oregon Senate, 2003 to 2008.

Oregon Measure 75 is Dead on Arrival, its public expense has just begun

by Sean Cruz

Portland, Oregon--

Proponents of Measure 75 and the Wood Village Casino have placed their bets on the “Pass” line, but they will come up craps regardless of how the November vote turns out.

Measure 75 is fatally flawed with several violations of the Oregon Constitution.

The first issue lies in this line: "The Legislative Assembly has no power to authorize, and shall prohibit, casinos from operation in the State of Oregon."

The Constitution clearly requires the Legislative Assembly to take action to prohibit this or any other non-Tribal proposed casino from operation in the State of Oregon.

Should M75 pass, the legislature "shall prohibit" its operation.

The second issue lies in Article I, Section 20 of the Oregon Constitution, which states: "No law shall be passed granting to any citizen or class of citizens privileges, or immunities, which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens."

Rossman and Studer's casino measure stomps all over Section 20:

Under M 75, the only permissible casino location in the state would be at the former Multnomah County Kennel Club, specifically, at 944 NE 223rd Avenue, Wood Village, which just happens to be under the control of Rossman and Studer, for their exclusive benefit, a clear violation of the Oregon Constitution.

M 75 defines “gaming operator” as “The owner of the property identified in Section 14 of this 2010 Act”.

In addition, Section 17, Paragraph (5) of M 75 amends ORS 320.011, creating a special immunity from taxation for the Wood Village casino operators, specifically, from the $125 per-device excise tax.

If those aren’t flaws enough, M 75 would grant these exclusive privileges and immunities to Rossman and Studer for 15 years, renewable for another 15 exclusive years.

A better, more accurate ballot title would have been

"The Rossman-Studer Full Employment Act."

Both the coming court battle and the action of the legislature are going to cost a great deal of public money, and we can thank Rossman and Studer for sticking us with the bill. Remember that when they come back for another go in 2012.

You can eliminate much of that expense by voting "NO" on Measure 75.

Talk about problem gamblers….