Anti-Issue 3 Hypocrites; Jeff Jacobs & Truth PAC

I will be posting a video about this a little later today, but here is a story done by the not fit to line a bird cage with or potty train a puppy on local fishwrap - the Plain Duller.

It appears that Jeff Jacobs, the money behind Truth Pac (anti-Issue 3), after not being able to secure a private deal with Penn National Gaming and Cav's owner Dan Gilbert, the players pushing Issue 3 for casino's in Ohio, only decided to come out against Issue 3 after he could not protect his out-of-state gambling interests.

Sounds like Jacobs feels gambling is OK as long as HE is making money on it!

The PD --

In March, Cleveland developer Jeff Jacobs made one last effort to deal himself in on the Issue 3 casino plan and threatened to spend part of his vast wealth to oppose the measure if he didn't get his way.

In an e-mail to three executives from Penn National Gaming, the Pennsylvania company bankrolling Issue 3 along with Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert, Jacobs warned that he had already hired a nationally known campaign strategist to defeat the proposal.

"Before I gear up for this effort I thought that I would throw out one last proposal for you to consider," Jacobs wrote to Steven Snyder, Eric Schippers and Tim Wilmott.

Under the proposed deal, the casinos would have shared profits with Jacobs' race track and entertainment businesses in exchange for those businesses signing on to a non-compete agreement.

But the deal didn't happen and Jacobs, who now calls the casino proposal a bad deal for Ohio, is funding a campaign against it. He acknowledged through a spokeswoman Wednesday that he wrote the e-mail, but said it was being taken out of context by the Issue 3 side.

In the e-mail, Jacobs expressed concern that Issue 3, the November ballot issue that would place casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo, would harm business at the state's horse racing tracks and his Nautica complex in the Flats.

Jacobs also has interests in a horse racing track near Columbus and casinos in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. In the e-mail, he floated a deal that would place electronic slot machines at five race tracks and Nautica, and they would agree not to compete with the full-service casino games.

"In exchange for this long-term non-compete agreement, your three developments would pay 'x' percentage of annual gross revenue to these six affected entities," Jacobs wrote. More...

Jacob's sounds more like a South Side Shake Down artist to me!

Casinos in OH get CPPA Endorsement

I have long supported gambling in OH, just never the way it has been presented on the ballot. After missing the boat for who knows how many years, there is a plan with sense that may finally get casinos in OH.

A big plus for Issue 3 is that the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Assoc. just endorsed the measure...

The Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association on Wednesday endorsed a plan to change the Ohio Constitution to allow casinos to be built in four cities around the state -- Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo. The measure, allowing one casino in each city, will appear on November's statewide ballots as Issue 3.

Loomis said building a casino here will keep money in Cleveland that is spent at casinos in neighboring states, will add tax money for the city and will not add crime to the city. After talking with police in cities with casinos, Loomis said it's more likely that a casino will attract more people to downtown so that crime falls rather than bringing problems.

Under Issue 3, Gilbert would be allowed to build and operate a casino in Cleveland and one in Cincinnati. The company Penn National Gaming of Pennsylvania would build casinos in Columbus and in Toledo, where it already has a race track. Those would be the only four casinos allowed unless voters pass another amendment to the state constitution.

Gilbert's committee pushing casinos, once called the Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee, is now using the name "Yes on 3." (PD)