Williams to Kentucky race industry: "Drop dead."
 

That's basically what he means.

Here's the direct quote: "...the slots bill, you know, you can stick a fork in it, it’s done.”

http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.co...es-slots-bill/

This guy is an embarassment. :mad:

Incredible!
 

What the hell is wrong with these people! The top industry in KY, hundreds of thousands of jobs could be lost, will be lost and still they turn their backs! It's just amazing!:mad:

Shocking.

Nothing is wrong with "these people."

Williams represents an area where the highlight of the decade is a Dollar General store with a grocery inside.

In other words...he's representing morons.

Your right Coach, I didn't mean to say all the people. Williams and the morons who don't understand how important this is are who I was referring to.

Actually, when I read it I thought "These people" meant the Kentucky Senate.

Not to get far afield...I wonder how the majority of Kentuckians see this. Is it just the districts that these obstructionists represent that object to the slots, or is it truly the majority?

By the way, without slots, that line in the song "Old Kentucky Home" is going to mean something entirely different for their horsemen:

"My old Kentucky home far away..." -- because I moved bag and baggage out of the state.

He is everything that is bad with state politics. And the sheeple that are stuck up his rear are twice as bad.
His solution is the 'tax the lottery' plan...and that will be all that is acceptable to him. But in the end, won't the same suckers be forking over the dough for that?

He also wants to "tax out of state winnings" on the horse races they do have.
Can you imagine looking at the results chart for the race and seeing:

KY: WIN: 10.60 5.40 3.20
non-KY: WIN: 9.00 4.60 2.40

lol. He really is an ass clown. But he will probably be in Congress before you know it. :eek:

People make the mistake of thinking that all of KY is all wrapped up in Horse Racing... I bet there are not 5 people in Burkesville that can name this years derby winner. I live 45 minutes away from Burkesville. People in the Northern Tn- Southern Ky area are clueless about Horse Racing.
Its light years away from the Lexington-Louisville area where HR is KING.

Williams has no interest in the bill because his district has no interest in the sport..the town is such a crap hole the Dairy Queen couldnt even stay in business.

Williams opposition has zero to do with his district or their desires. It has everything to do with political power. Williams as head of the Senate basically controls all of the legislation passed or killed in the state, despite the fact that democrats hold most all of the key positions other than his. He is completely partisan and will do nothing that would help democrats or the Governor. The Governor ran on a platform on which expanded gambling was a primary topic. For Williams to step aside and allow the Governor to not only win this battle but potentially give him the next election if the slots plans works at all is a horrible political move in Williams mind. His "plan" was and is a joke which if anything will harm education funding and wont do a damn thing for the smaller tracks that are suffering. It was floated simply as a diversionary measure so that the Democrats couldn't say that he offered no alternative. Where his district comes into play is that he is virtually invincible there regardless of the amount of damage he is doing to his reputation statewide. He can take the posture he has because he is the most dangerous type of politician, the kind that doesnt have to worry about reelection. The unsaid factor that you wont read about is the amount of money that Williams and his opposition groups have received from the out of state casino companies which have a huge deal to lose if this passes. Almost every poll that has been done shows that the vast majority of citizens of the state either want expanded gambling or are indifferent to it. Virtually no poll shows more than roughly the mid 30's in opposition. Williams doesnt care about any of this. This isn't about the issue, it is about obstructionist politics, plain and simple.

But give them credit...

Burkesville has a Chinese restaurant.

but it's not just the racing part of the product-how much business and industry is affected by the racing industry? what about farmers, vets, farriers, etc, etc? what about the tourism industry which includes hotels, restaurants, etc? what would a dramatic drop in outside income affect in the state? the tax revenue drop would be horrible to contemplate.
take the entire population that would be affected by racing drastically being reduced or disappearing and tell me that the state wouldn't be dramatically altered.

Cannon Shell has got it. David Williams is a man of limited horizons and his major goal in the state house is to prove he is a big shot by doing what he is doing - stop a measure that the enemy (the Democrats) wants. He also is playing to the type of Baptist crowd that looks on gambling with abhorrence, which is still a large constituency out in the counties. This is not the first time Williams has pulled this sort of trick; I sort of wish he would get kicked upstairs to the House (where he would be great material for John Stewart and Stephen Colbert) and let the rest of the state government get on with governing.

I love the antigambling Bible beating zealots in Kentucky. "Rep. Danny Ford, R-Mt. Vernon, said he was against it because it was bad for families and it’s unconstitutional." Yeah, OK. If they can't gamble at Churchill Downs or Turfway Park, they'll drive 20 minutes to Horseshoe or Argosy Indiana. The bill is about keeping gambling dollars in-state. Simple as that. I'm so sick of the pathetic attempts to tell us how to spend our money. If I don't gamble with it I'm not spending it on other sh1t, it'll sit in the bank doing nothing. Either take my money in state or I'll spend it in Indiana like I do now.

I just don't get this argument.I never will. I think slots can destroy folks lives. You guys wants slots because they will help racing not because slots are good for people lives. It prolongs consolidation and artificially keeps these slept tracks solvent. Mountainer purses are half of what they were because the folks just have less money to lose, soon they will be cut again and then the kill pens will be full of stock on the way to Mexico.

I go to AC 3 times a week its a dungeon now. Soon there will be gambling everywhere and racing will be holding the bag with still too many tracks and to little racing stock. Will be back to square one.

I know what you're saying, and I don't necessarily disagree. My point is that people will gamble regardless of where the slots are- keeping the gambling dollars in the state of Kentucky is what needs to be done. If you go to Horseshoe Indiana on any day, half of the plates are Kentucky if not more, just like back before PA had slots 40% of the plates in AC were Pennsylvania. I'm in Pittsburgh today and Mountaineer is getting waxed because the Meadows has slots, Wheeling Island has improved their facility, and there's a new casino set to open in downtown Pittsburgh in August. There's less people willing to drive the extra 15 minutes to play at a generally dumpy facility. Same thing applies in Kentucky.

So I guess the horses will be waxed soon enough at Mountainer, then PID then Yonkers.. It's over..People are fighting for 24 month shot in the arm.. It's like a shot of cortisone in your shoulder. It lasts a few months then you still need the surgery

I wonder how soon Williams will feel the heat on this. Will we have to wait for the election or will the local press start to beat him up?

I doubt he'll feel much heat. The local press hasn't been "for" slots, exactly, as they tend to cater to the religious anti-gambling view.

Many - maybe most - in Kentucky view the horse industry as the hobby legacy of self-funded millionaires who came and built great farms and run horses in the Derby. They really don't care about the "rich horse folks". They don't think these people need help by introducing "more gambling" (not true, but that's the impression). They say, "Look at all the rich people buying horses at Keeneland.", and boy, the Derby is busy, and these people have much more money than I do, so what do they need government financial help for?

Seriously, the vast majority of the general public in Kentucky could care less about horses. And that's IN the bluegrass region - they don't care at all in the rest of Kentucky.

They don't understand that the above is not representative of the depth of "the horse industry" around here, that it's the vets, farriers, small farms, feedstores, etc. that make up the industry, not just Keeneland and the former glory of Calumet. And all the non-thoroughbred horses, too (we've lost the Standardbred industry from here)

It was attempted in this fight to show the public and the legislature what "is" the horse industry, how many "small" people will be affected, but it apparently failed.

Kentucky has always been unusual in the way they dealt with the horse and farms here. Historically, the business has been left to the rich owners of the farms and the horses and the tracks, frankly. There has never been good state or government involvement in agriculture and horses here, believe it or not, and now we've suffered when we've come with our hand out. They frankly don't believe we need any financial help, slots are just a way for the rich to get richer.

On the contrary the people of KY were firmly behind this bill if you believe any of the polling that has been done.

Was talking about this with my agent who is based in lousiville and she was saying everything that she was hearing on the radio was in favor of slots..

The religious opposition was strictly fueled by out of state casino money and politicians that were looking for cover. There is very little true religious opposition from the citizens.

don't underestimate the rooneys freddy mo , they will make it one way or another

But not for the benefit of the horse industry - for schools, health initiatives, that type of thing. And the fun of gambling. I'm not seeing any public (non-horse people) backlash at what the A & R Committee did. They don't seem to care.

That's not true here in central Kentucky, in Paris, Georgetown, Cynthiana (although the lines at the lottery are long enough Fridays! <g>) Louisville and Cincinnati are certainly more metropolitan, but churches - and what the pastors preach Sunday morning - has alot of pull around here. We just got liquor sales on Sunday (and remember we just got the ability to sell liquor in restaurants only about 7 years ago) in Georgetown, and religion was the only reason. Plenty of local non-horse people here very against adding more gambling (slots).

Sure, it's a good cover for the pols, but it's real.

That isnt true. The schools and other things were added at the last minute well after many of the polls were taken. There is a lot of backlash being directed at Williams in particular in the handling of the whole affair which rightfully has pissed people off.

There is very little religious opposition for the VLT's. It simply isn't true. I am not saying that there isn't a segment of the population that would vote against it but they won't spend money or go out of their way to try to defeat it. Virtually every dime that was spent in opposition to this measure came from "other" sources. Religion is simply a cover. Hell in the end the Republicans weren't even bothering using the moral high ground anymore.

Funny how religion gets brought into this.Do they understand MUSLIMS spend the most at KY sales????

I saw the stuff about schools, etc. two years ago.

I think the full force of the horse industry certainly has to backlash at Williams, and should, and will, but among the non-horse people around here this morning, nobody much cares about it. It's a political football, as you described, it doesn't involve the non-horse public.

People not in the horse industry in central Kentucky really don't pay any attention, nor do they care much.

Chuck, there's two populations here: the horse people and politicians, and the general public - who really doesn't care all that much, as it doesn't directly affect them.

In the general public spectre, yes, religion against slots is a rallying cry. Yes, I agree, they didn't spend alot of money fighthing it, as they really didn't give a darn one way or the other. That was my point. Kentucky, as a state, the general citizenry, really lets the horse people do their own thing. They don't care.

Edit: that said, I think that if this got on a general population ballot, it would pass (probably our only chance now), but it would degenerate into the religious vs everyone else. I do think the general public in Kentucky, overall, would vote for slots, but with amendments added that they could have "not in MY county!" type of thing (so the local pols would kiss butt to their constituents)

Wow. I just went to kentucky.com (the Lexington Herald-Leader site) and although there's a picture and a comment, the story isn't easy to find at all.

When it's all gone,the masses will be bitching.:zz:

Or buying up the land to put subdivisions down; or being the ones buying the house in yet another bland suburban box subdivision.

Every time I drive Man O' War's birthplace on Georgetown Road, now filled with small suburban houses, I wanna puke.

Oh - there is a roadside historical marker, though

Reading this thread is like taking an 8 yr stroll down memory lane for me - only insert the name "Busch" instead of "Williams", and the state of "Maryland" instead of "Kentucky".

Exact same game of politics, exact same arguments for and against, but this time the political party is switched. 6 years ago in MD, it was the Repubs backing slots with the Dems firmly propped against. Put a Dem in as Gov, and Dems are for, Reps against.

Get out your belly ache medicine because this will take so many twists in turns as it plays out that it will make you sick - assuming it hasn't already.

Our referendum passed almost 8 months ago and the one slots facility proposal (Cordish) that seemed to have the best chance of being anything is languishing with a local piss-ant County Zoning Hearing Board where those morons keep putting off voting yea or nay to re-zoning the land.