Will Fletcher Distance Himself From Las Vegas Casino Industry’s Frontman Mitch McConnell?

The Hound Dog August 20th, 2007

Now that Ernie Fletcher has decided to launch his TV ad campaign off on Tuesday with an ad against gambling, it will be interesting to see if he publicly distances himself from Mitch McConnell. What may be most interesting is how McConnell will toe the line on the gambling issue during the campaign, after years of fronting for the Las Vegas casino industry.

The Lexington Herald Leader reported that in 1998 and 2000, while Mitch McConnell was chairman of the NRSC, the American Gaming Association’s chief lobbyist Brett Hale gave the NRSC $2 million. Shortly after, Mitch McConnell played a key role in killing John McCain’s bill to outlaw gambling on college sports:

Doris Dixon, who lobbied the Senate for the bill, said McConnell was part of the effort to keep it from getting a floor vote. Dixon was then director of federal relations for the National Collegiate Athletic Association. She said McConnell and his aides refused even to meet with her side.

“Sen. McConnell was instrumental in blocking it from going forward,” Dixon said. “He was talking to other Republican senators about the problems it would pose for him as chairman of their fund-raising committee, which was taking money from Nevada.”

So the hypocrisy of the Kentucky Republican Party continues? Now, Ernie Fletcher (who has already flip-flopped on whether Kentuckians should be allowed to vote on a ballot-measure on casino gaming) must decide whether to condemn Mitch McConnell’s work on behalf of the Las Vegas casino industry.

4 Responses to “Will Fletcher Distance Himself From Las Vegas Casino Industry’s Frontman Mitch McConnell?”

  1. # kilowaton 20 Aug 2007 at 10:17 pm

    Jack Abramoff Connection
    McConnell “said through his spokesman that the money given to him and his political committee by three [American Indian] tribes will be donated to the Wayside Christian Mission in Louisville, which helps the poor and homeless. While federal records show McConnell received $18,500, his office’s accounting showed $19,500, and that is what will be given to Wayside,” James R. Carroll reported in the January 5, 2006, Louisville, Kentucky, Courier-Journal.

    http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mitch_McConnell

  2. # kilowaton 20 Aug 2007 at 10:22 pm

    http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/…ll/15763570.htm
    By John Cheves
    HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
    McConnell was befriending Las Vegas casinos, which opposed the bill. In 1997, he and then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., flew to Las Vegas on the corporate jet of Steve Wynn, owner of Mirage Resorts, to kick off a series of GOP fund-raisers. “We wanted to have support from that industry,” McConnell said later.

    They got it. Casinos in the American Gaming Association — whose chief lobbyist, D. Brett Hale, is a former McConnell aide — gave more than $2 million to the NRSC during McConnell’s chairmanship in 1998 and 2000, up from $375,000 for the 1996 races.

  3. # foglbirdon 21 Aug 2007 at 10:18 am

    Typical repooblican Christian Conservatism. Vote Dem.

  4. # Tuckeron 07 Jan 2009 at 4:55 pm

    D7VBvC7nIm0P5

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