Editorial pinpricks, like a Cincinnati Enquirer jibe about “pay to play,” evidently took their toll on Columbia Sussex CEO William Yung III. Defending his high-profile push for a Kentucky casino, which has included strewing more than $1 million in the path of Gov. Steve Beshear, Yung told The Associated Press: “I’ve got a First Amendment right to spend my money any way I want to spend it.”
And he’s absolutely correct about that. Yung’s efforts may be ham-fisted but there’s nothing the least untoward about them.
Beshear’s granting of preferential access to the hotel mogul is another thing entirely. When you have to do as Beshear did and say there’s “no quid pro quo,” you’re basically closing the door to the perception barn long after the horse has bolted.
That perception of a Beshear-Yung embrace appears to have stiffened the winds into which Beshear’s casino proposal is sailing. Already a House subcommittee has proposed trimming the governor’s mooted 12 casinos to nine. An uphill fight in expected in the state Senate and even then Beshear would still have to make his pro-casino pitch to voters. At least he knows a few deep-pocketed donors who would be happy to help him sell the idea.
As for Yung, he runs rings around the AP reporter, making it sound like he’s calling the shots on the Atlantic City Tropicana sale. He also succeeds conflating the two-dozen Trop suitors with the unknown duo who have supposedly shown interest in Casino Aztar, in Evansville, Ind. — a market that’s certain to be grateful for cross-river competition from the Bluegrass State.
Local businessman hopes to spend $700 million bringing back the Moulin Rouge but can’t pony up child-support payments? I sure hope this isn’t a metaphor for events to come. Then again, Las Vegans have learned to take an “I’ll believe it when I see it” attitude where the resurrection of the Moulin Rouge is concerned.
Glad that’s settled. AEG Live/Concerts West President John Meglen has pronounced the IRS raids on the offices of Pure Management Group nothing more than a few “disgruntled employees stirring it up.” Yep, keep moving everybody. Nothing to see here.
