Yesterday, S&G reported on the role played — a public service, you might call it — by Columbia Sussex CEO William Yung III in helping to unseat former Gov. Ernie Fletcher, a one-man ethical and moral disaster area. Indirect beneficiary of Yung’s largesse was Gov. Steve Beshear, a casino proponent.
Seems that, so grateful was Beshear, Yung was allowed to whisper sweet nothings in the ears of Beshear’s casino task force while non-donor Las Vegas Sands was told to peddle its papers elsewhere. Today’s headlines bring news that, lo and behold, Columbia Sussex has bought a historic brewery in Covington, Ken., (directly opposite Cincinnati) with a view to converting it into a casino. (The clueless TV report is a hoot.)
Did Yung receive any assurances from a grateful Beshear, perchance? Or is he just placing a bet on possible casino legalization in the Bluegrass State? (Either way, getting casino land for $1 million/acre qualifies as a steal.)
As for Columbia Sussex’s “Liar, liar, pants on fire!” campaign against the Culinary Union, it may be backfiring, as the Culinary’s D. Taylor claims to have a honkin’ big stack of documents detailing fiscal ineptitude at the Las Vegas Tropicana. Judging by what I’ve heard about the contract talks at the Trop, Yung’s people either don’t understand the Las Vegas market or are spoiling for a fight. Hard to tell which, right now.
Tax 2.0: The teachers’ union has gone back to the drawing board.
Local paper discovers that kids talk differently, fo’ shizzle.
Mike Huckabee wins West Virginia GOP convention, dealing humiliation to Mitt Romney.
John Ensign, R-Hypocrisy: They work here, pay taxes, buy locally and fill the growing need for service jobs. If you stayed at a local hotel, they probably made your bed. But Nevada’s best-looking senator doesn’t want them to get taxes (their taxes) rebated.
Such ingratitude. It makes you wonder where the Ensign family (including proud papa Mike Ensign, former co-chair of Circus Circus) would be without the people the well-coiffed senator wants to kick to the curb, to score political points.
I’m proud to be an American … except when I read stories like this. (Or when Harry Reid caves cravenly on one front after another, the latest being telecom immunity in the FISA bill. Adios, privacy.)
