{"id":6885,"date":"2011-06-09T16:26:56","date_gmt":"2011-06-10T00:26:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=6885"},"modified":"2011-06-09T16:26:56","modified_gmt":"2011-06-10T00:26:56","slug":"we-like-paul-lepage-little-red-sheldonhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/we-like-paul-lepage-little-red-sheldonhood\/","title":{"rendered":"We like Paul LePage; Little Red Sheldonhood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-6898\" title=\"LePage\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/LePage-300x297.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"297\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/LePage-300x297.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/LePage-150x148.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/LePage.jpg 341w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Although <strong>Maine<\/strong>&#8216;s governor <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boston.com\/news\/local\/maine\/articles\/2011\/06\/08\/maine_governor_threatens_to_veto_pair_of_gambling_bills\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"broken_link\">says he&#8217;ll veto bills<\/a> to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mpbn.net\/News\/MaineHeadlineNews\/tabid\/968\/ctl\/ViewItem\/mid\/3479\/ItemId\/16669\/Default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"broken_link\">authorize a pair of racinos<\/a> and a <strong>Lewiston<\/strong> casino, that&#8217;s not why <em>S&amp;G<\/em> gives him the thumbs-up. No, it&#8217;s because he&#8217;s thwarting legislators from playing favorites. Lawmakers are trying to do an end-run around the initiative-and-referendum process and cut voters out of the equation altogether. But if the bills don&#8217;t make it out of the state house then they&#8217;ll go to the public in November.<\/p>\n<p>Which is as it should be. Why should <strong>Penn National Gaming<\/strong> have had to take the long route in the <strong>Bangor<\/strong> area (and <strong>Black Bear Entertainment<\/strong> the same in <strong>Oxford County<\/strong>) while other potential operators are allowed the convenience of <!--more-->a legislative on-ramp? It&#8217;s crony capitalism, it&#8217;s shoddy and it&#8217;s probably unconstitutional. Maine can surely absorb the extra casino capacity &#8212; but the process shouldn&#8217;t be made easier for some developers than others, nor should voters be disenfranchised.<\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6896\" title=\"Adelson\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Adelson.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Adelson.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Adelson-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Adelson-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Only his hairdresser knows for sure.<\/em><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-6897\" title=\"St Regis\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/St-Regis-300x264.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"264\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/St-Regis-300x264.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/St-Regis-150x132.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/St-Regis.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Sheldon Adelson can call<\/strong> fired <strong>Sands China<\/strong> CEO <strong>Steven Jacobs<\/strong> pretty much anything he wants. Jacobs&#8217; defamation claim against the mogul <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vegasinc.com\/news\/2011\/jun\/09\/judge-dismisses-fired-execs-defamation-claim-again\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"broken_link\">was tossed today.<\/a> In view of the criminal actions with which Adelson stands accused, Jacobs can hardly have expected his former boss to have shown Franciscan restraint. Still awaiting a ruling is the Solomonic question of whether to split the <strong>Las Vegas Sands<\/strong>\/Sands China baby. The notion that they are discrete entities wouldn&#8217;t appear to pass the laugh test. (I&#8217;d like to see LVS try and stay upright without its Chinese revenue stream; it&#8217;d be a near run thing, as the <strong>Duke of Wellington<\/strong> might have said.) However, we&#8217;re used to Las Vegas judges issuing flaky decisions, so there&#8217;s no telling where this case is headed &#8230; which could be a courtroom in <strong>Macao<\/strong>, if Adelson has his druthers.<\/p>\n<p>As for the &#8220;red-haired billionaire&#8221; and his contention that Macanese operators <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/2011\/06\/08\/sands-china-ceo-idUSL3E7H81A820110608\" target=\"_blank\">should be required by the government to build full-fledged resorts<\/a>, not casinos, that idea&#8217;s an affront to free-market principles. (How would he like it if the <strong>Clark County Commission<\/strong> required him to finish the decapitated <strong>St. Regis<\/strong> at its full, intended height, as shown?) Just because the newly crimson-maned mogul overspent on his Chinese empire hardly means that everybody else should be required to jump off the deep end after him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although Maine&#8216;s governor says he&#8217;ll veto bills to authorize a pair of racinos and a Lewiston casino, that&#8217;s not why S&amp;G gives him the thumbs-up. No, it&#8217;s because he&#8217;s thwarting legislators from playing favorites. Lawmakers are trying to do an &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/we-like-paul-lepage-little-red-sheldonhood\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[26,22,62,147,69,33,25,12,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6885"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6885"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6900,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6885\/revisions\/6900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}