New York: Senecas Deserve Share Of The Blame

Senecas Deserve Share Of The Blame

I am writing a letter in regards to the recent "In our Opinion" column in the PJ, entitled "State's Desperation Should Be No Surprise."

The editorial focused on the "dark side" of the deal between the state and the Seneca Nation regarding the legalization of slot machines. Of course the editorial goes out of the way to mention that the shady deals were all the state's fault, not the Seneca's. Quote: " There has always been a bad odor arising from New York state's deal with the Seneca Nation of Indians to run slots at its casinosIt has nothing to do with the Seneca's side of the compact. Rather it centers on the state."

Right. The Seneca's were innocent and unaware of the political strategy implemented in order to make the casino a reality?

The editorial then goes on to demonstrate how evil the state is for collecting revenue from these slots. Quote: "The state gets 25 percent of the net drop from the slot machines about $100 million annually And so do the math. The state counts on gamblers at casinos in Western New York to lose more than $400 million a year so that its part of the take does not falter."

Yes, and the Seneca's count on the other $300 million. That is the rest of "the math."

And now for the really interesting part: The Post-Journal typically avoids criticizing the Seneca's regarding the tobacco tax issue. However, tobacco, in the form of cigarettes, is the number one cause of heart and lung disease in New York State. In New York state alone, over $2 billion dollars annually is spent in healthcare costs related to tobacco use. Two billion dollars. If you pay for your own health insurance, realize that a significant portion of your insurance premium goes to pay for the medical bills of tobacco related illness.

So, Post Journal, where is the opinion column criticizing the un-taxed tobacco sales done on Seneca land? The state is evil for collecting money from gamblers (who, by the way, gamble their money away very willingly), but we should still defend the Seneca's for attempting to avoid tax on a product that costs citizens of our state two billion dollars a year??

The PJ opinion column mentions a foul odor. I think most of the stink is right here.

Greg Myers

Jamestown