Casino issue will be special-interest slugfest

Casino issue will be special-interest slugfest
Aaron Deslatte, Capitol View

TALLAHASSEE — It will be the biggest special interest slug-fest of 2012: Mega-wealthy resort casino developers who want to plant a flag in South Florida versus the Sunshine State's traditional titans of family-friendly tourism.

Will Florida lawmakers allow three companies to open $2-billion mega-resorts in Miami-Dade and Broward counties in exchange for a huge tax revenue infusion? If history holds, the answer eventually will be yes. Florida caved to the Seminole Tribe of Florida because its $250-million-a-year payments were too tempting.

This year's battle could pit Central Florida's social conservatives – and theme parks – against the GOP's still breathing live-and-let-live caucus.

"A lot of folks are going to have issues with it," said Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner, an Orlando Republican opposed to the resort casino expansion.

"We're in this mess because we've allowed the industry to dictate public policy," said Senate sponsor Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale.

Still, it's going to be a war.

Walt Disney and other traditional Central Florida resort interests are enlisting major business groups like the Florida Chamber of Commerce to join the fight against the casinos.

Gaming interests that already have a foothold– the pari-mutuels with "racinos" and poker rooms; the Seminole Tribe of Florida and its seven facilities, including two Hard Rocks -- are lining up against the likes of Malaysian-based Genting, which wants to build a $3 billion resort casino in downtown Miami.

And all sides are throwing gobs of cash at ruling Republicans; Genting alone has coughed up more than $200,000.

Since the company bought The Miami Herald building last spring, it's hired a dozen lobbyists, including uber-fundraiser Brian Ballard; ex-education commissioner Jim Horne; ex-congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart; and Democratic lobbyists Sean Pitts and Nancy Texeira.

The company even retained former Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson to lobby Gov. Rick Scott's office, while Mardi Gras Gaming – which has given $55,500 this year -- turned to another ex-minority leader, Steve Geller of Hallandale Beach, to lobby against the Malaysian multi-national.

Other companies with resort casino ambitions, like Las Vegas Sands, are giving to Associated Industries of Florida, the business lobby that doesn't oppose gaming.

So who gets the early edge? Based on recent history, you'd have to give the mouse the cheese. Disney usually gets its way in Tallahassee.

The company has given more than $417,000 to state political parties, candidates and committees this year. It's also beefed up its lobbying team by hiring former Republican Party of Florida executive director Andy Palmer.

But Bogdanoff says Disney's family-friendly argument is "disingenuous."

"Disney is not a not-for-profit. When they turn themselves into a not-for-profit and spread all their money among the poor children of the world, I will say that's all about being family-friendly. It's about convention business," she said.

"In any industry where there's this much money at stake, you just follow the money. It's just that Mickey Mouse has three fingers and white gloves, and his money is picked up a little differently."