Waiting for Strickland to act on VLTs

COLUMBUS — A number of Statehouse reporters were talking to Senate President Bill Harris last week about the topic du jour — Gov. Ted Strickland’s video lottery terminal plan.

You know the one, calling for slots to be placed in the state’s seven horse racing tracks. The one that’s supposed to generate close to $1 billion for school funding — money that lawmakers and the governor are counting on for their spending plans for fiscal 2010-11.

That slots proposal is in limbo at the moment, thanks to an Ohio Supreme Court decision allowing a group to begin the petition process to place the plan before voters in November 2010.

That’s just one of three lawsuits that have been filed on the issue and which promise, at the very least, to postpone implementation of the slots plan past the May start date desired by the governor and the Ohio Lottery Commission.

Add to that the reluctance of the horse racing tracks to pay the first of five $13 million installments to be a part of the plan. Plus Standard and Poor’s decision to lower its ratings outlook on Ohio to negative, citing the slots situation.

Statehouse Republicans ought to be giddy over the ongoing debacle — not over the precarious budget situation it creates but the political implications for a popular governor facing re-election next year.

One of the members of the Statehouse press corps last week jokingly asked Harris whether he had purchased a trailer to haul around an “I told you so” billboard to spotlight the situation. Flashback to late June, during the heat of the budget squabble between Senate Republicans and Strickland.

Lawsuit prediction

Asked about his reluctance to include video lottery terminal provisions in the state budget, Harris told reporters, “I would much more prefer that we send it to the ballot, which has been our practice in the past, and let the voters vote on it. The voters have spoken four times. ... To put it in the budget bill is just asking for lawsuits.”

So what happens next?

Harris told reporters last week that the ball is in Strickland’s court. Senate Republicans are waiting to hear what the governor has in mind for dealing with the situation and the potential budget hole it creates.

Strickland said he was reviewing the Supreme Court decision before taking his next step.

“We’re looking at all of our options,” Strickland said. “I don’t know that we have reached a firm conclusion as to whether or not we will proceed based on a conclusion that I have the authority. We’re looking at everything.”

And the governor maintained that line throughout the week when asked by reporters whether he would issue an executive order calling for video lottery terminals at the tracks — a logical next step, given the repeated assertions that he has the authority to expand lottery gaming (that’s how we ended up with Keno).

And what happens if lawmakers rescind the slots language they included in the budget? Without that language, there could be no referendum on the legislative action; there would be no law change to be overturned by the people of Ohio.

You can bet slots opponents would still find some way to challenge the legality of video lottery terminals at racetracks.

Asked whether he was confident that slots would be operating at tracks sometime in 2010, Strickland responded, “It is certainly my hope that that will be the case, and I intend to continue to pursue that possibility and those efforts.”

X Marc Kovac is the Vindicator’s Statehouse correspondent. E-mail him at mkovac@dixcom.com.