Binary By Accident

Treasure Island, a Minnesota tribal casino, is opposed to gambling.

Expansion of gambling, that is. They are against other casinos being granted licenses in the state, especially one directly in the Twin Cities. Since Treasure Island is about 40 minutes outside of the cities, they would be directly affected by this competition.

Since their link is funky and I’m not sure if the link above will work in the future, I am reproducing their statement here:

The 2005 Minnesota Legislature is seriously considering several proposals to expand gambling in Minnesota by allowing one or more casinos in the Twin Cities area, including a “racino” at Canterbury Park in Shakopee. If approved, these casinos would dramatically alter the state by introducing Las Vegas-Style gambling to the metro area and by possibly opening the door for a statewide expansion of casino gambling.

Minnesota already allows pull-tabs, live horse racing, simulcast horse racing, a card club, state lottery and casinos on Indian reservations. Soon a new horse track and card club will be operating in Anoka County. Minnesota has enough gambling. An expansion of gambling would also hurt tribal governments that rely on casino revenues and the rural communities where tribal casinos are located by taking away jobs and diminishing economic activity in these areas.

Your opinion matters the most. Visit www.highstakesmn.org for details and learn about the current proposals and how to contact your state senator, state representative and the governor and tell them we have enough gambling in Minnesota.

Selfless, absolutely selfless. Nice to know they want to protect Minnesotans from the evils of convenient, accessible gaming.

Disclaimer: I played blackjack at Treasure Island yetserday. I played for just under two hours and walked away with all my money intact - nor more than I came in with and no less.

Congressman Mike Oxley came to my workplace to discuss political action committees (PACs). I was somewhat surprised he wasn’t really stumping for re-election (although the times he did mention Ben Konop, it was noticable he never used his name).

Continue reading ‘Congressman, Up Close’

Ohio is one of the Super Tuesday primary states, so I stopped by my freshly-moved polling location earlier today. I freely admit that on the past I have been somewhat poor in voting in the primaries. But, I did vote in last year’s primary. It just so happens that last year there were no offices being contested in my precinct, just issues and taxes.

Inside the polling location was a sign that said, “You must disclose your politics.” I wondered why…in Pennsylvania I was just handed the proper ballot for my party affiliation. Well, in Ohio you get whichever ballot you want. You just tell the poll worker ‘your politics’, she writes a ‘D’ or ‘R’ next to your name, and a ballot is pulled from one of the two piles on the table. I guess you can’t vote if you want to declare Independent or as a member of a smaller party - at least there wasn’t a third pile readily visible for just the issues. Maybe you get a full ballot and just don’t mark votes for the offices. (Yes - we get a paper ballot with ovals and a Sharpie™ to fill them in.) I wish I had thought to ask.

I fuzzily recall decalring a party affiliation when I registered to vote in Ohio - maybe not. In any case, it doesn’t matter if I did. And that suits me just fine, as I thought I was a registered Democrat. For local elections the only viable candidates are Republican and the offices are generally determined in the primary. We had two County Commissioner seats available, each with 4-5 Republicans vying for the nomination. No Democrats. Needless to say, I enjoyed being able to declare ‘my politics’ as Republican so I could have a say in my local leadership. Candidates don’t want the localized stigma of being a Democrat, so those that can’t or don’t vie for the Republican nomination run as independents in November. We have two such candidates for one of the County Commissioner positions.

Is this considered an ‘open primary?’ According to The Green Papers, it is a ‘modified open primary‘, which means my party affiliation is set when I declare ‘my politics’. A true open primary means my party affiliation stays the same regardless of which party’s primary I choose to vote in. Also, according to the Ohio Secretary of State, I was not required to choose a party affiliation when I first registered in Ohio. That seems to mean I had the option to - I still can’t remember whether I did or not.

Aside: The other thing I get a kick out of is that the same little old ladies who always work at our polling location either check to make sure Maureen is bringing Christopher when she votes or gush about how cute he was when they were there earlier.