What the Mayoral hopefuls think about expanded gambling in Texas, in particular for the Houston area, is an interesting question, but I’m not sure it’s a relevant one.
Three candidates for Houston mayor bobbed and weaved today as they were asked about government issues during a video-taping of this weekend’s Red, White & Blue program on KUHT Channel 8.
Republican Gary Polland, who co-hosts with Democrat David Jones, mentioned that the legislature is considering a bill allowing local government to conduct elections on whether to have legalized gambling in their areas, beyond what the state has now. If the bill passes, should Houston, which once was home to a football team called the Gamblers, have more gambling, especially now that cities are scrambling for new revenue sources?
Councilman Peter Brown: “I think we ought to look at term limits (instead).”
City Controller Annise Parker: “I don’t know about gambling necessarily in Houston . . . I have long thought since Ike that it would be of great benefit to Galveston to be the first city in Texas to have casino gambling.”
(Of course, Galveston did have casino gambling, legal or not, through the 1950s).
Lawyer Gene Locke: “To me the operative word is that we should have a local referendum . . . I’m a big proponent of letting the people decide.”
Maybe I’ve missed something, but the only election I’m sure will accompany an expansion of gambling bill would be a state constitutional amendment referendum. I’ve looked through my archives and don’t recall seeing anything about local option elections. There are plenty of gambling-related bills out there, so it’s entirely possible that one or more of them have such provisions, I just can’t say I’ve seen them. I think if anything gets through, it’s likely to be one big omnibus bill that the casino and racetrack interests can both agree on. Such a bill is still in flux and may never reach the House floor, but that’s what’s out there. I’m wondering if this is what Polland had in mind, or if he was referring to a different bill.
In any event, this post was worth linking to for this bit of poignancy:
Candidate Roy Morales was not invited to the taping because, the hosts said, the studio can only accommodate three guests at a time.
Poor Roy. Poor, poor Roy.