Former UM spokesman Charton joins Yes for Schools campaign
Scott Charton, a longtime AP reporter who most recently has been the communications director at Mizzou, will serve as the primary media spokesman for this fall’s ”YES for Schools First Coalition,” the campaign committee supporting the Schools First Initiative on the November ballot.
The state’s casino/gaming industry is promoting and largely financing the Schools First Initiative, which would eliminate Missouri’s $500-per-cruise loss limit. In exchange, the casinos would pay more in taxes.
Those added taxes would be earmarked for Missouri’s public schools.
Supporters say the initiative would protect 12,000 casino jobs.
According to the coalition, “the state auditor estimates that by attracting more casino visitors and increasing the state taxes casinos pay, the Schools First Initiative will provide $105 to $130 million per year in new revenues for schools statewide.
“The State Auditor also estimates that the initiative will provide $5 to $7 million annually in new revenues for early childhood education, college scholarships and other programs funded by the $2 per visitor excursion fees Missouri casinos pay, plus $18 to $19 million per year in new tax and fee revenues for local communities…”
Charton’s tenure with AP included more than a decade in the wire service’s Jefferson City bureau.
Most St. Louis County schools haven’t seen a nickel of new revenue from gambling in Missouri!
So the state gets: $105 to 130 million more.
Really?
This estimate is predicated on gamblers losing 500 million or so more.
Let’s assume all those are “disposable” dollars.
When 80% of the gambling dollars come from Missourians, NOT fat cat tourists, $20 million +/- in sales taxes from other businesses is lost to the state.
Those other businesses, the “mom and pops” lose $400 million more in sales (assuming $100 million of losses comes from fat cat tourists).
I am guessing that this passes with 51% of the vote as roughly the same people who thought they were voting for “Life Saving Cures” will think this is a vote “for schools.”
Again, the casino industry makes a mockery of our ballot initiative provision. YES for Schools First Coalition … absolutely sickening. I have always thought ballot initiatives were a good thing, but seeing the way they have been abused in Missouri really makes me wonder. And the casino industry is the worst abuser of all.
If we’re going to make a change in the casino law, I have a much better idea than this one: Let’s take most of the money that currently goes to host cities and spread it evenly throughout the state by population, with some small premium going to the host cities. Maryland Heights city government spends more money per capita than Ladue, while comparable cities in St. Louis county make do on a small fraction of what they do. Why hasn’t the Municipal League suggested this?
Let’s get the reporting straight here. Charton was employed by the University of Missouri SYSTEM to handle communications, NOT Mizzou.
Certainly the casinos want this to pass - getting rid of the loss limit would allow them to draw high rollers and increase their profits.
Some facts gleamed from an insider:
In a market when Vegas tourism is down by 30+% and is letting 1 out of every 6 casino employees go, the St. Louis market is doing well and by blocking any new casinos from being built they would protect the jobs here.
Missouri is the only midwest state with a loss limit. All surrounding states removed their limits previously.
Missouri teachers pay ranks in the bottom 5 of all 50 states.
The last measure regarding casino taxes passed because the public believed the taxes would be added to the education budget. The casinos held up their end of the bargain and paid the money, it was the state legislators who changed the game and used the funds as a replacement to existing funds rather than adding to them. This measure is supposed to trap the legislators into making sure the new funds would be added this time and not used to replace existing funds.
The casino loss limits are a JOKE! They were put there simply to silence, or at least tone down, the naysayers of gambling. We need the revenue that lifting the loss limits would create. It might also create more, not less, jobs in the long run.
Loss limits DO NOT change the fundamental problems of habitual gamblers. They will replace this addiction with something else.
Mizzou - isn’t that the Columbia branch campus of the University of Missouri Saint Louis?
Perfect person to represent such a sleazy idea.
Amazed anyone would hire that guy now. Seriously.
Any talk of the initiative passing is moot, anyway, considering who their new spokesperson is. It certainly didn’t take the new University prez long to figure things out.