Editorial: Hoosier Park playing by broken set of rules

xSpecial Editorial Series: Access to Power

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November 23, 2009

Anonymous The Herald Bulletin Mon Nov 23, 2009, 10:24 PM EST

Hoosier Park and its parent company, Centaur, spent more than $530,000 lobbying members of the Indiana General Assembly during the annual reporting period that ended April 30. That’s the largest lobbying total for any business in Indiana.

While it’s easy to criticize big business for throwing bucks around to influence politicians, it’s a reality of the way politics works in Indiana and further proof that the state’s regulation of lobbyists should be tightened up.

From a singularly local point of view, the efforts of Hoosier Park and Centaur to argue, publicize and plead their case are understandable, perhaps even laudable. The year-old casino is laboring under a $250 million license fee and an onerous tax/fee structure that takes 47 percent of revenue. And the survival of Hoosier Park’s casino is of paramount importance to Madison County, which depends heavily on the taxes it generates and the visitors it brings to Anderson.

Hoosier Park officials should be fighting for a fair business climate, one that enables the casino to succeed and be profitable. As long as the lobbying is done according to current law and focuses on making the case for tax relief — rather than giving gifts to legislators — you can’t really blame Hoosier Park for pulling all the strings it can.

The vast majority of the $530,000 that the racino spent for lobbying paid for salaries of lobbyists. Combined, Hoosier Park and Centaur reported spending about $10,000 in lobbying cash on entertainment during the one-year reporting period. While the HP/Centaur entertainment total was only about 2 percent of the racino’s total lobbying bill, the exchange of such gifts between lobbyists and legislators always reeks of undue influence.

Some might criticize Hoosier Park for spending so much on lobbying at the same time it is pleading that the casino’s agreement with the state has put it in a position of financial hardship. But that $500,000 lobbying figure is dwarfed by the $250 million Hoosier Park paid for its licensing fee. So to Hoosier Park the lobbying expense is just a drop in the bucket.

As proposed by a group of 23 Hoosier newspapers, including The Herald Bulletin, in the “Access to Power” editorial series, statehouse lobbying laws should be fixed to limit gifts to legislators to $50 or less, to make all gifts reportable, and to mandate a one-year waiting period before legislators can become lobbyists.

As for now, Hoosier Park is merely playing by a broken set of rules.

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Editorial: Hoosier Park playing by broken set of rules

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