The number of global companies with their fingers in a campaign to approve of a third Maine casino—a casino that only one man, Shawn Scott, would be allowed to build—just keeps growing and growing.
The web of companies are all donors to the effort by Progress for Maine to convince Maine’s voters to approve of Question 1 that would authorize a casino in York County. The campaign is expected to spend many millions of dollars before November. The original organization created to push the measure, Horseracing Jobs Fairness, already spent more than $4 million in the effort to qualify it for the ballot.
The firms that have been uncovered include a California company that works with foreign investors under a special visa program, and offshore companies. Some of those who have been listed on the campaign’s website as supporters were quick to say that they never authorized this use.
One of them, a financial advisor with Edward Jones Financial, quickly called the Press Herald, and said, “I, in no way, shape or form ever gave permission to use my name or to use Edward Jones’ name, nor did I give any money or any other support to this campaign.” The man said all he did was sign a petition to put the measure on the ballot.
Companies involved with the campaign, but whose actual role in unclear include:
American General Corp. out of California, which made $11,000 in contributions to the PAC two months ago. Among its in-kind contributions was paying the fee to form the PAC. It also provided two employees to travel to Maine to help set up the PAC.
A real estate development, overseas investment firm, it also does EB-5 visa funded project management and EB-5 investment and immigration. The scandal-ridden visa program allows foreign investors to eventually achieve permanent residency in the U.S. in exchange for large investments. The program has been linked in some federal investigations with intermingling of funds and funneling of funds into the pocket of a private investor.
The company was incorporated in 2003 in California by David Wilson, who is a business partner in several ventures with Shawn Scott, who would be the only person who could build a casino in York County if the measure passes. The value of such a license is estimated to be about $200 million, according to Maine officials.
Scott led a similar casino campaign in 2003, one that successfully won him the right to build Maine’s first casino. A right he sold for $51 million to Penn National Gaming, which now operates the Hollywood casino in Bangor. Scott sold the rights as state racing regulators began closely investigating his businesses.
Shawn Scott’s sister, Lisa Scott, was the original official face of the Horseracing Jobs Fairness campaign. She headed it during its two-year effort to put Question 1 on the ballot and raised about $4.3 million during that time. A late filing aroused the interest of the Maine Ethics Commission, which, along with the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee, are attempting to unearth as much information about donors as they can.
Capital Seven, based in the Mariana Islands, is connected to Scott and Wilson. It donated or loaned money to the campaign.
Bridge Capital, based in Nevada, is also owned by Scott. It also loaned money and donated to Question 1.
Regent Able Associates Co., which may be based in Japan, apparently loaned $1.2 million to Miami Development Concepts, LLC, one of the committees that Lisa Scott formed to promote the ballot question.
Most of the same players were involved in last year’s failed attempt to pass a ballot question in Massachusetts that would have authorized a second slots parlor in the Bay State, near Boston.
Records show the campaign hired the Washington D.C. public relations firms O’Neill and Associates and Goddar Gunster. The latter concentrates on referendums and initiatives. One of its highest profile was the Brexit campaign of last year.
A spokesman from O’Neill and Associates last week said that the PAC Progress for Maine has no connection to American General Corp.
The campaign last week unveiled a website for an as yet unbuilt casino called Vacationland Resort and Events Center. The site includes renderings of the proposed resort, which is lobster and lighthouse themed. The spokesman said the campaign is considering several locations for the resort, including the town of Old Orchard Beach.
Rep. Louis Luchini, co-chairman of the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee, which oversees gaming in the state, and the other co-chairman, Senator Garrett Mason, have both publically condemned Question 1.
Luchini told the Press Herald: “This new website is disingenuous and filled with empty promises really.” He added, “The fact is, it’s still a casino that only one out-of-state company can get. This is just another way they are trying to disguise who’s behind the financing of this casino.”
Activist Jim Fossel, who opposes the casino initiative, says it should spark outrage in people of all political stripes.
He wrote in the Kennebec Journal: “Liberals, conservatives and moderates should all oppose crony capitalism because it’s detrimental to all of their causes. Fundamentally, it’s the most blatant example of big government run amok that you’ll ever find, which should absolutely infuriate conservatives of all stripes (unless they’re benefiting from it somehow.)
He added, “Writing a law specifically to allow one person to make a profit isn’t good governance, and it isn’t good business practice, either. Getting the government to rewrite laws solely to let one person make a profit is dishonest, misleading and manipulative, and the people of Maine deserve better.”
