New York | Opinion

Opinion: A bad bet on the off-reservation casino in the Catskills

Monday, November 29, 2010

"About the best thing that can be said for Governor Paterson's surprise announcement of a $700 million casino deal in the Catskills with the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans is that the chances of it materializing are in the realm of when pigs fly.

That said, given the blossoming state of genetic recombination that's already given us Dolly the cloned sheep, we can't rule out the chance a particularly gifted hog may yet pursue a career in aviation. That's a worry.

But this casino and the hog face roughly the same odds, the longest of long shots.

And as far as the casino goes, that's a good thing.

Where to begin on why this is such a lousy idea? First and foremost, consider the source; actually, the sources.

The last thing an ethically challenged governor like David Paterson should be doing is making deals of any kind with anybody as he's walking out the door. The inspector general savaged him and his top lieutenants for their handling of the Aqueduct gaming bid process, and that's only one of several negative ethical evaluations Paterson has gotten in his brief tenure as governor."

Get the Story:
Fred LeBrun: Catskills casino deal a bad bet (The Albany Times-Union 11/29)

More Opinions:
Editorial: Indian-run casino plan unfair on many levels (The Saratogan 11/29)
Editorial: Casino proposal worth the gamble (The Poughkeepsie Journal 11/27)
Editorial: Gov. David Paterson's secretive deal with Stockbridge-Munsee Community band of Mohicans deserves scrutiny (The Syracuse Post-Standard 11/28)
Editorial: Gov. Paterson's harebrained Catskills casino deal has put development at Aqueduct in jeopardy (The New York Daily News 11/27)
John N. Schneider: Governor David Paterson’s casino plan puzzling (The Oneida Dispatch 11/28)