The battle over casinos in North Jersey. How bad is it? The argument over whether one or both licenses would go to existing casino owners in Atlantic City seems hopelessly stalemated. A Democratic power hitter is telling the Democratic Senate president and the Democratic Assembly speaker to stop squabbling and compromise. And the Republican governor is weighing in and taking sides. NJTV News Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron discussed the issue with Anchor Mary Alice Williams.
Aron: Yeah, Mary Alice it’s pretty fascinating, particularly when it’s serious and unexpected like this fight. Today was largely a day of back and forth between Sweeney and Prieto and the governor weighed in. Steve Sweeney at 11 this morning called a press conference for noon. He said that the Assembly should pass his version of the casino expansion bill on Monday.
Sweeney: I’ve been clear where I stand. I’ve agreed to some common ground, but every time I concede it, I’ve been met with attempts to move the goal post. I negotiate for a living. It’s what I do for a living. I know when someone’s not acting in good faith. My plan, which by now all of you are familiar with, has strong support of the building trades. It has broad support from North, Central and South Jersey lawmakers. My bill has the vote to move out of the Senate and will move out of the Senate on Monday. Speaker Prieto’s plan doesn’t have the votes to pass in the Assembly. So I’m challenging him, since he doesn’t have the votes to pass his own resolution to commit to putting up for a vote on Monday the approved Senate version sponsored by DeAngelo on the Assembly side. The Sarlo/Sweeney bill. It would be reckless and irresponsible if the speaker decides to put politics first and let this moment pass. He will be responsible for putting the economic future of New Jersey at risk.
Aron: Prieto says he does have the votes in his house and about an hour later he put out a statement that said, among other things, “I have compromised significantly to get this done while the Senate president engages in overheated rhetoric and blame … I challenge the Senate president to spend less time preening at press conferences and more time truly working together on what is so obviously needed at this point — a compromise that will pass both houses with enough votes during the next session.” About an hour after that, Gov. Christie weighed in. He hasn’t been heard from on this. He says he supports North Jersey casinos, has for a long time, wants to see it advance this Monday and writes, “It is disturbing that infighting within the Democratic party over competing gaming bills may deprive the voters of the ability to consider this question in November. Right now, it appears that ACR-2 [that’s the Assembly bill] does not have sufficient support to move forward in the Assembly. If that is the case, inaction should not be an option. The only remaining course of action to put the ball in the end zone on this important issue is to post SCR-185 [that’s the Senate version of the bill] for a vote in the Assembly on Monday after its passage in the Senate. Delay puts the expansion of gaming in peril.” And then a half hour later, Prieto responded to that with a statement that said in its entirety, “If Gov. Christie had spent time in New Jersey, he would understand the facts and that the Assembly bill is the best one for the entire state. Gov. Christie is failing to support the free market system and competitive capitalism. That’s somewhat surprising considering his current focus.”
Williams: Is this really just about casinos?
Aron: This is partly about casinos because there are hundreds of millions of dollars at stake in the outcome of this, but it’s also clearly about the 2017 gubernatorial Democratic primary. Prieto is a close ally of Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop. This is about Sweeney and Fulop in 2017. Fulop was our guest on On The Record today for this weekend’s broadcast. Here’s a little part of that conversation:
Fulop: So let me say it’s really unfortunate for everybody that it’s gotten to this place. Speaker Prieto and myself have been on the record for two-plus years as supporting gaming in North Jersey. Our hope was that it would move forward last year. And actually the first casino gaming bill that moved forward in either house was from Speaker Prieto. Through this process, I have tried to operate in the background making sure that it’s just Jersey City specific. When it became political and I was getting called out publicly on this, I responded, obviously. But really the same principles apply. I think it needs to be open, fair and transparent. That’s it.
Aron: What’s not open, fair and transparent about the Sweeney plan?
Fulop: So the fundamental difference between the two bills is that the Sweeney plan only allows South Jersey, Atlantic City operators to bid or operate in North Jersey. The Prieto plan was a compromise saying one is from South Jersey and one is open to the public. So my belief on that is fundamentally that what is in the best interest of New Jersey and Jersey City is an open bid. Let the best bidder prevail. That’s number one. Number two is by restricting the operator, you are eliminating three out of the four biggest and best operators of gaming in the world.
Aron: Who are those?
Fulop: Wynn, Sands Adleson, the list goes on and on, right? Denton. But the reality of the situation is that you want to have a broad, broad, broad approach to this allowing for the best bid. If an Atlantic City operator wants to bid on it, they should be the best bid and they’ll win it on its merits.
Williams: Michael, what are the broader implications for New Jersey?
Aron: Well it’s hard to see Sweeney and Prieto cooperating on other things as long as this hangup, which is getting ever more bitter and personal continues to exist. So they say that they’re working on a solution to the Transportation Trust Fund. They say they can argue about one thing and compartmentalize and work together on something else, but it is really hard. These guys work very well together for the past two years. It’s hard to imagine what’s going to get done while this continues to broil.
Williams: And it got surprisingly personal.
Aron: It’s getting ever more personal. I’ve been told that it’s really involved some shouting behind closed doors but the Sweeney spokesman denies that and Sweeney denied that to me yesterday. So who knows.
You can watch Michael Aron’s entire interview with Mayor Fulop on On The Record Saturday, Jan. 9 at 6:30 p.m. and again Sunday, Jan. 10 at 10:30 a.m.