Meet The Bloggers: Ohio Learn and Earn

Thursday, June 8th, four Ohio bloggers met three very professional Ohio Learn and Earn campaign promoters in Columbus’ Short North area at the Cup O’ Joe coffeehouse, in the MoeJoe Lounge. The building straddled the I-670 freeway. There’s a ton of good content in this session.

Gloria Ferris kicked off with questions about how this Learn and Earn amendment to the Ohio constitution would actually work if passed and enacted. The projections you’ll hear are $860,000,000 for Ohio students’ college educations, this number representing 30 percent of the gross revenues derived from new slot-machine complexes at seven existing racetracks (Lebanon, River Downs, Beulah Park, Scioto Downs, Thistledown, Northfield Park, and the Toledo Raceway) and two additional areas in Cleveland (Tower City and the West Bank of the Flats). Financing for this campaign to get Ohio Learn and Earn onto the ballot comes from the Ratner Family, Jeff Jacobs, and the seven racetracks themselves—and future, unnamed others. There’s some really straight talk of the competing slot-machine campaign run by Gerry Austin and backed by Cincinnati’s Louis Beck; there are some important distinctions made here between the two campaigns in style and substance—get the low-down. David Hopcraft, spokesman for the campaign, speaks of “taking the highest road.�

At George Nemeth’s request, Hopcraft also gives us a brief bio. There’s talk of how the educational funds will be managed and custodied, how the credits will accrue to a student, the role of the Ohio Board of Regents, and how the promise made to each student will be fulfilled. Ian James, campaign director, fills in with the strategy to recapture $2 billion now leaving the state for Indiana, West Virginia, and Detroit/Windsor. Also, there are disclosures about the magnitude of the new construction this will generate—it’s not just about slot machines. You’ll hear Russell Hughlock question the necessity of a constitutional amendment and get into breaking down the sources of the revenue on a per-machine basis, with James. Tim Ferris brings up Ed Morrison’s gambling research, how 60 percent of such ventures’ patronage must come from sources outside the state, discretionary dollars, market saturation, and cannibalization of existing Ohio small businesses by the big gaming businesses and transference of discretionary income to the track owners, Jacobs, and the Ratners. Someone else brings up the exciting potential for this to bring new residents to the state, drawing a parallel to the emerging success story of the Kalamazoo Promise, and Hopcraft trots out the compelling phrase “blast Ohio into the future.� There’s talk of economic studies, Deloitte Touche and Christian Financial, trends, markets, and being late to the gaming party. Todd Hoffman, the campaign’s own hired blogger and tech guy, appears later in the recordings, the February 2006 issue of FINANCIAL PLANNING Magazine is juxtaposed with Chris Rock’s “why don’t we just sell crack?� quip, and the social and moral issues and bingo get kicked around at the end, with Gloria Ferris wrapping up much as she began, trying to get to the bottom of it all. Hopcraft candidly presents the conundrum of having the typical Ohio politician always saying, “I’ll vote against it, but it’s a great idea.�

There’s too much here to detail it all in an intro, and the bloggers and the Learn-and-Earners cover a lot of ground in a little more than an hour. Listen. Draw your own conclusions. Make your own decisions. Revisit and dig through Todd’s great media work in the blog and on the website in airing the issue from the promoters’ side. Work the numbers, as we did on the way back in the car. See if it all makes sense to you. Let us know. Comment. Blog. Vote.

Part 1. Time: 20.39
Part 2. Time: 19.46
Part 3. Time: 16.49
Part 4. Time: 15.49

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