Ohio Governor Ted Strickland hopes to appoint the state’s first Ohio Casino Control Commission by the middle of September, but one thing is certain: seven members will be appointed, but 30 more will be disappointed
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The Columbus Dispatch reported yesterday that a wildly disparate group seeks membership on the commission. The paper says the cast of hopefuls includes a UN appeals tribunal judge, an unemployed landscape architect, several lawyers and a couple of cops.
Whomever Strickland appoints will have power to oversee and regulate the operations of Penn National Gaming, which is building casinos in Columbus and Toledo, and Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert’s Rock Ventures, the successful bidder to build in Cleveland and Cincinnati.
Commission members will be paid $60,000 a year, but The Dispatch pointed out that Strickland has strictures on his seven choices.
The state Senate has approval power; there must be at least one lawyer and a certified accountant; one member must live in one of the four counties hosting the casinos; the commission can have no more than four members of the same political party; and no people affiliated with either developer may serve.
The article said Strickland’s choices will reflect “whether he wants to regulate the casinos with an iron fist, a feather duster, or something in between.”
(Harness Tracks of America)