BestCraps.com

Donations from casino groups to Culver done with no malice

Posted on July 22nd, 2010

News Sponsored by Online Vegas Casino

Rated 5 Stars by BestCraps.com

Read Review

Visit Casino

Download Software

————————————————

Iowa Governor Chet Culver’ aides clarified on Monday that while the governor’s office did solicit campaign contribution from 2 groups offering proposals for a casino project, the contributions made were done with no malice and are not in anyway inappropriate. Governor Culver is said to have sought donations from groups proposing to build casinos in the Lyon County and Fort Dodge. The group that was behind the Lyon County proposal was granted a license, but did not contribute any support to Culver. The group behind the Fort Dodge who gave a contribution of $25,000 did not get a license. This contribution is now being studied by a special prosecutor, Lewis Scalisse. He was appointed by Attorney General Tom Miller to investigate whether the contribution broke any laws.

Campaign Manager to Governor Culver, Donn Stanley released a statement saying there was nothing improper in the solicitation made.” There were contributions all over the map,” he said.
Chief Executive of the Lyon County casino proposal Dan Kehl told the media that he chose to decline the offer to donate as it may look rather inappropriate. Kehl previously donated personally on Culver’s 2007 and 2008 campaign. The license granted to Lyon County was one of the four casino licenses that were approved last May by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission. The proposals made on Fort Dodge, Ottumwa and Tama counties were unanimously turned down by the deciding panel.

Stanley said that the Governor recommended the approval of all four licenses. Culver is said to have received contributions from concerned groups from both sides. “The common denominator in all four of the licenses that Governor Culver recommended is that the people of the local communities voted to pursue the license,” he said. Iowa State Laws have provisions that prohibit the giving and accepting of any campaign contributions to be exchanged with anything tangible. Scalisse is to study whether the contribution made to Culver was given under a guarantee that the license will be given to the group that gave the donation. Scalise refused to make a comment on the issue. Culver clarified that the final on who gets the gaming license decision does not come from him. He said that he supported all the license applications because the voters approved the application and he believes that casinos will be of help to the state’s economy.

Culver’s opponent, the former Governor Terry Branstad, has urged for the media to focus on the investigation. “Iowans deserve to know whether there was any wrongdoing involved in the making of these contributions and it is our hope that the special prosecutor moves swiftly to resolve these issues,” said Tim Albrecht, spokesman to Branstad. Campaign finance reviews show that even Branstad also benefited from gambling contributions. Branstad was given $50,000 since December from Wild Rose Entertainment. Gerald Kirke, owner of the company has made donations to prevent the emergence of any other casino licenses, as this will hurt the operations of existing casinos. Kirke gave the $25,000 to Governor Culver last October.

Citizens for the Preservation of Racing is another group that reportedly gave Branstad an amount of $15,000. The group also gave $10,000 to the Governor. “Nearly 12,000 individuals have contributed to our campaign because they want a proven effective leader in the governor’s office,” Spokesman Albrecht said. “The only people Terry Branstad will answer to are the people of Iowa.” Branstad served as the governor of the state for 16 years, from 1983 to 1999, wherein he put into law most of the provisions that now forms the state’s gaming industry.

Culver on the other hand, has pushed the license of all 4 proposals with this argument that the people of the state approved of them and that the state’s local economy can benefit from these casinos. “That’s really the common denominator, the support of the local people,” said Campaign Manager Stanley. Spokesman for the Iowa Family Policy Center, Bryan English said it will not be unusual for state officials to get donation from casino project applications, officials after all control the gaming industry.