Pushed on Rosy Casino Poll, Cuomo Focuses on Timing

A lawsuit challenging the glowing language of a referendum to expand casino gambling was filed too late, New York’s Board of Elections is expected to argue in court this week, although the wording wasn’t posted on the board’s website until two weeks after that deadline to sue.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature are pushing the Nov. 5 referendum which would amend the constitution to authorize seven casinos, including four in parts of the Catskills which is heavily trafficked by Orthodox Jews during the summer months. They reworded the standard, only-the-facts language provided by the state Attorney General’s Office to include promises of jobs, tax breaks and more school aid — all of which are disputed. Voters won’t be advised of the possible downsides including addiction and crime.

The Board of Elections first posted the rewording of the referendum to its website on Aug. 23. The deadline to file a lawsuit was about two weeks before. Board spokesman John Conklin said county boards of election were notified by email on Aug. 5 and the new wording was a public record when adopted by the board on July 29 in a public meeting.

However, the specific added wording wasn’t identified in the meeting or in its official minutes.

“The language was given out to anyone who asked for it,” Conklin said. He said the League of Women Voters and three others including a newspaper reporter received the language before the lawsuit filing deadline. He said election law only requires a constitutional amendment to be published in legal notices of newspapers in every county a week before the general election.

“By posting it on our website more than two months before the election, I think we more than exceeded that requirement,” Conklin said.

The first news reports highlighting the contested wording appeared Sept. 12. Brooklyn lawyer Eric Snyder filed his lawsuit Oct. 1.

“This is a process that appears to be rigged in advance for a ‘yes’ vote,” said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group. “This is supposed to be the public’s government and there’s no meaningful way for the public to weigh in on this issue unless they are an insider. That’s not right.”

The issue will get its first court airing on Friday in state Supreme Court in Albany.

The board had also moved the casino question from the last issue to first on the ballot, a prime spot.

This article appeared in print on page 5 of the October 10th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.