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发帖数: 29846 | 1 内华达州的赌博业一边倒的支持民主党参议员候选人Harry Reid，他目前受到共和党保
守派对手
Sharron Angle的有力挑战
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303443904575578193468161902.ht
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Powerful Casino Industry Bets Heavily on Reid Again
LAS VEGAS—If Republican Sharron Angle unseats Nevada Sen. Harry Reid on Nov
.
2, it would be a defeat not just for the Democratic Party but also for the
gambling industry, which has historically helped turn elections in this
state.
The industry is so dominant here—accounting for 17% of employment and a
third of state tax revenue—that Nevada is sometimes said to have just one
political party: the Gaming Party. And while Democrats around the country
are running into opposition from business groups, the gambling business is
solidly behind Mr. Reid.
The Senate majority leader has backed several measures business doesn't
like, and that some casino executives have publicly criticized. For
instance, he supports the health-care law passed earlier this year and
allowing tax cuts for the wealthy enacted under President George W. Bush to
expire. Still, Mr. Reid has won the endorsement of most major casino
companies and raised plenty of campaign cash from the industry and its
employees.
Ms. Angle, a favorite of tea-party activists who is in a tight race with Mr.
Reid, has a more traditional pro-business platform, favoring lower taxes,
smaller government and less regulation. But she has received far less
campaign funding from the gambling industry than Mr. Reid. In fact, several
key industry executives have actively campaigned against her.
The reason: Business likes having a friend in high places, and the Senate
majority leader has made a point of cultivating the gambling industry's
support over the years.
A symbol of Mr. Reid's support for the industry is his backing of a major
gambling and resort project in Las Vegas called City Center, an $8.7 billion
glass and steel complex that towers over the Las Vegas strip. It has high-
end hotels, condos, spas, shops and a casino floor—and, crucial for a
politician, 9,700 employees.
The project opened with fanfare in December 2009, but not before a brush
with death. City Center was built by MGM Resorts International and Dubai
World, and the companies racked up big debt just as the U.S. financial
crisis hit in 2008. By early 2009, a dispute between the partners threatened
to shut down the project. MGM went to its banks asking for concessions on
its loans.
Jim Murren, MGM Mirage's chief executive, said he asked Sen. Reid for help
and gave him a list of bankers to call, including some at J.P. Morgan Chase
& Co. and Bank of America Corp., major MGM Resorts lenders. Mr. Murren
wanted to persuade the banks to give the company some maneuvering room and
keep funding the project.
"I would get calls from banks within 24 hours saying, 'The Senate majority
leader is calling my boss's boss's boss. What can we do?' " Mr. Murren said.
Eventually, MGM Resorts got its concessions, and construction of City Center
went ahead. MGM and its employees have been notable financial backers of Mr.
Reid's campaign.
J.P. Morgan and Bank of America declined to comment.
Some observers play down Mr. Reid's involvement in the episode, noting that
there were business justifications for the loan concessions, and that Mr.
Reid doesn't always get his way. They point to the failed Fontainebleau
project, another hotel and casino that ran into financial problems not long
after City Center's troubles. Here too, Mr. Reid called for the project's
banks to get flexible. They didn't, and Fontainebleau shut down.
Mr. Reid's campaign has highlighted the City Center episode as an example of
the senator's political muscle and his commitment to creating jobs for
Nevadans.
Ms. Angle has said the government should have left City Center's fate to the
markets, and has equated Mr. Reid's phone calls to the banks to the federal
financial-industry bailout and economic-stimulus package.
"The issue here becomes bailouts and stimulus," Ms. Angle said on a radio
talk show earlier this year. "What we want is something that's going to
deregulate, lower taxes, give businesses some breathing room to do what they
do best, which is create jobs…. Government does not provide jobs."
—Brody Mullins contributed to this article. |
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