We’re no fans of the Catawba Nation’s efforts over the decades to open a casino in South Carolina, but it’s hard to argue with Chief Brian Harris’ assertion that there’s no way a Republican campaign donor should be allowed to do that as long as his tribe can’t.
Chief Harris spoke out Monday after The Post and Courier and other news organizations reported that the tribe’s controversial former business partner had purchased land near where the tribe had hoped to build its own casino and that he is now working the Legislature to get a law passed that would allow him to build what he says would be a $1 billion facility in the Orangeburg County town of Santee, and pluck travelers off I-95 willing to lose their money.
We’re not expecting our legislators to approve the special carve-out. One thing those of us who oppose casino gambling have going for us is that the part of our state that would ostensibly benefit most directly is represented by Democrats, which reduces the impetus for the Republicans who control the Legislature to support it.
But it’s not impossible. Wallace Cheves has become a significant campaign donor, and several prominent GOP lawmakers — including House Judiciary Chairman Weston Newton and former chairman Rep. Chris Murphy — are sponsoring H.4176.
In their defense, none of the GOP sponsors was involved in state politics back when the video gambling industry nearly took over our state government. Unfortunately, most of our current legislators were not either, so they might not realize the fire they’re playing with.
Aside from the obvious damage casino gambling can do to people who can’t afford to lose the money they inevitably lose, there’s the damage it does to our political system. We lived through the video-gambling era when the poker barons, having established a legal foothold in our state through deception, had their way with our courts while they amassed enough money and power to take out a sitting governor and nearly take over our Legislature.
We don’t need that again.
We also don’t need the self-defeating argument that supporters are using to sell the idea.
The legislation starts out by declaring that “casino gaming is not consistent with nor compatible with the economic, labor, or tourism industry profile for most communities in South Carolina.”
We couldn't agree more.
But then it takes an astounding twist, declaring in the very next sentence that “certain counties along Interstate 95 (I-95) represent rural and impoverished school districts” and “casino gaming in these counties is consistent and compatible with their economic, labor, and tourism profiles and that revenue, job creation, and economic improvement from such gaming would substantially enhance the educational opportunities of children living in these areas.”
In other words, poor communities don't deserve the same standards as the rest of us. This is the best they can hope for.
That’s insulting beyond words.
You don’t transform a community by exploiting human weaknesses. A casino might be good for the casino operator and for the few people who get jobs serving drinks and working the tables, but the impact on the community can be devastating.
Just like the waste industry, which gravitated to Clarendon County, Hampton County, Colleton County and Lee County, casino gambling interests prey upon struggling, underdeveloped communities. They target impoverished communities because they figure the local population is either too unsophisticated and politically powerless to stop them or else so desperate that they’ll welcome even the most undesirable of neighbors.
Unfortunately, we have state legislators who feel the same way about the local population in Santee — and by extension, throughout South Carolina.
Santee and all of South Carolina deserve better.
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