Memphis casino gains lobbyist support
The resolution, the first step for a statewide referendum in 2006, will be pushed in Nashville by a lobbying team led by former Memphis state senator Bill Bruce, one of the top lobbyists in the Capitol.
Bruce, Memphis lobbyist Percy Harvey and two others were registered as lobbyists Feb. 13 to represent Save the Pyramid, a group working to open the Memphis Arena to casinos after the FedEx Forum is complete.
With the opening of the Forum this fall, the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies and the University of Memphis men’s basketball team, both of which currently call The Pyramid home, will move to the new arena — leaving the building without a major source of revenue.
“The specific aim of this is to see if there’s a way to save The Pyramid, although the more general aim is to address the whole problem of casino gambling being a few miles south of Memphis sucking the blood out of Memphis every day,” Bruce said.
He was referring to the riverboat casinos of Tunica County, Miss. — located less than 30 miles south of Memphis — that together have become the second largest casino complex in the United States.
The big player behind the push is Lakes Entertainment Inc., a Minneapolis-based casino company working on a study for the Shelby County Commission of turning the arena into a casino.
Supporters believe the resolution will benefit from the launch earlier this year of the Tennessee Lottery, an event that altered the political environment that thwarted legalized gambling for years.
But among lawmakers, including some in Shelby County, an attitude remains that casinos are still too controversial to consider even if limited to the state’s largest city.
“I’d be surprised if it passes,” said Sen. Larry Trail, D-Murfreesboro, who voted to put the lottery amendment on the 2002 ballot. “This would be more controversial than the lottery and the lottery only got the exact 22 votes it needed.”
Majorities of the House of Representatives and the Senate are required for passage of the resolution on first consideration. It then must be approved by two-thirds majorities of both chambers in either 2005 or 2006 to get on the November 2006 ballot for consideration by voters.
Rep. Larry Miller, a Memphis Democrat who is sponsoring the resolution in the House, agrees that “it’s going to be a difficult undertaking, no question about that.” But he says he sees the effort as a means to new money to reduce Shelby County’s high debt level and to offset property tax hikes.
Senate resolution sponsor Jim Kyle, D-Memphis, believes “it would be good to let the people of Tennessee vote on this.”
Both Kyle and Trail say nearly all 22 members of the Shelby County legislative delegation would have to back the resolution — something that hasn’t happened yet — for lawmakers from the rest of the state to consider voting in favor of the measure.
“I don’t see the Legislature approving the resolution,” said House Republican Leader Tre’ Hargett of Bartlett. “Many people said the lottery would open the door to casinos and its backers said it wouldn’t.
“Now here we are with it (the casino proposal) just as the lottery is getting off the ground. I think we have our hands full on the lottery.”
Across the state, Rep. Dewayne Bunch, R-Cleveland, says he believes the measure should be brought before the full House for debate. But he doesn’t think residents in his area would be supportive of casinos — even if they’re 350 miles west in Memphis.
“Absolutely not. When news of this hits over there in East Tennessee, it will upset a lot of folks,” he said.
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On the Net:
Tennessee General Assembly, www.legislature.state.tn.us
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