Dayton Daily News: Strickland scolded by Senate president

The Dayton Daily News reports:

Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, scolded Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, for pushing to put slots at horse tracks without a vote of the people.

“…Your foray into this VLT effort has proven to be costly, confusing and contentious,” Harris wrote in a letter to Strickland that was released Monday, Oct. 5.

The governor canceled his plan to put 17,500 slot machines at the seven tracks to raise $933 million for K-12 funding. The plan had been part of the state budget bill but got sidelined when the Ohio Supreme Court said it was subject to a potential referendum in November 2010.

Now Harris says it’s in the state’s best interest to repeal the budget language that addresses VLTs. That would cancel any need for a referendum.

“I would ask for your commitment that any future effort to utilize VLTs as a revenue source will involve an open and deliberative process and most importantly, a vote of the people,” Harris told Strickland.

(Source: Dayton Daily News, 10/05/09)