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Post by Blitz on Dec 16, 2021 6:45:12 GMT -5
LVS Files Lawsuit Against Florida Based Groups Collaborating With Seminoles Updated On Dec 3, 2021 by Ella McDonald www.legalgamblingandthelaw.com/news/las-vegas-sands-files-lawsuit-against-florida-based-groups-collaborating-with-seminoles/Summary Las Vegas Sands files lawsuit against multiple groups in Florida Lawsuit claims Seminole Tribe collaborating with these groups Seminoles allegedly paying them money to influence gambling ballot The Seminole Tribe in Florida isn’t keen on a campaign that is pushing for Florida to expand its gambling market. One of the main companies behind this push to expand gambling in Florida is gambling giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. The Seminoles have control over the multi-billion dollar gambling market in Florida and want to do their best to protect their interests as an expanded gambling bill will give operators like Sands Corp, the opportunity to come into Florida and take over market share. Sands Corp is currently pushing to get 900,000 signatures down that will ensure a gaming expansion measure is placed on the 2022 ballot. SANDS CORP FILES LAWSUIT Sands Corp and groups such as Florida Voters in Charge which are aligned with the push for expanded gambling have hired law firm Foley & Lardner to file a lawsuit against multiple groups that have opposed the push for expanded gambling in the state. All of these groups are alleged to have connections with the Seminole Tribe in Florida. The crux of the six page lawsuit is that these groups under the influence of the Seminoles are paying off individuals in order to get them to either not support the push for expanded gambling or to switch sides and join the Seminoles. The lawsuit details a number of instances of how these groups have baited individuals and offered them thousands of dollars to turn face. Some individuals were paid as much as $7,000 dollars to leave the state and not be a part of the Sands campaign. Sands Corp. has already invested $27 million in its campaign to push for expanded gambling in Florida and is not willing to let the Seminoles roughshod them in Florida. SEMINOLES DOES NOT RESPOND TO LAWSUIT The lawsuit claims that this money was paid out through a Palm Beach County consulting firm called Cornerstone Solutions. This firm is run by Rick Asnani who has worked with the Seminoles for a long period of time as a consultant. The Seminoles have decided not to release a statement regarding the lawsuit by Sands Corp., since their name is not featured in the lawsuit as a direct defendant. |
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Post by Blitz on Dec 16, 2021 6:47:16 GMT -5
Las Vegas Sands drops request for restraining order vs. Seminole Tribe floridapolitics.com/archives/479680-las-vegas-sands-drops-request-for-restraining-order-vs-seminole-tribe/The move comes after a Leon County judge denied the Las Vegas Sands affiliates’ request earlier this week. A Las Vegas Sands affiliate has dropped its request for a temporary restraining order against groups backed by the Seminole Tribe in a ballot initiative intimidation case. The move comes after a Leon County judge denied the Las Vegas Sands affiliates’ request earlier this week. The Las Vegas Sands team, which is circulating an initiative that could expand gaming in Florida, has accused the Tribe of trying to poach petition gatherers in an interference effort that is escalating as signature collecting comes down to the wire this month. “As we march to the finish line, we will continue to pursue our legal options to expose and seek damages from those who have intentionally and aggressively attempted to thwart the constitutional signature gathering process,” Florida Voters in Change, a group funded by Las Vegas Sands, said in a statement. “We continue to do the right thing by Floridians while out-of-state companies are wasting Florida’s time and tax dollars with frivolous emergencies of their own making,” said Rick Asnani, president of Cornerstone Solutions. Earlier this week, Judge Angela Dempsey of the Florida 2nd Judicial Circuit in Tallahassee denied the casino group’s initial call for the Tribe-backed team to cease what it calls harassment and intimidation against voters and petition gatherers. Florida Voters in Charge and other affiliates of the casino requested a restraining order against the Tribe’s groups, including Standing Up for Florida and Let the Voters Decide. According to the lawsuit, the Tribe-funded groups would prevent Florida Voters in Charge from getting its initiative to expand gaming in the Sunshine State on the 2022 ballot if the groups aren’t stopped. Dempsey denied the temporary restraining order, but she set a hearing to consider the defendants’ motion to dismiss for Friday and an evidentiary hearing on the injunction for Tuesday. That hearing has since been cancelled since the group dropped the request. “Florida Voters in Charge is pleased to announce we successfully achieved the required number of verified petitions for FEIC and Supreme Court review. Additionally, we are on pace to gather the remaining signatures to allow Florida voters to decide on the 2022 ballot if they want to expand gaming in Florida,” the organization added in the statement. That mandate, for 222,898 verified signatures, was the first and easiest step. Time is running out for the campaign to collect the nearly 891,589 signatures it needs to get its initiative on the 2022 ballot. So far, it has about 246,000 signatures verified. While the verification deadline on those signatures is Feb. 1, Florida Voters in Charge says it must submit signatures by Dec. 30 to ensure elections supervisors verify them in time. “There is an emergency here,” said Las Vegas Sands attorney James McKee, according to the Miami Herald. “Every day that goes by, people are being poached, people are being bought off to leave the state.” The Las Vegas Sands-backed group argues the Tribe is harassing and intimidating people and running a sham petition-gathering effort to siphon manpower from its campaign to add to the Florida Constitution an avenue for card rooms to become casinos. POLITICO Florida first reported the “gaming turf war” last week. The lawsuit argues the vendors operating in the Tribe’s interests circulated a “sham” petition to employ as many petition gatherers as possible so that they couldn’t work on Florida Voters in Charge’s campaign. The lawsuit also alleges the vendors paid petition gatherers per signature, a misdemeanor under Florida law. According to the accusations, the Tribe-backed groups have unleashed people on others working for the Florida Voters in Charge campaign, harassing and intimidating them. The lawsuit says people working in the Tribe’s interests have ripped clipboards from the hands of petition circulators, run away with stacks of their petitions, and screamed at voters to discourage them from interacting with petition circulators. The efforts have escalated in recent days, the lawsuit continues, with the Tribe’s team paying off Florida Voters in Charge’s petition gathering team to not collect signatures, “offering large sums of money to do nothing at all.” If the interests working for the Tribe aren’t stopped, Florida Voters in Charge “will not be able to obtain the number of signatures required to place the Gaming Initiative on the 2022 ballot,” the group argues. The lawsuit, filed last week, follows a legal blow to Florida and the Seminole Tribe in which a court Washington nixed the Gaming Compact between the Tribe and Gov. Ron DeSantis that was set to bring billions to the state in the coming years. The lawsuit and POLITICO’s reporting prompted St. Petersburg Republican Sen. Jeff Brandes to call on state attorneys to investigate the Tribe and its vendors. |
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Post by Blitz on Dec 16, 2021 6:49:07 GMT -5
Las Vegas Sands looks to bring casino gambling to Jacksonville floridapolitics.com/archives/441083-las-vegas-sands-looks-to-bring-casino-gambling-to-jacksonville/Both ballot proposals point to the Bold City. Las Vegas Sands spent the better part of decade trying to build a casino in South Florida, but the company appears to have shifted its focus a few hundred miles north. The casino company made waves Monday when it was found to have pumped $17 million into a political committee that would back a then-unspecified gambling amendment in 2022. A spokesperson said the company was “contemplating various options with no intention to violate the recently passed Compact/revenue sharing agreement” with the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Documents obtained by Florida Politics show the political committee, Florida Voters in Charge, has two pitches for the ballot that both point to Jacksonville as the new target for a resort-casino. One proposed amendment would authorize up to three existing cardroom license holders to offer full-fledged casino gaming if they’re at least 130 miles away from tribal lands and the owners agree to spend no less than $250 million on development and construction costs. The wording would apply to the bestbet locations in Northeast Florida as well as Gretna, but the Jax area would be the obvious choice for a nine-figure capital investment. The other proposal would allow for up to three new casinos in the state. The gambling licenses, which would be put up for competitive bid, would require the new facilities to be at least 100 miles away from tribal lands. Applicants would also have to show they would spend at least $500 million on development and construction. The second proposal could allow a new player to set up shop down the road from existing cardrooms, which would be sure to rile up pari-mutuel interests. No matter which option Las Vegas Sands picks, the only major metro that ticks all the boxes and would be financially viable for such an investment is Jacksonville. Eyeing Jacksonville marks a change in strategy for Las Vegas Sands, which has attempted many times to get authorization to build a casino in South Florida. Most of its efforts came before 2018, when voters OK’d a constitutional amendment that requires gaming expansions to get statewide ballot approval. The effort was backed by No Casinos and heavily funded by the Seminole Tribe and Disney. Before the 2018 amendment passed, a handful of lawmakers carried bills that would have brought destination hotel casinos to the state. In 2012, then-Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff sponsored bills (SB 710/SB 712/SB 714) that would have opened the door for three such megacasinos in South Florida. It cleared one committee and died. Former Sen. Dana Young took a stab at it two years later during her time in the House, but that bill also flubbed. This year, Florida Voters in Charge has $17 million ready to go for a statewide petition gathering effort to make the ballot. It was one of four eight-figure finance reports in some way related to gaming posted on the Florida Division of Elections website Tuesday. The largest report was posted by Florida Education Champions, which raked in $20 million from DraftKings and FanDuel. It is backing a proposed amendment to open up the state’s sports betting market to all comers sans oversight from the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The language would allow the Legislature to tax sports betting and dump the proceeds into the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund, similar to the current setup with the Florida Lottery. That effort is largely separate from the resort-casino question and will likely face stiff opposition from the Seminole Tribe. “This is millions of out-of-state corporate dollars to try and manipulate the people of Florida, who are smarter than that. They think they can buy their way into the state. Our team intends to use our Florida dollars to protect the interests of the people of Florida,” Seminole Gaming spokesperson Gary Bitner said in a statement to Florida Politics. |
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Post by Blitz on Dec 16, 2021 6:52:05 GMT -5
FanDuel invests additional $4.38M against Seminoles in FL... AGAINST SEMINOLES' MONOPOLY www.yogonet.com/international/news/2021/12/15/60616-fanduel-invests-additional--438m-in-political-committee-to-open-commercial-sports-betting-in-floridaFanDuel is committed to the legalization of commercial sports betting in Florida. The sports betting giant contributed a further $4.38 million in November towards the political committee Florida Education Champions (FEC), which seeks to open and expand online sports wagering in the state. The company’s efforts seek to legalize betting through a constitutional amendment via the November 2022 ballot, beyond the now rejected state compact with the Seminole Tribe, which attempted to give a monopoly on the market to the tribal nation. According to a recent upgrade by Florida Secretary of the State Laurel M. Lee, FEC has currently gathered 172,000 verified signatures on its petition. If enacted, FEC’s proposal would generate about $350 million in state and local tax revenue annually through sports wagering. About $247 million would be directed to the Florida Department of Education’s Educational Enhancement Trust Fund. FanDuel is joined by DraftKings as the two main contributors to the Florida Education Champions. Both operators aim to secure placement of their sports betting proposal on the November 2022 ballot, which would allow wagering at professional sports venues, pari-mutuel facilities, as well as statewide betting through online sportsbooks. But now, FEC has further taken an offensive stance through a new series of advertisements which seek to bring the political committee closer to their targeted number of signatures, reports The Capitolist. The FEC needs to gather 900,000 signatures to add their provision to voter ballots next year. “It’s official. We are now the only game in town when it comes to legalizing online sports betting in our state with all revenue going to supplement public education funding,” the ad states. “Our initiative provides a competitive sports betting marketplace in the state of Florida. When combined, FanDuel and DraftKings have contributed more than $37 million in backing funds to the initiative. While FanDuel has invested $14.38 million, DraftKings has contributed $22.71 million, according to finance reports filed. So far, the political committee has spent about $26.77 million as of November 30. The deadline for submitting the total of 891,589 valid petition signatures to the state is February 1. Representatives maintain that they have a lot more unverified signatures on hand than initially reported. Online sportsbooks are seeking to reach their petition goals amid the shutdown of the Seminole Gaming Compact and the Hard Rock app. The deal was shut down by Judge Dabney Friedrich last month, in a ruling which concluded the compact violated federal law. While the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act mandates state-sanctioned gambling to occur only on tribal land, the compact allowed bettors to place wagers through mobile devices anywhere within Florida as long as these were processed through computer servers on tribal property. The judge deemed this a “fiction.” |
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Post by Blitz on Dec 16, 2021 6:53:29 GMT -5
Seminoles Strike Back Against Ballot Threats from LVS, DraftKings Posted on: October 20, 2021 - Philip Conneller www.casino.org/news/seminoles-strike-back-against-ballot-threats-from-lvs-draftkings/All-powerful Florida tribal gaming operator the Seminoles are plowing millions of dollars into a new political committee called “Standing Up for Florida,” Florida Politics reports.  Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood Not only is the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood’s hotel tower shaped like a Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, but it also emits laser beams. Can LVS top that? The Seminoles don’t want to find out. (Image: Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood) The tribe is hoping to sabotage efforts by out-of-state gaming companies that want to challenge its gambling monopolies via voter-led petitions. “Standing Up for Florida” has kicked off its campaign with a TV and digital media ad titled “Watch Out, Florida.” The ad’s tagline is a stern warning to voters: “Don’t Sign Petitions.” Out-of-state gambling companies are spending tens of millions to turn our state into another Las Vegas. They want to change our constitution to allow out-of-control gambling with no guarantees for us and big profits for them,” the TV spot claims. The Seminoles hold a virtual monopoly on casino gaming in Florida (bar a handful of slots licensees in Broward and Miami-Dade counties) at their seven Hard Rock-branded casinos, and they want it to stay that way. They also now hold a monopoly on sports betting, thanks to a new compact agreement negotiated with Gov. Ron DeSantis. Voters in Charge? While the tribe does not name these dangerous out-of-staters, its targets are clear. LVS Corp and its powerful lobbyists have been sniffing around Florida for years in the hope that someone might let them build a casino resort. Now the Las Vegas-based company has teamed up with Alabama’s Poarch Band of Creek Indians on a ballot initiative called “Florida Voters in Charge.” The initiative asks voters to change the state constitution to allow pari-mutuel card rooms in North Florida to become full-fledged casinos, provided they are 130 miles away from the Seminole reservation. Theoretically, this could allow LVS or the Poarch Creek to purchase a card room that could then be transformed into a casino resort in or around the Jacksonville area. Meanwhile, DraftKings and FanDuel want voters to back a more inclusive mobile sports betting market, specifically one that includes them. This is via their committee, “Florida Education Champions,” which promises that disrupting the Seminole monopoly will bring more revenue to schools. As the Seminoles note in their campaign, they pay $500 million to the state each year. And they would have a case to renegotiate in this figure downwards if “Florida Education Champions'” vision ever became a reality. The two initiatives need 891,589 signatures from registered state voters to be placed on the ballot in 2022. Could Amendment 3 Backfire? Ironically, the tribe championed a ballot initiative of their own back in 2018. At elections that year, Florida residents passed Amendment 3, which established that all casino gaming expansion must be approved by voters in a public ballot. The campaign was bankrolled by the Seminoles with the help of Disney. And despite the tribe’s current advice not to sign petitions in general, it got the necessary signatures, and ultimately the votes, to become law. The tribe believed this would help safeguard their monopoly, because it would prevent the legislature from approving laws that benefited commercial gaming interests. But it also gave a bunch of “interfering out-of-staters” an outside chance of gaining the kind of ground in Florida that the legislature has resisted for years. |
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Post by Blitz on Dec 16, 2021 6:59:41 GMT -5
More background info on LVS fighting the Tribes for gaming and sports betting rights... even without any current dogs in the hunt? Legislation backed by casino giant would allow casinos, sports gambling in Texas Las Vegas Sands is pushing to create the opportunity for casinos at "destination resorts" in the state's four largest metropolitan areas. BY PATRICK SVITEK MARCH 9, 2021UPDATED: 4 PM CENTRAL www.texastribune.org/2021/03/09/texas-casinos-sports-betting/Lawmakers filed legislation Tuesday seeking to bring casino gambling to Texas. Two Texas lawmakers on Tuesday filed legislation backed by the gaming empire Las Vegas Sands that would legalize casino gambling in Texas. The legislation was filed by Rep. John Kuempel, R-Seguin, in the House and Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, in the Senate. Rep. Toni Rose, D-Dallas, was later added as a joint author on the House proposal. The proposals would create special casino licenses for four "destination resorts" in the state's four largest metropolitan areas: Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin. At the same time, it would establish a Texas Gaming Commission to regulate the casinos, tax table games and slot machines and separately legalize sports betting. The legislation would require amending the Texas Constitution, which currently bans most gaming in Texas. That is only possible with a two-thirds vote of lawmakers in both chambers, and then voter approval in the November election. The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one. Kuempel is the vice chair of the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee, which oversees industries regulated by the state, including current gaming options. Alvarado, meanwhile, chairs the Senate Democratic Caucus. Las Vegas Sands, founded by the late GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson, has spent the past few months building a massive push at the Capitol, spending millions of dollars to hire nearly six dozen lobbyists. The bill-filing deadline for the biennial legislative session, which got underway in January, is Friday. "We appreciate the work of the bill’s sponsors and we are excited to engage in further discussion with elected leaders and community stakeholders on the possibilities for expanding Texas’ tourism offerings through destination resorts," Andy Abboud, Las Vegas Sands senior vice president, said in a statement. The legislation is consistent with the vision that Las Vegas Sands has laid out for casinos in Texas: a limited number of licenses for mixed-use "destination resorts" in the state's biggest population centers, with a high minimum investment intended to attract only the best operators. To that end, the legislation calls for a land and development investment of at least $2 billion in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, as well as $1 billion for San Antonio and Austin. The "destination resort" licenses would be considered "Class I" licenses. The legislation would then create three "Class II" licenses for "limited casino gaming" at horse-race tracks in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. After that, two "Class III" licenses would be made available for similarly limited casino gambling at greyhound tracks in Corpus Christi and Harlingen. The full casino legalization would also extend to the state's three federally recognized Native American tribes at their reservations in El Paso, Eagle Pass and Livingston. They are currently able to offer limited gaming. The legislation also would generate fresh revenue for the state by imposing a 10% tax on table games and 25% on slot machines. State lawmakers face a nearly $1 billion budget shortfall, but Las Vegas Sands has downplayed casinos as a short-term solution to the deficit, instead focusing on their long-term impact when it comes to economic development, jobs and tourism. While the Las Vegas Sands-backed bills also call for legalizing sports wagering, an alliance of Texas' major professional teams and betting platforms are making their own push at the Capitol and unveiled their own legislation last month. The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one. "The Sports Betting Alliance is focused solely on mobile sports betting legislation, however several of our member teams and organizations may support these bills individually and any bills that give Texans the opportunity to decide if they want to regulate gaming in Texas," Cara Gustafson, a spokesperson for the Sports Betting Alliance, said in a statement after the filing of the casino legislation. It remains to be seen how viable the casino bills are at the Capitol. Both Gov. Greg Abbott and state House Speaker Dade Phelan have not been opposed to the idea from the outset, with Abbott saying he wants to hear from lawmakers about where their constituents are on the issue. But Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has been far more pessimistic, saying last month he has "never been in favor of" expanding gaming and the upper chamber is "nowhere close to having the votes for it." Polling released last week by The Texas Tribune and the University of Texas found that a majority of Texans support expanding gaming, with 41% backing full casino gambling. Las Vegas Sands has said its polling shows higher support for the destination-resort model in Texas, and even higher numbers for giving the Texans the option to vote on it. |
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Post by Blitz on Dec 16, 2021 7:03:36 GMT -5
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Post by Blitz on Dec 16, 2021 7:03:55 GMT -5
So far, the Indians are beating the LVS cowboys in every fight... //////////////////////////// Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas files brief before U.S. Supreme Court in effort to save Naskila Gaming pechanga.net/alabamacoushatta-tribe-of-texas-files-brief-before-us-supreme-court-in-e-p11801-73.htmThe Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas (the Tribe) filed a brief late last week in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that would directly impact the viability of 700 jobs and the overall health of the East Texas economy. The Tribe filed an amicus brief in the case that Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (Pueblo), a federally recognized tribe in El Paso, has brought against the State of Texas. The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear the case from Pueblo, which is seeking to overturn a 1994 ruling that the state has long used to try to close electronic bingo facilities operated by Pueblo and the Tribe. The Fifth Circuit ruled in 1994 that the State of Texas can stop the two tribes from offering electronic bingo on their reservations. The Pueblo case asks the Supreme Court to overrule that 1994 decision because bingo is otherwise permitted in the state. By filing an amicus brief, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas is formally registering its support for Pueblo’s case. In the brief, the Tribe argues that the state does not have the authority to regulate bingo on the Tribe’s reservation, and that the Fifth Circuit has misinterpreted the Restoration Act of 1987 — the federal law that restored formal federal recognition to the tribes in Livingston and El Paso. The 1994 decision "did not concern gaming activities that Texas permits and regulates (like bingo), nor did it purport to construe the Restoration Act to that end. At the time, everyone — including Texas — believed the Restoration Act barred Texas from enforcing its regulatory jurisdiction over on-reservation gaming activities that Texas allows, like bingo.” In addition to the Tribe, the National Indian Gaming Association, the National Congress of American Indians, and the United South and Eastern Tribes filed amicus briefs in support of the Pueblo and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas. Naskila Gaming, the electronic bingo facility operated on the Tribe’s reservation near Livingston, is the second-largest employer in Polk County and directly or indirectly responsible for 700 jobs. For years, the state’s effort to close Naskila Gaming through litigation has put those jobs in peril. "The Supreme Court’s decision to hear this case has given us hope that the state’s effort to put our employees out of work will finally end,” said Nita Battise, Chairperson of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas’ Tribal Council. "This case is vitally important to our Tribe. Hundreds of jobs are at stake, as well as our long-term future and sustainability as a Tribe.” Continue reading: bluebonnetnews.com/2021/12/13/alabama-coushatta-tribe-of-texas-files-brief-before-u-s-supreme-court-in-effort-to-save-naskila-gaming/ |
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Post by Blitz on Dec 26, 2021 8:48:20 GMT -5
This article states LVS wants up to 3 brick and mortar casinos in FL... DEC 15, 2021 pechanga.net/felony-friendly-inside-the-business-of-signature-gathering-for-florida-i-p11741-200.htm////////////////////////////// ‘Felony Friendly’: Inside The Business Of Signature Gathering For Florida Initiatives As the fate of legal sports betting in Florida hangs in the balance in (virtual) courtrooms from Washington, D.C., to Tallahassee, Fla., the real battle is taking place in theaters far outside the halls of justice. Signature gatherers, the people who ask us all to sign petitions in favor of or against everything from the use of medical marijuana to whether or not the Pledge of Allegiance may be uttered in schools, are out in force at Florida’s county fairs, football games, college campuses, and local grocery stores. In what many in Florida have characterized as the most contentious signature-gathering effort in the state’s history, two groups are trying to gather a total of more than 2 million signatures in less than six months to get gaming expansions on the ballot. The Las Vegas Sands Corporation is pushing a proposal that would allow it to build three brick-and-mortar casinos, while a group of commercial sports betting operators, including DraftKings and FanDuel, is trying to get legal statewide mobile wagering on the ballot.
In addition, the Seminole Tribe, which doesn’t have a proposal it’s prepping for the ballot, is gathering signatures in symbolic support of its 2021 gaming compact. That effort serves in part to muddy the water for the official proposals. The new compact, approved by the state legislature in May and the U.S. Department of the Interior in August, has since been deemed illegal by a federal court. While the legality of the compact is in question, Floridians did get a taste of ostensibly legal sports betting: The tribe’s Hard Rock Digital sportsbook platform operated online for 34 days before the tribe complied with a court order and temporarily suspended operations. Lawsuits, harassment, and more Signature gathering, it turns out, is a seedy business. The Sands Corp. earlier this month sued entities connected to the Seminoles in Leon County (Fla.) court over what’s called “petition blocking,” and also made allegations of harassment. The Sands Corp. argued that the tribe’s contractors are paying petition workers to not work, and in some cases, to leave the state altogether. The Sands Corp. also accused these contractors of trying to impede its ability to collect signatures by being disruptive. There have been reports of both from both a Florida college newspaper and Politico. Over the weekend, after the Seminole entities lost a motion to have the case dismissed, the Sands Corp. withdrew its complaint. Beyond the tactics described in the pleadings, consider this: It is legal in Florida and many other states to have a criminal record and still work in the signature-gathering business. In fact, it is legal to have been convicted of election fraud and still work on petitions. Those familiar with signature-gathering efforts say it is common for ex-cons to work in the business. According to Florida law, anyone convicted of a felony that is not murder or sexual assault has the right to vote, and signature gatherers, in turn, must be registered voters. There are only a handful of U.S. states where it is illegal for a convicted felon to work as a petition gatherer. In 2019, the Florida legislature passed and the governor signed House Bill 5, which banned paying petitioners based on the number of signatures collected (pay-per-signature), among other provisions related to statewide initiative and referendum. As of 2021, Arizona, Florida, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, and Wyoming had bans on paying circulators on a per-signature basis, Alan Wilmot, senior legal counsel at Heitner Legal, told Sports Handle. The state had previously considered altering its petition laws, but a 2008 bill that would have banned convicted felons from working as paid petition circulators died in the House Committee on Judiciary. A prospective circulator may not be paid for gathering signatures in Oregon if the circulator has been convicted of a criminal offense in any state involving fraud, forgery, or identification theft within a period of five years. Under the law, the circulator is also prohibited from registering in the state. The stipulation also applies to circulators who have faced civil penalties for certain violations of election law. Plenty of mudslinging going on One figure getting thrust into the limelight, and the mud, in Florida is a veteran of signature-gathering campaigns who has been convicted of election fraud. It happened in 2011 in Virginia in what Shawn Wilmoth called a “setup.” Wilmoth got probation and has since worked on campaigns in multiple states. He currently consults with Mack Douglas LLC, a petition company working in Florida on the Las Vegas Sands proposal, and has his own petition company, First Choice Contracting LLC, Petition Management Services. Mack Douglas LLC has three offices in Florida, according to its website, but is not registered with the Department of State, Division of Elections, a spokesperson said. “None of my clients are willing to admit they are my clients,” Wilmoth told Sports Handle. “I pull the strings in the background. My opposition, what they do is they find out I have a contract, they go to the Washington Times, or somewhere else. I was working in Ohio on HB 6 and they went there at that time. “I still manage larger-scale projects than other people, but I never thought I would have the problems I am having. But the clients know I do good work.” Continue Reading: sportshandle.com/florida-signature-gathering-practices/ |
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