Fernandez: Keno Will Hurt City’s Poor

This really is just a small step above selling crack on the corner as far as the results will go but I am all for letting people have what they want as long as I dont have to support them when they spend their rent on the silly game.

If I do have to go to work to support the keno losers I do not want it.

"He called on two opponents in the mayoral race, state Sen. Toni Harp and state Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, to remove a provision in the state budget that legalized the game."

Is he serious, or is this a misprint? Toni and Gary can't sneak in and amend a validly enacted legislative provision.

Gambling makes profits by impoverishing people and turning them into addicts. Plain and simple. That is the business logic of Keno. It's a complete falsehood that gambling is a solution to budget woes. Studies show that gambling ends up costing taxpayers more -- because there's more sickness, unemployment, unpaid debts, and kids who've lost a parent or guardian to addiction.

My gambling crib sheet:

This reminds me of the Harvard professor's comment on lotteries as "a tax on the stupid".

Yes, it's a bit harsh, but desperate people still have dreams of somehow scoring big.

Part of me thinks we should not be involved in people's private vices. At a minimum, we shouldn't be creating them at least.

What other vices would Toni Harp legalize to patch a hole in the budget?

What a great shot of One City Henry and right to call Holder-Winfield and The Senator on the carpet for another "tax" on the poor aka KENO. (His tie even matches the mural on Sports Haven. One City Henry, classy.)

Highly addictive to the detriment of families and those unwitting players.

So the Senator's campaign manager said the Senator is comfortable with her vote because she chose to protect the safety net. But if their parent's weren't gambling all their money on KENO, we would not need KENO.

One City Henry nails it, this was something done to New Haven. No debate, no input. One City Henry is right, KENO will turn our dinning experience into a gambling (gaming) experience.

One City Henry, offering concrete solutions for New Haven, good sense of color coordination (not the tie, but race), strong candidate, strong personality, the next strong mayor of New Haven. If One City Henry was walking a Chihuahua, he would still look masculine. One City Henry, the most interesting and best candidate for mayor.

Henry's right. The social safety net is worthless if its just catching dead carcasses.

Mr. Fernandez sounds like he did not go to law school and does not understand how the representative process works in our fair democratic republic. By having legislators who are duly elected by the people, for the people, the citizens of New Haven had their input. We simply can't have every decision that impacts the City be brought back for public consideration. Indeed, should Senators Harp and Looney and Representatives Holder-Winfield and Walker have come back to the city to ask if it was okay to funnel more tax dollars back to the City? What about raising the minimum wage, should they have contacted every small business owner? Please, don't treat us like children.

As for vice taxes, if we are to get rid of them - let's get rid of all forms of lottery. That means powerball, megamillions, the mid-day numbers, etc. If gambling is bad - it just bad in all forms. It shouldn't matter that certain of those dollars funnel back into education and other necessary state expenditures. Indeed, if we're talking about vices and their detriment to society - let's enact prohibition because alcohol ruins more lives in this state that gambling, crack, and gun violence combined. After all, the state should be able to control people's bad decisions by taking away their options, right?

Or do we want a more measured approach? Yes, Keno may not raise much money but it will raise money. If the amount raised is truly insignificant, that means an insignificant amount of patrons will play and there won't be many (if any) addicts. If addiction becomes a widespread problem, approval of Keno can be repealed through the legislative process. This is the beauty of our system.

@ Atticus Shrugged,

I think the point being made above is that these kinds of things adversely and disproportionately affect New Haven and our other cities.

No one is going to be putting a keno parlor in Darien. Ever.

Harp knows this, but doesn't care. At least she didn't, until she decided to start running for mayor.

Only in the world of Senator Harp can one create more poverty and expand gambling all in the name of love. She has done a good job.

"Toni chose to protect the safety net," education, and health care, Bartlett said.

This is the way to do it. Protect the net by creating bigger problems for the poor. Oh how brilliant. Or some might even say, how sad.

I'm no fan of Henry Fernandez, but he certainly has exposed the priorities of Harp. "Harp [who is co-chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee] is 'quite comfortable' with the Keno vote, because the state needed the revenue". If she wins this election, get ready to have your wallets emptied.

First of all, I tend to learn libertarian in the sense that I don't think we should legislate self-destructive behavior, per se. If someone wants to gamble or drink or smoke, it's not really my place to make it impossible for them.

Gambling does tend to disproportionately lower income people, but there's a Catch-22: gambling revenues tend to support public schools, which disproportionately helps middle and low income families.

In reality, I think one could make a case either way. On one hand, perhaps we shouldn't encourage self-destructive behavior. On the other hand, I tend to err on the side of freedom, and any source of budget revenue is welcome.

As with many issues, there are varying shades of gray.

I'm with Fernandez on this. I'm all for user fees, like we would see of tolls were installed on our highways with E-Z pass technology. But raising money through activities that promote addiction and social ills should be an absolute last resort. New Haven won't see the money from the Keno but it will bear the cost.