A new ad promoting the proposed Oxford County casino features a transcript of Dennis Bailey, who leads the opposing group CasinosNO!, claiming he used scare tactics to defeat the 2003 Sanford racino referendum campaign.

The ad states: “Here’s why you can’t believe anything CasinosNo says: Their own spokesperson was caught on tape admitting their only strategy is to scare you.  Quote: “Fear always overcomes common sense, always. Casinos talk about jobs then we come along and say there’s crime, prostitution…whatever.”  Endquote.”

The audio comes from a political seminar Bailey presented at in 2006. The ad concludes by directing viewers to read a full transcript on the group’s website.

“This is a new low by the promoters of the Oxford casino,” Bailey said. “Recording me without my permission or knowledge, then twisting my words out of context and inventing things I didn’t even say. This is real sleaze, brought and paid for by Las Vegas.”

The only reporter to hear the audio was Gregg Lagerquist of WGME, who said on the air that the recording was garbled and hard to understand, and that his transcript differed from the one provided by the pro-casino campaign.

Neither PolitickerME.com nor MPBN were able to obtain a copy of the audio recording, as its owner remains anonymous.  Campaign spokeswoman Pat LaMarche said she was at the seminar, and attendees had tape recorders on their desks. She could not say who provided the audio.

Bailey claims it came from Seth Carey, the former head of the casino project, who came up to him that day and grilled him on casino issues. “It was two years ago. He started badgering me about casinos and just wouldn’t shut the hell up,” Bailey said.

Bailey said that his remarks at the seminar were taken far out of context.

“What they’re trying to say is that I advanced scare tactics to overcome (the casino’s benefits),” Bailey said. “That’s not what I said at all.” In the audio, Bailey allegedly said: "You do a campaign and mention terrorists to scare the bejesus out of them.” He said the comment was referring to President Bush.

However, LaMarche contends that Bailey is using fear tactics in this campaign, playing off concerns about gambling addiction and crime, none of which has come to fruition at the Bangor racino, she said.

 CasinosNO! is on the air with its first ad The ad does attack the casinos, but not the exact ones anticipated by the pro-casino group.

“Las Vegas is back again with the most deceptive casino scheme yet,” the ad begins.

The ad rattles off a number of questionable provisions in the bill – that it lowers the gambling age to 19, that teenagers could work in the casino and that it imposes a 10-year-monopoly on casino gambling in the state.

“All we do is quote from their legislation and they say it’s scary,” Bailey said. He referred to a clause that would place the president of the casino on any board or commission receiving funds. “Making a Las Vegas executive King of Maine – that’s kind of scary.”

MPBN did an analysis of both the pro-casino ad and the anti-casino ad.

The provisions mentioned in the CasinosNO! ad were addressed in another ad, released last week. There, state Sen. Debra Plowman (R-Hampden) and Rep. John Patrick (D-Rumford) promise to fix the problems with the bill.

In the ad, Patrick says: “We pledge that when Question 2 passes the committee will change it to meet existing Maine laws.

Plowman said: “We fixed the Bangor racino bill, and we can fix question 2.” Bailey has spoken out against this ad as well and called on television stations to pull it due to its inaccuracies. Patrick is termed out, and is not running for reelection. LaMarche said that in the ad, Patrick never says “I will fix the bill.” She said it was important to have both a Republican and Democrat in the ad, and also two legislators who were around when the Bangor racino referendum came up.