Ohio: Cleveland

Now, as Dolan prepares to ask the same legislative panel to approve a $41 million contract with another company to run Keno and other lottery games for the next two years, the director's past dubious promises could return to haunt him.

On May 5, 2008, Dolan persuaded the state Controlling Board, a bipartisan panel of legislators that signs off on major contracts, to buy monitors, satellite dishes and computer terminals for Keno from GTECH Inc., which was the Lottery's prime vendor at the time.

On the instructions of Gov. Ted Strickland's top lawyer, Dolan has testified, he did not tell the legislators that he was in the process of dumping GTECH in favor of another company, and that the new company might not be able to use the equipment the state was about to buy.

Example: The slot machine fight. Contrary to folklore, that's no more about morals than is personal marijuana use (de facto legal in Ohio) and, among consenting adults, anything-goes sexual conduct (legal in Ohio since the mid-1970s).

The slots fight is really over (1) who gets richer, thanks to General Assembly decisions and (2) whether schools, if slots became legal, ever again could pass property-tax levies. Schools can't want levies to become harder to pass. And levies aren't going away. But legalizing slots might make levies a tougher sell - as the Ohio Lottery might have done.

As everyone "knows," the Ohio Lottery was "supposed to take care of" schools.

Mandel, 31, from Lyndhurst, made his announcement via a polished six-minute video on his campaign Website, www.joshmandel.com, followed by a Statehouse press conference.

"I am answering the call from Ohioans for new energy and fresh ideas in state government," Mandel said. "They want honest, principled leaders to watch over their tax dollars."

Mandel is in his second term representing the 17th House District in the Cleveland area. He previously was a member of Lyndhurst City Council. He earned a bachelor's degree from Ohio State University and a law degree from Case Western Reserve University.

Mandel's video, titled An American Story, heavily emphasizes his Iraq experience as well as his family history of military service.

House Speaker Armond Budish, a Beachwood Democrat who is more receptive to gamb-ling, has said he backs a referendum on the issue.

Yesterday, fans rallied for a proposal that would allow 14,000 video slot machines at the state's seven racetracks. Two of the tracks are in Franklin County: Scioto Downs south of Columbus and Beulah Park in Grove City.

The Ohio State Racing Commission, which endorses the proposal, estimates that it could provide as much as $625 million a year for public education by 2013.

The state is confronting a budget shortfall that could reach $3 billion in 2010-11. Backers of the slots-at-racetracks plan say gambling revenue won't fix the state budget but would provide a more attractive alternative to large tax increases or broad cuts in state services.